Australian rockers Hockey Dad broke the ‘Larger Outdoor Live Gig’ drought in NSW with last weekend’s Drive-In shows.
Originally the show was to be held in July 2020 at Bulli Showgrounds on the NSW South Coast to coincide with the launch of their album Brain Candy but rescheduled due to torrential rain (of all things to stop a gig in 2020) ruining the ground.
The rescheduled two Sold Out nights in Oct 2020 featured a stage from Cliftons, audio from 8th Day Sound, FM mix to the cars by Gigpiglet Productions, a stylish red drape from The Look and ei Productions providing the lighting, LED Screens and FOH cameras.
Hockey Dad LD Bryce Mace designed a lighting rig using Global pre-rig truss to minimise the IN / OUT times. Featured in the rig were GLP JDC-1, Claypaky Mythos II, Claypaky B-Eye K20, Martin MAC Quantum Wash, Ayrton Ghibli and LED X-Blinders, all run from an MA Lighting grandMA3 light.
Vision used VuePix ER5.9 LED Screens for L+R iMag, Media Server, Roland Vision Switcher and a couple of Canon cameras.
It’s a fast-paced rock show and the high energy lighting by the LD complimented it perfectly. Both nights went off with Hockey Dad and support band The Pinheads killing it on stage to appreciative punters in the 400 cars.
It was a slightly different production experience for sure and despite several Covid-19 hoops to jump through, things seemed almost like a normal outdoor gig. The powers that be (Police and Local Council) were very happy with the outcome.
“Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come and perhaps more gigs like this can happen,” remarked Neale Mace, managing director of ei Productions. “From our side, we’d like to thank Hockey Dad, their management and the Yours and Owls crew for pushing ahead and making these shows happen in what can only be described as a difficult environment.”
