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Nexo GEO Joins Parade with Royal de Luxe

The centenary of Jules Verne’s death in 2005 has provided the inspiration for a unique three-day spectacle featuring one of France's most innovative theatre companies, Royal de Luxe. Combining elements of street theatre, circus and carnival, the extraordinary event featuring a robot elephant and a giant doll demanded all of the expertise of French PA company Melpomen – and all of the Nexo inventory.

Royal de Luxe, which was established in the early eighties, has become famous for its street spectacles where creativity is teamed with extravagant production. The company lives up to its reputation with 'The Sultan and his Time-Travelling Elephant', unforgettable street entertainment which attracted more than 100,000 spectators in the two cities, Amiens in Somme and Nantes in Britanny, which had been home to Jules Verne, the father of science fiction.

French PA company Melpomen, which has been working with Royal de Luxe for the last decade, provided the sound reinforcement system for both events, which will be staged in London in early September.

"Working with Royal de Luxe is always an enriching experience, these guys have no boundaries and their shows are always impressive," says Thierry Tranchant, technical supervisor from Melpomen. "The gear we were asked to provide had to handle the diversity of events taking place during the performance. Given that we were dealing with four locations, (the elephant and the giant doll moving throughout the city, an open air cinema and a large stage for the final concert), almost the whole of our NEXO inventory was required on set."

The massive robot elephant (39 feet high x 26 feet large) was followed by a truck which carries a custom-made stage for the band. A GEO T tangent array system mounted on the truck consisted of 20x T4805 array modules and 8x CD18 subbass cabinets, divided between each corner of the platform, with 4x PS15s and 2x S2 subs for stage monitoring. The whole system was powered by Camco Vortex Series power amplifiers and controlled by Nexo NX241 digital processors.

"The Elephant was clearly the most challenging installation," continues Trenchant. "We had to come up with a system that could be easily set up, effective in terms of power-to-footprint ratio and with a versatile directivity suitable to all the different locations along the route. The GEO T did a perfect job in terms of sonic clarity: special frames with straps were designed to hold the system, which perfectly integrated with the stage and made the set-up very easy."

The system used on the giant doll, hanging directly on its metallic structure, consisted of eight Nexo GEO S830 modules providing a 30° directivity radius and 4s CD12 subs. The system was powered by three Camco Vortex 4 amplifiers and controlled by two NX241 digital processors. For the open air cinema, four Nexo PS15s powered by Camco Vortex 4, were used. "We hung two speakers above the screen and placed the other pair on poles, the whole delivering 1 kW of sound which is quite comfortable in terms of listening.

"The elephant and the giant doll end their journey through the city and meet up near the stage where the closing concert is given. They've been followed by an audience of 80-100,000, so the system had to deliver a high SPL and an accurate directivity; the natural choice was the Nexo GEO T Series."

For the front of house PA, 36 T4805 vertical array modules and four T2815 downfill cabinets were used, together with 16 CD18 subbass cabinets, powered by Camco Vortex 6 and controlled by Nexo NX241 processors and a Midas Venice 320 console.

"A spectacle from Royal de Luxe is made up of gigantism, surprises, astonishments and, most importantly, a high level of professionalism that everyone, participants and audience alike, remembers with emotion. Our main goals were to participate in the success of the event and meet the numerous challenges given. We've succeeded on both fronts, and we are looking forward to introducing the magic of Jules Verne to London," says Trenchant

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Nexo GEO Joins Parade with Royal de Luxe

1st August 2005

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