In what has become an Australian tradition, every summer the Red Hot Summer Tours ignite stages across the country, bringing legendary rock acts and vibrant live music to some of the country’s most beautiful outdoor venues. From regional heartlands to scenic coastal towns, this touring concert series delivers an unforgettable live music experience under the summer sun.
The Hunter Valley’s Roche Estate hosted the current RHST featuring a lineup headlined by Crowded House. Supporting acts included Angus & Julia Stone, The Church, Mark Seymour with Vika & Linda, and The Waifs.
Melbourne-based POWA Productions provided all production, including gear and personnel.
The lighting rig comprised 44 Martin MAC Aura PXL, 40 Ayrton Eurus S, 24 Chauvet Color Strike M, 15 ShowPRO Blinder II and 4 Antari F7 Smaze. A front truss held 7 x Eurus S, 8 MAC Aura PXL and 8 Color Strike M. The mid-truss and back-truss each housed 12 Eurus S, 8 MAC Aura PXL and 8 Color Strike M. Two small side trusses each held 4 MAC Aura PXL, and four Color Strike M were located on each wing. Nine more Eurus S were situated on the floor. The Crowded House floor package had 8 MAC Aura PXL mounted on poles at staggered heights, as well as 4 MAC Aura PXL on the floor.
Control was by two MA Lighting grandMA3 full-size consoles.
“Jason, Jason, Alissa, Pat and the entire POWA team have worked tirelessly to get the Red Hot Summer show up each day,” commented Dan Black from Colourblind, who was looking after Crowded House. “The rig of Ayrton Eurus, MAC Aura PXL and Chauvet Strike M has provided a clean and bright look, which is able to punch through in the afternoon and provide more than enough light into the evening. We used zactrack as the follow spot solution to cover Neil, Nick and Liam across the front of the stage, and this has worked very successfully.”
POWA deployed its L-Acoustics K2 PA system with two main hangs of 12 K2 and 2 K1SB, two side hangs of 8 K2, 6 A15Focus for lip fill, 2 KARA for side fill and 18 KS28 subs. All powered on L-Acoustics amps.
The delay speaker system comprised 24 x Kara 2-way modular WST speakers and 3 KARA/SB18.
At FOH was an Avid S6L, Sound Grid Extreme Server, Quest QSA200i Powered Speaker
and 4 Shure SM 58SE Microphone with Switch. A Lake System Drive Rack was used.
“Being part of the Red Hot Summer experience this year has been fantastic – great people, great gear, and a truly professional team at POWA,” commented Kerry Furlong, Crowded House’s FOH engineer.
Monitors included a DiGiCo SD5 CS console, 10 M2 d&b audiotechnik monitors, 4 d&b audiotechnik D80 amplifiers, 6 L-Acoustics SB18, 4 ARCS II 2-way Active 15″ LF & 3″ HF, and 2 L-A amplifiers. A comprehensive Shure radio system included 2 Shure Axient AXT600 Wireless Spectrum Managers and Shure PSM1000 IEM kits.
The iMag screens were 124 LM4 500×500 104×104 pixel HD Outdoor LED Screens with Novastar control rack. Vision control consisted of an ATEM 2 M/E Constellation HD, an ATEM 2 M/E Advanced Panel 20, and a Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Studio.
POWA also provided the stage and roofing system, truss, cables, motors, stands, power distro, comms, drape … all the less sexy gear that is essential to making a show like this such a success!
Face to Face Crew:
Pat Kearney – Production Manager
Steve Varga – Promoter Rep
Tim Anderson – Stage Manager
Powa Crew:
Audio: Hamish McKoy, Ollie Erickson, Kaelah Heidenreich, Jon Rac, Tim Knight
LX: Jason Henderson, Jason Igari, Alyssa Heilborn
VX: Dan Visentin, Ethan Stebbins, Tamika Liddle, Noah Fox
Trucks: Glen Womersley, Jimmy Van Zanten, Greg Eva
