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pdrg
Support Moderator
United Kingdom
2897 Posts |
 Posted - 04 June 2008 : 16:17:34
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Well, part of my other life is rock'n'roll - I'm just back from 2 weeks in Liverpool setting up at Anfield for the Liverpool Sound (Zutons/Kaiser Chiefs/Paul McCartney) gig.
When I arrived we had an empty stadium and a bit of bulldozed dusty land on the opposite side of the road - we saw our portacabins arrive, temporary loos, catering tent, and tons and tons and tons of steel for the stage.
First things first - lay a shed load of steel plates for the stage to be built on, then watch it go up slowly. 60-metre crane arrived on the back of a self-contained truck (22-minutes to erect a 1.7 Tonne at 60m crane - amazing), we lifted in the towers and other steelwork that was too bulky to go in through a narrow tunnel (our only other route in). See if you can work it out, my engineering chums - what's the heaviest letter in LIVERPOOL (all made of steel, about 4m tall). Answers later. Hint - think harder, it's not obvious, but the reason makes sense. Big winds made it too dangerous to move anything for 2 days!
Once we had the stage in, with a roof on it, we added delay towers (with follow-spot cages), paved the rest of pitch, killed a heap of seats (safety reasons - Anfield stadium isn't designed for repetitive beats and dancing - harmonics would just kill the Kop stand!), brought in power (over 3MW, for those who care), PA, lights, punter toilets, queueing lanes, merchandising stands, working through early mornings, late nights and heavy miserable rain.
The queues formed, we relaxed a bit for the first time in 11 days and I escorted the Kaisers up and down from soundchecks etc. Nice bunch of guys.
6:30 showtime, excitable atmosphere, Zutons come on to a home crowd, set the scene well, DJ Freelance Hellraiser covers the 25' changeover to the Kaisers, another belting 60' set (I watched from behind the backdrop gauze), then DJ until Sir Paul McCartney came on. I didn't expect to enjoy his set nearly as much as I did - he's got it, especially to a home crowd at Anfield (home stadium of Liverpool football club, if you don't know). The whole crowd were singing along, and the set finally finished, show over, and we had 7 minutes of huge fireworks (the kind you feel a body blow from every single blast).
One hell of a gig. I saw it go up from nothing, to 36,000 happy faces in the stadium. Seeing that many people enjoying your creation is really touching - it was worth all the 12-16 hour days and bleary starts. If you are in the UK, BBC iplayer has highlights here for the next few days. It really starts to rock at 50' if you're having trouble getting into SPM. You'll see why I'm proud of what we made - it was a truly beautiful spectacle and I'm still on the post-show comedown from the adrenaline, 3 days on...
So that's where I've been :-)
It's E, by the way. The overhanging top and middle horizontals in E need extra steel trussing so they don't flop!< |
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AnonJr
Moderator
United States
5768 Posts |
Posted - 04 June 2008 : 16:29:48
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So what if I'm not in the UK? I'm as big a fan of British Rock as any other music aficionado - or is it because I'm on this side of the pond? 
Sounds like it was fun.  < |
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golfmann
Junior Member
United States
450 Posts |
Posted - 04 June 2008 : 16:56:29
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Can you explain the delay towers to me?
And HOW MANY amps for 3 MW? < |
Edited by - golfmann on 04 June 2008 16:56:52 |
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pdrg
Support Moderator
United Kingdom
2897 Posts |
Posted - 04 June 2008 : 16:58:16
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Sorry mate, it's all to do with licensing etc, the iplayer stuff is UK only
(sad unavoidable fact - youtube etc may have pirate copies/excerpts which you can watch going tut tut about piracy)< |
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pdrg
Support Moderator
United Kingdom
2897 Posts |
Posted - 04 June 2008 : 17:38:33
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quote:
Originally posted by golfmann
Can you explain the delay towers to me?
And HOW MANY amps for 3 MW?
Delay towers - sound moves more slowly than you imagine, so a straight amp to speakers partway back would create phase problems for the crowd (they'd hear the near speakers before the stage ones) - this is why we add a short delay to the signal, to keep the sound in sync. We stick those speakers on towers in the mid-rear of the pitch, hence delay towers :) We then stick follow spot operators in those towers, and add audience lighting too (so the cameras can see the crowds!)
I don't honestly remember the size of the PA, but the lights account for a lot of that 3MW ;-)< |
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AnonJr
Moderator
United States
5768 Posts |
Posted - 04 June 2008 : 21:37:51
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Lights always account for a sizable chunk of the power. Even the small light setup that Jesus Joshua uses pulls a hefty toll on the ole power.
Too bad about there's no love for those outside the Isles. Maybe a DVD will pop up in Best Buy one of these days.< |
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pdrg
Support Moderator
United Kingdom
2897 Posts |
Posted - 05 June 2008 : 13:16:42
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A bit of a hunt around youtube etc throws up a few leads ;-)
Interestingly, Radiohead have a cunning new lighting system in development to cut back the generators to 1 x 60 kVA plus 2 trucks of batteries which are trickle charged during the day for peak output during the show - I can't wait to see it in action, even our 3000kVA generators on tickover use more than that - if it works, it'll be one hell of a boost for greener gigs, especially for tours as opposed to one-off events like this.< |
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AnonJr
Moderator
United States
5768 Posts |
Posted - 05 June 2008 : 13:20:32
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I'd love to see a light setup that isn't killed by an errantly plugged in microwave.
That's a story I'll have to share a little later.  < |
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golfmann
Junior Member
United States
450 Posts |
Posted - 05 June 2008 : 15:13:42
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Interesting stuff...
Thanks< |
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Rock'n'roll mod activities
