LONDON – AEG Live appointed London-based LarMac Live (LML) to help produce three themed environments at the 2013 Barclaycard ‘British Summer Time’ series of concerts in London’s Hyde Park. Staged by promoters AEG Live, the 10 days of activities – two weekends of three shows each headlined by The Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, Lionel Richie and Jennifer Lopez, Elvis Costello and Ray Davies – took the whole Hyde Park ‘live’ concept into another dimension.
More details from LarMac Live (www.larmaclive.com)
The themed areas helped the public enjoy and engage in a fun guest experience which also benefited from some summer sunshine to accompany the entertainment.
LarMac Live’s Ian Greenway comments, “It is always exciting to be involved in something new and this was a fantastic project based on delivering high production values, great performance and a really diverse setting for all visitors to the event. Every show we do has its own personality, and it’s a great feeling to be involved in the inaugural year of a unique project.”
The LarMac Live team was led on site by Ian Greenway, with Siobhan Shaw assisting across creative and Matt Smith across stage production.
The three ‘North Stages’ areas produced by LML – the Village Green, The Piazza and Havana – featured five independent live music venues, showcasing a lineup of bands throughout the afternoons, with capacities ranging from an intimate 100 to a still ‘premium’ 750.
LarMac Live started work on the project in November 2012 with AEG’s Event Director Jim King. They were responsible for helping to deliver all the scenic elements throughout the areas and for the full technical production requirements for their live stages.
They worked with a multitude of talent bookers, headed up by AEG’s Simon Jones, and provided stage management for five programs running concurrently, all managed by LML regulars.
AEG’s vision was then conceptualized and developed with Jim King, AEG’s Director of Events, and creative teams were appointed to produce the three areas. Matt Gates & Co designed and built The Village Green – LarMac has worked with him on many high-end corporate events – and Spacial (with whom LML has worked on many other shows) from Oxfordshire imagineered the Piazza and Carnival areas.
LML worked closely with all of them to source additional props: 1950s trucks, rusty bicycles, fountains, park benches, pub garden tables and living foliage. All the areas were produced with minute attention to detail and authenticity.
The scenic elements have been specified and produced with five years of sustainability in mind. The idea was well received so it’s set to return in the future.
LarMac Live brought in their regular technical suppliers to supply lighting and sound for the live areas, including Colour Sound Experiment, who lit four of the five live stages and produced atmospheric lighting to the Park after dark.
AEG’s creative brief included architecturally lighting of several buildings, which entailed installing a large quantity of LED lighting while the scenery was being constructed.
For the Bandstand, both lighting and sound came from Brighton-based Firefly, running on solar generated power with a biodiesel back-up generator – to make use of the sun and soaring temperatures.
The Village Green
The peace and tranquility of a classical UK ‘village green’ enabled visitors to make the most of their time in Hyde Park, complete with several pubs, fairground attractions like a Ferris wheel and helter-skelter and a large park and seated area. There were two live music venues, The Village Hall and The Bandstand, with a lineup of performers.
Piazza
A taste of Mediterranean Europe embraced the flavors and style of Italy, France and Spain here, with numerous restaurants offering a host of continental cuisines, cafes and bars and a large amount of chilling space.
The two live music venues were The Barclaycard Unwind Theatre – a large Spiegel tent sitting behind a replica 9 meter high theatre entrance with a selection of emerging bands at the weekends and comedy acts during the week – and the Sony Music Unlimited Stage.
Havana
The Havana barrio turned up the heat and really got the party started. Entertainment included Latino bands on the carnival stage – complete with vintage tractor – and sessions by The Cuban Brothers, who performed on one of the balconies to the reveling throngs below.
A Carnival Parade each afternoon proved to be one of the most popular activities of the day areas, complete with some palm trees sourced from Palmbrokers.
Greenway says, “A massive amount of thought went into designing and producing these areas and making them stimulating and visually attractive as well as planning practicals like crowd management and movement. The process has used and rethought many technical and creative skills and involved some great teamwork, all helping to break new ground and deliver something truly different.”
Jim King says, “We set out with an incredibly ambitious vision for Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park, and so when we were awarded the contract to run the events I needed a team to help me deliver this vision. I’ve worked with Ian and Jo for more than 15 years and I knew that they were the perfect solution for us. The attention to detail we required was non-negotiable and they helped find the right contractors to deliver the plan and then skillfully and successfully delivered on what was a very challenging job. We couldn’t be happier with the role they played on helping us to deliver a truly first class event for our company.”
