NEWS FOCUS: Lake of Stars Festival
Opposite: Lake of Stars’ unique appeal makes people travel from all over the globe to be part of the event. Below: Bands from 12 countries played at Lake of Stars 2011 inlcuding Foals, making this year’s line-up the most diverse to date; Production Manager Edwina FitzPatrick.
LoudSound, BBC, Exposure, Audile, KOKO and Funktion One.” A star attraction for Jameson this year was
the live debut of the Midas PRO2C mixing console. “Midas partnered with us this year, which is amazing. They provided a brand new PRO2C console for our Main Stage that worked like a dream. It kept the headline acts more than happy and the sound was perfect. The Funktion One systems we use are always great to hear too... apparently fishermen far out on the lake can hear the bands performing! And backline from STS Touring was brilliant, as were the lighting rigs provided by Audile.” Ordering, transporting and sending
volunteers from the UK may at first seem like a mammoth task, but it’s a task which the British industry pros are enthusiastically dedicated to. “Overall I think what really stood out was our volunteer AV crew who worked tirelessly in the tropical heat for five days,” Jameson highlighted. “Leme and Castro, our Malawian engineers and Jack from Funktion One, Kristina and
Eduardo from KOKO in Camden and Craig and Matt from Audile not only ran the stages seamlessly, but unloaded and packed up six tonnes of equipment that DHL transported. We could not do the event without their support.”
A WORLD APART A record number attended this year’s festival, with 3,800 people travelling to Lake Malawi’s palm-fringed shores to see UK artists such as Beverley Knight and Foals PLUS the cream of Malawian acts including Black Missionaries and Lucius Banda. With a total of 80 bands from 12 countries, this year’s line-up was the most diverse yet and helped strengthen the festival’s reputation as a global event. “The attendance has been steadily increasing
since it started, but over the last three years the figures have increased substantially,” said Production Manager Edwina ‘Eddie’ FitzPatrick, who first fell in love with the country and the event when she attended the festival back in 2005. “I went back in 2006 to live and teach in Malawi and whilst I was there, I went to the
festival again. When I moved to London, I got in touch with Will, telling him I worked in events and would like to get involved.” Pre-event, a large proportion of FitzPatrick’s
role is interviewing, assigning roles and briefing all volunteers, which reached almost 160 this year. “As volunteers - some of whom don’t have event experience - many of them won’t get involved in the logistical preparation necessary for their positions so that falls into my remit,” said FitzPatrick, who currently freelances at a variety of events. Site design and helping monitor the build,
security preparation, liaising with local agencies such as representatives from the police, Government, village and venue are among the many responsibilities of FitzPatrick and the other Production Managers, Tom Branston and Anna Cox. Explained FitzPatrick: “I also manage how
staff from all sources will come together, be fed and housed, briefed, meet each other, settle in and have everything they might need in time to deliver the event as a unified Lake of Stars team.
TPi NOVEMBER 2011 • 11
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