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Liverpool’s Waterfront Weekend
It was produced for Liverpool City Council by their ever active Special Events Team. The two-day event follows on from last year’s highly successful ‘Waterfront Classics’ pilot concert, after which it was decided to develop the concept of an accessible mixed entertainment bill. “We wanted to appeal to a wide spectrum of people and present the event in a coherent, interesting and enjoyable format,” explained event manager Nick Handford.
Staged in the city’s famous Philharmonic Hall, Handford also production managed, collaborating closely with his colleagues on the Special Events team.
Lee Forde designed the lighting, working alongside programmer/operator Dave Farmer. Classical sound guru Chris Coxhead was brought in and the show mixed by Richard Sharratt, also an expert in this highly specialised field. Lighting equipment was supplied by PRG and audio by Britannia Row. Three stage managers – Phil Murphy, Stu Stalker and Seamus Coyle ensured the show schedules ran like clockwork..
The music element took place on the Friday evening, followed by comedy on the Sunday – starring Jo Brand, Julian Clary and Chris Cairns. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra anchored Friday’s music programme, playing to a packed 1700 capacity house, conducted by Howard Moody, who also helped formulate the musical programme.
There were some real surprises in store! The Farm – legends from the 1990s ‘baggy’ rave decade – returned to their home town to play their first live show in 9 years - performing their two-times hit ‘All Together Now’ with the SFX Boys Choir. The choir are pupils at St Francis Xavier College, Liverpool, and sang on the recent hit version of “All Together Now” used as a Euro 2004 anthem. Acclaimed artist/singer/songwriter Marc Almond joined the RLPO in the second half, for two specially arranged versions of his hits ‘Jacky’ and ‘Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart’ which went down a storm.
Trumpeter Thomas Osborne – Liverpool Young Musician of The Year 2004 – performed Alexander Arutiunian’s trumpet concerto, and orchestral pieces included Mussorgsky’s ‘Night On A Bare Mountain’, Bernstein’s ‘On The Town’, Grofés ‘Sunrise’ and many more.
The original plan was to stage Waterfront Weekend outdoors at the Pier Head, but the schizophrenic August meteorology convinced everyone that a move indoors was sensible, so original lighting, sound, screen and staging schemes were adjusted accordingly.
Lee Forde comments that as they were blessed with having a good projection surfaces surrounding the stage at the Philharmonic Hall, they took full advantage. Utilising two trusses and the floor at the back of stage, the rig consisted of eight High End PC Beams and 18 Studio Spot moving light luminaires, two 3k Diversitronic strobes with 12 Source Fours. Onstage space was extremely tight, with so many musicians and guest artists.
Special gobos were commissioned from Projected Image of the new ‘Liverpool 08’ logo and branding, launched the same day. These were introduced by LCC leader Mike Story, and then integrated into lighting Offenbach’s “Can Can”. This will run throughout the run up to the City’s European Capital of Culture year in 2008.
Lighting control was via a Hog II and a wing. “We had a massive diversity of musical styles – choral, orchestral, cabaret, laddish rock - to cover with a small rig,” said Lee Forde. “Every instrument on the rig had was used with great versatility.” They loaded on the previous night, returning early the day of the show to programme from scratch.
Chris Coxhead also designed last year’s event and works regularly with the ENO. Moving the show indoors meant he had to contend with the Philharmonic’s natural acoustic – which was designed for classical performance, but not for amplified or electronic music. After careful deliberation, he decided to mic the whole orchestra very, very subtly - using 63 Schoepe mics. This gave a sonic layer from which to build when the electronic pieces kicked in, ensuring they blended seamlessly with the acoustic sections of the performance.
The PA was a dVDOSC line array, eight elements per side with two subs each, plus a row of d&b E3 front fills, picked for their expedient size. Right in the corners of the stage, they placed one ARCS long throw box per side, to fill the sides of the auditorium.
The Farm agreed to use IEMs for the first time (a Shure system) and their guitars were DI’d to reduce onstage clutter, and Marc Almond worked with his wired Shure SM58 and a pair of Turbo wedges on minimum foldback. To pick up the choir at the back, they rigged a Soundfield 5 mic.
Richard Sharratt and monitor engineer Leon Dalton both used Yamaha PM1Ds – for simplicity and because the lack of rehearsal time meant they had just one hectic afternoon slot. The only outboard effect used FOH was a TC M5000 reverb, with all the other processing incorporated within the console.
Waterfront Weekend was a fantastically ambitious project made possible because of Liverpool City Council’s progressive stance to cultural events, spearheaded by Lee Forde. Nick Handford comments, “Where else could you see The Farm and Marc Almond performing on the same bill as music by Wagner and Debussy in a classical setting? Our aim was to stage an event with high artistic and production values, and the care and attention to detail of our suppliers and production team enabled this – and us to have a great time in the process! “
In picture: The RLPO on full swing
10th September 2004
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