Australia’s first ever White Night Festival was hailed a complete success ushering in an impressive 300,000+ patrons for the 12 hour kaleidoscope of arts based entertainment. The showcase of creative delights encompassed all aspects of the arts including theatre performances, museum exhibitions, lighting shows and non-stop music from 7pm-7am. All through the city-side of the event, from Southbank into the CBD, Nexo, DiGiCo and RCF gear just kept popping up.
White Night Festival 2013
St. Kilda Road was closed from the National Gallery all the way up Swanston Street, as well as Flinders Street closed around the station, setting the scene for a huge turnout. The combination of fantastic entertainment, exceptional weather, free entry, brilliant Melbournian will, and an open age policy proved the perfect recipe for the inaugural event which exceeded expectation all round.
With the famous steps at Flinders Street station finding themselves home to the main stage, an onslaught of headliners such as The Cat Empire, Haitus Kaiyote, Bombay Royale and World’s End Press performed to what often felt like, a never ending crowd.
Optical Audio were handling production with an SD8 was in charge of Front of House duties while a Nexo STM system was used as a ground stack system keeping the tens of thousands partying into the wee hours of the morning with ease.
Nexo STM at Flinders St Stage
Since it wasn’t possible to fly the PA, the ground stack was configured into 4 stacks with 2 on each side. This created a wider area of coverage and ensured the system was throwing far enough to the swarm of punters which flooded the intersection of St. Kilda Road and Flinders Street.
Each side was made up of a larger stack comprised of 5 x M46 cabinets and 5 x B112 bass cabinets alongside a smaller stack comprised of 3 x M46 and 3 x B112 cabinets.
8 x RS18’s were stacked two high along the front of the stage providing earth shattering bass to the huge crowds.
Dressing the stage, a plethora of Nexo PS-15’s were in charge of monitoring for all of the acts throughout the night.
Degraves Street Jazz Stage
Nexo PS-15’s weren’t confined to just monitoring either. Their versatility found them further up the road at the rocking Degraves St Jazz stage. A simple configuration of 4 x PS’15’s were taking care of the entire street of jazz fans grooving to the likes of Nina Ferro’s Band, BopStretch and Flap! to name a few.
Over at Federation Square, an ethnic shimmy-fest labelled ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ had the entire precinct filled to the brim. Whether boogieing the night away to igniting Bollywood or serenading to sensual Salsa, the formidable Nexo GeoS12 house system was flown in full effect keeping everyone on their feet all night long.
The Arts Centre was also running all night with a slew of theatre and creative performance pieces. No doubt all six of their DiGiCo consoles were busy on the various shows.
In front of the Arts Centre, a 360 degree rolling stage surrounded by dance crazed fans featured various bands playing jazz and cabaret pieces while travelling up and down St. Kilda Road.
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Nexo continues its impact in the touring and production scene; with Australia priding itself as an early adopter of GeoS12 when it was released in 2007 and now with the game changing STM system in 2013. DiGiCo has continued to lead the world in digital mixing consoles and its versatility in the Arts is highlighted nowhere better than at the Victorian Arts Centre.
Rolling Stage with RCF  It was only fitting then that RCF, a trusted name and workhorse brand in the industry, made an appearance at White Night too. The combination of high end gear highlights not only the standards demanded by professionals today; but also gives testament to Group Technologies as a leading provider of entertainment equipment. |
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