DARESBURY, Cheshire, U.K. – Technical production specialist Adlib supplied lighting for two arenas at Creamfields 2019 — one of the best-known and most popular dance extravaganzas worldwide — and audio to four arenas, plus lighting and sound for the hospitality zone.
More details from Adlib (www.adlib.co.uk):
Adlib was delighted — as always — to be involved with Cream, a brand that has defined the energy and vibrance of Liverpool’s dance scene since emerging in the 1990s.
Now world-famous, Creamfields attracts 70,000 dance fans each day for three days with a star-studded DJ line-up representing the diversity of dance culture and sounds and some of the best production values on the planet!
Merseyside-based Adlib worked directly for creative production specialist LarMac LIVE and their team led by Ian Greenway.
The audio team proposed a creative ‘end-fire’ sub-bass system design as a solution to keep the extensive low-end content well-contained and to within the boundaries of each respective stage.
Lighting
The logistics and planning of the lighting side of this highly detailed project were coordinated and project managed by Adlib’s Jordan Willis. The designs for arenas CF07 and CF09, for which Adlib supplied the full lighting packages, were created by Ian Tomlinson from High Scream.
Ian worked for Adlib for many years and has designed for some of the highest-profile dance and electronic artists including the Swedish House Mafia and Axwell & Ingrosso.
CF05
A curved layered structure clad with LED video panels set the aesthetic tone, making a complete curve but with some strategic gaps left in between the LED where lighting could be secured to the scaffolding superstructure.
Adlib added 20 x Martin MAC Aura XB LED wash moving lights, 20 x Claypaky Axcor Beam 300s, 60 x Chauvet COLORdash PARS and 12 x CP Stormy LED strobes for blasts and accents. All of these were attached to the structure to keep the stage completely clean and clear.
Control was a grandMA light and Adlib’s techs were Dave Smith and Ash Dawson, also both operating, supported by technician Peter Lea.
CF07
This lighting design was based around a combination of flown elements and a substantial ground support over the stage, installed by Prism.
Four raked finger trusses provided ‘roof cover’ for lighting above the stage and DJ booth, lower at the back and higher at the front. These were rigged with 24 x Claypaky Mythos moving lights, 20 x Ayrton MagicBlades and four Martin MAC Viper profiles for key lighting.
The rest of the main stage / audience lighting positions were created with eight angled tower trusses — four on each of the stage wings – each loaded with 10 x MAC Aura XBs and 5 x JDC1 LED strobes – totalling 80 and 40 each of these fixtures respectively.
The angled wings and raked over-stage trusses created a great sense of depth and an interesting perspective, adding to some amazing atmosphere, dynamics and superlative music.
On the stage five MAC Quantum Wash moving lights dramatically back lit the DJs.
Control was a grandMA3 full size running with a grandMA light for backup, and this area was operated and coordinated on the ground for Adlib by Tom Webber and Paul Abdullah.
Hospitality
For lighting, this area was a bit of a brain-teaser!
The tented architecture was created using three conjoined saddlespan stages, from which the Adlib team flew an 8-metre diameter circular truss to provide all the key lighting positions.
On this were 12 x Chauvet NXT-1 LED matrix moving lights, combined with twelve frosted colour-changing Showtec LED cubes hung on catenaries mimicking the room’s décor and furniture design.
These were joined onstage by 16 x CP Axcor Spot 300s and 20 x Chauvet COLORdash PARs deployed on four vertical trussing towers on the stage deck.
Twenty-four CORE ColourPoint CP20s battery-powered wireless LEDS uplighters were dotted around the Saddlespan ceilings and ensconced in the trees for ambient lighting.
The exterior buffet / eating area was lit with a collection of different coloured 400W HQI floods scattered around.
All the hospitality lighting was controlled via an Avolites Tiger Touch II console operated by Oli Gorman and Harry Holme.
Audio
Adlib’s audio project manager was Jay Petch, and their crew chief was Billy Bryson who was also responsible for the system designs and implementation of the end-fire setup.
This was suggested during pre-festival discussions as an effective and imaginative way to control the omnipresent low frequency ambience through smart sub deployment, giving the sound engineers greater control over dispersion patterns.
Each of the arena sub arrays was customised for its particular room and the specific sonic characteristics. All the related stage designs allowed enough space for the philosophy to be effective, so pit barriers, stage heights and depths, etc., were all adjusted to accommodate the sub array set ups.
For audio, the arenas serviced were CF05 (Pepsi Max), CF06 (Sexy by Nature), CF07 (Axtone), CF09 (The Silo) plus hospitality.
CF05
AKA The Pepsi MAX Arena, this large tent featured the sounds of Paul van Dyk, Sander van Dorn, Will Atkinson and many more, which were enjoyed by music fans through a CODA sound system, comprising six AiRAY boxes per side, each of these stacked on top of four SC2 subs.
On the ground along the front of the stage were another 12 x SCP subs arrayed in six stacks of two in the ‘end-fire’ configuration to help keep as much bottom end on the site and minimise spillage.
FOH & monitor control for CF05 was a DiGiCo SD11, and Adlib’s crew were James Claridge and Matt Gadsby.
CF06
Ensuring the Adlib sound was perfect in this arena was Hassane Es Siahi at FOH and Steven Selby on monitors.
The large tented space offered flying facilities and the chosen PA chosen was an L-Acoustics K2, with 12 x K2 elements for the main left-and-right hangs working in conjunction with two flown delay arrays further down the tent with four K2s in each.
The delays provided more efficient coverage across the large space and assisted with the level control, so that the main system didn’t have to be driven so hard.
On the ground, 20 x L-Acoustics KS28 subs were rigged in 10 stacks of two in an end-fire array.
A selection of fills ensured the front edges of the barrier were properly covered with four ARCS per side, and four Karas did the front fill, plus six Kara each side as ground-stacked outfills.
The desk was a DiGiCo S21 running with a DiGiCo D2 stage rack, which sounded fantastic!
CF07
This 4-king-pole tent was ideal for a flown audio rig, which comprised 12 x CODA AiRAY a side each with two ViRAY down at the bottom of each hang. In this rig, Billy Bryson was able to fly two sub arrays each consisting of 8 x SC2s directly behind the main two PA hangs for greater low-end steering.
