was sold out three months ago,” he says, “the fastest ever. In fact, they wanted to add another stage but the environmental regulations prevented it.” In common with the other big European draws, Werchter is popular simply because it has become a centre of gravity for everyone. “They get all the top bands,” confirms Demoustier, a veteran at Benelux production pioneer EML, conjoined with multinational giant PRG just over a year ago. “Practically everyone out on tour includes this date. The artists want to do it as much as the punters.” What Demoustier describes amounts to brand management, in business terms. “Herman Schueremans, the promoter, always says that to compete with UK and US festivals we have to be 200% better in order to be 100% respected! So, he does everything that people want, no compromise. The backstage area is a complete joy. All the bands love it. These days every festival has wiFi, but it was available here from 10 years ago. Every office is connected and all the riders are satisfied, right down to the lowest acts on the bill. “Plus, of course, there are no cutbacks on the PA. You see other festivals reducing the
success itself. “They didn’t get the extra stage, so next year they’re hoping for a little more space,” Demoustier reveals. “If they don’t get it, it’s possible that it could move to another village location – but that would be very shocking. The name is engraved on the festival calendar, and who knows what effect changing it will have.”
ISLAND RECORDS UK-based Capital Sound has been involved with Budapest’s Sziget Festival for seven years, and this year won an open tender for the main stage following a change in production management. Paul Timmins is general manager. “It’s been growing gradually, and there’s about 14 stages now,” he says. “It occupies the whole island, and three years ago there was talk of moving off to another site. But that coincided with the economic situation hammering home, and caution prevailed. On the island, they’re limited to something like 70,000.” Once again, brand
management is the key: sziget means ‘island’, so moving it from Obudai-sziget (Old Buda Island) on the Danube would change the name, just as with Werchter. Imagine trying to re-
“You see other festivals reducing the sound systems, here we just keep adding” Patrick Demoustier
delay towers, reducing the sound systems, but here we just keep adding all the time. We added two more delay towers last year, to give everybody the same quality of sound. Usually the organisers will say ‘yes’, provided you have a reasonable case. OK, it was sold out early, which is a luxury. But having the money is one thing; being willing to spend it is quite another…” This year as usual EML is fielding the Adamson Y18 and Y10 line arrays, but with a sea change finally affecting the console riders. “We used to supply two Midas analogue consoles at FOH, and that was it. This year we’re having to supply several Avid and Yamaha digital consoles, because the engineers are arriving with the show on USB sticks. It’s a new generation of engineers, and this is the year it changed!” The only long-term worry is
26 l PSNLIVE 2012
invent Glastonbury as ‘Shepton Mallet’… “Sziget is all about the location,” adds Timmins. “It’s great value for money, the weather is guaranteed and the acts are top-drawer. In the crew you see the same faces each year, guys that have grown up with the festival, and there’s great morale – it’s mostly local crew with only a few of us from the UK. One of the things that helps us is that there are relatively fewer acts each day, spread across several stages, and people tend to migrate from one to another because the performances are staggered. That gives us plenty of time for a proper soundcheck, and with the increase in digital consoles that means time to program the show into the desk.” Timmins reports the final
abandonment of analogue consoles last year, and a digital rider that – once again – features the names Avid and Yamaha. There is also a
APR Audio from Taunton, with Electro-Voice X-Line systems at the Jazz World stage, Glastonbury
Teenyweeny full range systems. Live.
The E6 loudspeaker is probably as big as a laptop. A miniature all the same, it has a patented rotatable coaxial horn assembly. Intended for mobile situations as a stand-alone multifunctional full range system, or for integration into complex applications. While it sounds distinctively bigger than it is, it remains neutral, clear, transparent and intelligible even at high sound pressure levels. As with all the little systems in the d&b E-Series.