In late 2019, Fuzzy’s annual dance music festival Listen Out and its stripped-down sibling Listen In completed a triumphant tour of Australia and New Zealand, with sell-out crowds sweating it out with acts such as Aussie hero Flume & legendary US producer Diplo. 30,000 revellers packed Perth’s HBF Arena for Listen Out on 29 September, while 10,000 patrons attended Adelaide’s Bonython Park on the 6th October for Listen In.
Novatech Creative Event Technology worked closely with the teams at both SUBVRT and Colourblind in providing a full package of video, lighting, audio, and rigging to Perth’s Listen Out and Adelaide’s Listen In, which saw them fabricating custom stage carts and rigging elements based on designs originally created for Flume and Diplo in the USA. Novatech ensured the gear’s safe passage twice across the Nullarbor and designed their touring rigs to scale from the three-stage Perth leg to the main stage only Adelaide leg.
In addition to supplying Flume’s spec of a 9.6m wide by 5.4 high LED screen of ROE LED CB5F panels, Novatech custom built eight rigging ‘pods’ that were flown above the main Atari stage, which held giant mirrors, lasers, Robe Robin BMFL Blades, Claypaky Sharpys, and GLP X4 Bar 20s.
All pods were built with wheels that meant they rolled out of the trucks, straight onto the stage. All elements were pre-loomed and cabled, but due to the stressful trip across the Nullarbor, it meant not leaving the lights pre-rigged. However, having the pods built and cabled meant that from rolling these elements out of the truck, to firing up and testing in the air, the pods were ready within an hour in both Perth and Adelaide.
Also headlining the main stage, Diplo’s show was just as challenging. Diplo’s show utilised four carts, which were custom fabricated exactly to spec. They rode on a 1.2 x 2.4 metre stage deck, 300mm high at the bottom, and held ROE LED CB8 semi-transparent LED panels, 18 Claypaky Scenius Unicos, and nine GLP JDC-1s. They rolled onto stage with enough precision to lock every join of the LED panels, creating one seamless semitransparent wall.
Due to the tight turnaround between events and the distance travelled, logistics were carefully considered around how the trucks were packed and how the systems were deployed. This kind of thinking ahead starts way before the first truck is even packed; all systems are designed and labelled in Vectorworks, to the level of detail that staff print out stickers for each lighting fixture that state their location, DMX Universe, mode, wattage, and cabling details. It makes for a much more efficient and enjoyable delivery for the crew, client and artists.
Listen In and Out – The Gear – Stage by Stage
Listen Out’s three stages were named for legendary electronic music production tools; the main Atari stage for the Atari ST computer, the smaller 909 stage for the Roland TR-909 drum machine, and third Juno stage for the Roland Juno series of synthesisers. All three ran lighting, video, and audio from Novatech.
Atari
Atari’s lighting and video rig, in addition to the massive ROE LED screen, pods, and carts, also packed in Claypaky Sharpys and Claypaky Sharpy Plus, Martin MAC Viper Profiles, Martin MAC Quantum Washes, Arri Mini Flood 1000s, and a host of Molefays.
909
The lighting rig sported Prolights Diamond 7s, Martin MAC Viper Profiles, MAC 700 Profiles, Martin Atomic 3000s, and PixelLine 1044 RGB battens.
Juno
Juno’s lighting rig utilised Claypaky Sharpys, PixelLine 1044s, Claypaky Sharpy Wash 330s, and SGM XC-5s, rounded out with 2Lite DWEs.
