Adlib At Creamfields 2014

Adlib supplied lighting, sound and rigging to two main arenas and the Hospitality / VIP area at the 2014 Creamfields EDM festival staged at Daresbury Estate near Warrington, UK.

Working for creative and technical production specialists LarMac LIVE and renewing their long term working relationship with Cream - the brand synonymous with Liverpool cool since its launch as a club concept in the heady rave days 1992 - this was the third high profile Liverpool-centric event for Adlib in as many months. It followed hot on the heels of The Giants Spectacular and the 7-week International Festival of Business.

Creamfields 2014 saw a glittering array of the biggest, best and most popular DJs in the world joining the lineup. Adlib were working in Arenas 04 (hosted by Pete Tong / London Warehouse Events), 05 (Revealed / Super You & Me) and the VIP (Hospitality Audio System).

Leading Adlib’s team on site was Crew Chief Kevin Byatt, and everything was co-ordinated from the office / warehouse end by Dave Eldridge – this, plus as much detailed advanced planning as possible, was key to ensuring that it was another smooth operation on site.

Both arenas involved major overnight lighting / visual changeovers – and the glorious inclement UK weather (with extreme rain on the Friday) - made working conditions additionally tough on site.

The production values at Creamfields 2014 in all arenas site-wide were also stepped up several gears this year, reflecting the global success of the event and the concept, which was enjoyed by a sold-out crowd of 70,000.

Adlib Account Handler Dave Eldridge enthuses, “Naturally we were thrilled – in our 30th year as a company – to be involved in another amazing event for Cream, an absolutely iconic name in Liverpool and a phenomena right at the heart of the City’s vibrant musical culture and history”.

Lighting

Adlib Design’s Ian Tomlinson designed production lighting for all three areas, which in CF04 and CF05 was also based on the requirements of the headlining acts each day.

Ground support systems supplied by Prism were constructed around the stages in both arenas and used to provide the lighting positions, some of which were with sub-hung Adlib trusses.

In CF04 the moving lights were Martin MAC Viper profiles, MAC Aura washes and MAC 700 Washes – 56 in total, and these were joined by Chauvet Colorado LED Batten 72s and Atomic strobes plus some bars of 4 x ACLs for additional effects.

The consoles were a High End Road Hog Full Boar and Playback Wing, and the system was tech’d by Chris Richardson, Charlie Rushton and Nathan Harrison. Several guest LDs and lighting operators accompanied their artists, and Chris ran lighting for those who didn’t bring anyone.

In 05 Stu Wright, Andy Jones and Anthony Viney looked after all things illuminative, and this stage also ran on the Friday afternoon / evening and therefore had two substantial overnight changeovers which included a completely new video set up and an additional lighting truss for the second night. Adlib also supplied rigging and motors for XL Video’s LED screens in this arena.

The 05 production design also had to accommodate Sub Focus’s trussing set of three concentric trussing circles on the Friday night – so practicality and adaptability were key, as well as making the arena look fantastic for three very different stage presentations.

The moving lights in 05 were Martin MAC Viper Profiles, MAC 301 LED washes, Studio Due CS4s and Clay Paky Sharpies – 40 fixtures in total, arranged over the stage and above the audience. They were joined by Atomic strobes and the console options were an MA Lighting grandMA2 or an Avolites Pearl.

Lighting in Hospitality was rigged on a central circular truss and featured 50 small moving lights, chosen for their size and unobtrusiveness - a combination of Martin MAC 350 Entours, MAC 301s, MAC 250 Washes and Beams. They were joined by Chauvet LED PARs, LED cubes and Abraxus LED Snowflakes and ETC Source Four Junior zooms for key-lighting the DJs.

Control was an Avo Pearl Expert and Expert Touch Wing and this area was looked after by Adlib’s Jeff Bond, Phil Woodbridge and Cody Chambers.

Audio

With ‘Make some noise’ being the ultimate club chant, getting the right sonic ambience and requisite bass and sub levels is at the essence of the whole EDM sound experience, and so Adlib specified Coda and JBL VerTec systems.

To maximize the vibe of global EDM ambassador Pete Tong and bring a touch of rock ‘n’ roll attitude to his Saturday night curation, the 10-a-side VT4889 main hangs brought a real edge to the sound in the space together with 24 x JBL VT4880 subs for some incredible low end rumblings, fine-tuned with Adlib’s standard Lake processing systems for EQ and time alignment.

The consoles were a Yamaha PM5D for FOH and a Midas Pro 2 onstage, with Adlib FD2 hi-packs and Adlib DF415 subs providing no-nonsense DJ monitors and eight Adlib MP3 wedges along the front of stage.

This Arena was engineered for Adlib by Vidmantis  Baleisa and Rui Feio.

In 05, the main hangs were 12 x Coda Airline LA12s a side, with 12 Coda ViRay for infill and outfills. A sub arc array was formed by 24 x Coda SC8 subs ground stacked and 8 x SCP subs forming the centre of the array, all driven by Coda Audio’s new Linus amplifier and DSP platform.

A Soundcraft Vi6 was provided for FOH and another Midas PRO2 for monitors together with the full Lake processing system.

Onstage were more MP3 wedges and the same combination of two each Adlib FD2s / DF418 subs for some serious DJ monitoring!

The great versatility of Coda also made it the ideal choice for PA in the Hospitality area with 8 x Airline LA12s and 6 x Coda SCP-F subs ground stacked for the main arrays and 8 x ViRAY and SCV Subs to cover the side areas of the tent. This was driven by Coda’s DNC amplifier platform and a Soundcraft Si Performer 2 console. The crew in here were Mark Johnson and Arron Hatcher.

Adlib also supplied mics packages for all three areas.

Says Phil Stoker, “We have a lot of experience of the basic sound parameters needed for different genres of EDM, so we can offer a variety of solutions. Having proved itself ideal for theatre and regular arena venues, Coda is once again excelling in the EDM environment”.

Photo by Marc De Groot