Rock band Hoodoo Gurus and their song “1000 Miles Away” have a long-standing connection to the Royal Australian Navy and HMAS Canberra.
Earlier this year, the band was due to play a gig on the ship for Navy personnel only, but bad weather forced a postponement until September.
ei Productions were contacted to supply a complete audio and lighting package to the Hoodoo Gurus specifications.
“We know their production people well, so the actual tech spec was a pretty easy process to arrange,” commented Neale Mace, Managing Director of ei Productions. “We knew there would be a stage and suitable power supplied and, as the show was outdoors on the deck of HMAS Canberra, which is a Landing Helicopter Dock ship, we knew there would be plenty of space on the deck/venue!”
Neale adds that the challenges were minimal, as he knew the ei crew and the Gurus crew could easily manage the show.Weather was a concern, as there was no stage roof, and the Navy seemed happy to wait until the day before to confirm whether the show was happening due to weather.
The audio / lighting package needed to be small but still able to cover the space for a “rock” type gig. ei Productions used some of their d&b Y-Series PA (stacked – a combination of Y8/Y12/Y-Sub), and it worked well in the space. On stage, there were a bunch of d&b M4 wedges and a couple of Dynacord Madras M18 powered subs for drum subs. Out front, Marshall Cullen specified an AVID S6L-24c console, and Simon “Davros” Blanch was happy using a DiGiCo SD11i on monitors.
Obviously, there were no overhead rigging points on the ship, so lighting was all on truss uprights and truss/towerlifters. Lighting designer Baz Barrett used his own Chamsys console to run Prolights Astra Wash37PIX and Martin MAC Aura XIP Wash. As it was a day gig, the lights were more for a filming look and eye candy.
There was no haze or smoke, but as it turned out, it was so windy that you wouldn’t have seen it anyway.
“The show went great,” said Neale. “The Navy and Gurus were all very happy. The band were stoked to use one of the ship’s helicopter elevators to come up from the band room to the deck (stage) – and it looked pretty cool.
“I guess it’s not your average gig, and in our 30 years doing this it’s the firsttime we’ve done a gig on a Naval ship. However, we did have plenty of loaders – all from the Navy, wearing uniforms!”
Neale reports that none of his crew was press-ganged into joining the Navy on the day.
Hoodoo Gurus touring crew: Marshall Cullen (FOH), Simon “Davros” Blanch (Mons), Anthony “Baz” Barrett (LX)
