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HSL supplied lighting and sound for all main performance areas at the Isle of Wight's Bestival festival.
The event, produced by Loudsound, closed an incredible 2005 UK festival season. In its second year, it was enjoyed by over 25,000 people across three action-packed days of music.
It's also the second year that Lancashire-based HSL has supplied Bestival. In addition to the main stage, HSL provided lighting and sound for the Big Top, the Bollywood Bar, The Hidden Disco and the JD Lounge. It was co-ordinated for HSL by Mike Oates and followed hot on the heels of HSL supplying the majority of the sound and all the lighting production to Creamfields 2005.
The HSL site crew consisted of 15 lighting and sound technicians, crew chiefed by Ian Stevens. The event was production and site managed by Lee Charteris and Jo MacKay for Loudsound Events.
Bestival 2005 was headlined by Magic Numbers, Mylo, Royksopp, Soulwax, Howard Marks and the Super Furry Animals.
The 15 metre wide Orbit main stage needed thoughtful planning on the part of the lighting design which was created by Steven Abbiss. The HSL team installed two trusses that were angled to maximise the shape of the roof curve, plus a third straight one upstage to hold the backdrop – or any additional drapes and soft goods brought in by individual artists.
The moving lights were 14 Robe ColorSpot 1200 ATs and 12 ColorWash 1200 ATs, and these formed the workhorses of the rig, which also featured 10 Martin Atomic strobes, 6 Molefeys and an assortment of PARs.
For control, they offered any visiting lighting designers the options of an Avolites Pearl 2004 or a Hog II, set up so all the lights could be swapped between both desks.
It was a challenging site to work, with a difficult terrain and a steep downhill get-in. The main stage lighting and sound was rigged in just an hour and 40 minutes, as this was the only time slot available.
FOH sound was babysat by Mark "Scooby" Widdowson, who has an eclectic selection of bands on his engineering CV including the Libertines, Aswad, Moloko, Fun Lovin' Criminals and acclaimed Kiwi up-comers, Stereogram.
Scooby examined the specs of all the bands who had supplied them before coming up with a generic festival system designed to be as flexible and accommodating to everyone's needs as possible.
At FOH he used a Yamaha PM4000 console with BSS Omnidrive control, TLA valve compressors, dbx compressors, Drawmer gates and 6 FX channels returning in stereo, plus an outboard effects rack containing all the hits and more!
Onstage the monitor system was run by Gary Silvester, using a Midas XL3 console with a stretch and an ML Executives wedge system.
The main flown stage speakers were Community Air Force – 9 a side, complete with 9 ground-stacked Community VLF 218 subs a side.
Labgruppen amps were used site wide to power all the sound systems.
The Big Top/Strongbow arena
For sound, HSL supplied engineer Dave McKenzie to baby-sit the FOH of two Community RS 880s a side and 3 VLF 218 subs, a Crest X8 mixer FOH and another Crest X8M desk for monitors, run by Alex Linney.
Lighting consisted of six Martin MAC 500s, 8 Robe ColorWash 1200 ATs and a quantity of 6 way par bars all controlled by an Avolites Sapphire.
Bollywood Bar
The Bollywood Bar was a rich cocktail of glam, kitch multiculturalism, featuring a lively programme of DJs, karaoke stars and many other surprise performers.
Sound in this area was one Community RS 880 speaker and two VLF 218 subs a side inside the tent, together with an SLS 960 and a VLF 218 outside, to spill the good vibes out across the immediate garden area. The monitors were Ohms and it was all run from a small Crest mixing desk.
Lighting was equally simple – Pixel PAR 90 LED fixtures, four MAC 500s and a Zero 88 Fat Frog II console.
The JD Lounge
This was situated at the top of the camping area. Audio in here was two SLS 960s and 3 VLF218 subs a side for some nice bassy beats, complete with SBS 25 and SLS 920 side fills. The FOH desk was a Yamaha M3000 and an M2500 on monitors.
Lighting was again kept simple, with MAC 500s, Robe ColorWash 1200s and an Avolites Pearl for control.
The FOH was run by Raymond McAndrew, the monitors by Danny Mackintosh and lights by Rory McKay.
The Hidden Disco
This cosy area was a tent approximately 9 metres in radius into which about 20 or 30 people could be shoehorned – for those looking for a more intimate Bestival experience. It didn’t need too much in terms of production, so HSL supplied Nexo PS10 speakers and four NJD Datamoon effects for visuals. The Hidden Disco also fed another four Nexo PS10s in the casino with background music.
HSL also supplied DJ set ups site-wide, each consisting of Technics 1210 dex, Pioneer CDJ1000s and Pioneer DJ mixers.
HSL's Mike Oates comments, "It was really great to be working with Lee & Jo on behalf of the Loudsound Team for the second year, HSL really enjoy the festival season and look forward to providing more equipment and support to Bestival next year. I would personally like to thank all the HSL full time Technical Crew and all the Sub Contractors who gave a 100% commitment to the HSL team during this busy period."
Date of issue: 26th October 2005.
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