ELP “does exactly what it says on the tin” at Eisteddfod

Anyone familiar with the service tag lines underneath ELP’s colourful corporate logo will know they say “Lighting, Rigging, Power, Structures, Mobiles, Staging and Design”.

“At this years’ National Eisteddfod of Wales, we got to tick all those boxes” remarks ELP technician Sinbad. “We packed nine Artics with generic lighting, moving fixtures, LED systems, truss, dimmers and desks. We designed and built a bandstand, a broadcast studio and a marketing suite. We provided on site office space and hospitality suites and we powered the lot with two twin generator sets.”

The Eisteddfod is a major festival which celebrates Welsh culture and heritage. It attracts around 160,000 visitors annually and is seen as the launch pad for Wales' most talented performers . This year it took place close to Cardiff city centre at the Pontcanna fields behind Glamorgan Cricket Club.
The Pavilion is the focus of the Eisteddfod. This is where the ceremonies, competitions and the concerts take place. On the field there's also a theatre, an art and crafts exhibition, a literary tent, a Welsh learners pavilion (Maes D), a science and technology exhibition and a pulsating youth tent (Maes B) as well as over 300 stands.

The Pavilion

This highly versatile space required a flexible lighting rig due to the variety and volume of performances. Competitions took place all day (10am-6pm), every day for a week with concerts following on each evening. These ranged from a solo performance to a 170 piece orchestra or a 500 strong choir. Every conceivable musical style was catered for in the Pavillion ranging from a Requiem mass to a rock concert.
LD Nigel Catmur and board operator Pryderi Baskerville controlled over 150 moving lights and LED fixtures through two Hog II desks. 11 LC video screens and one catalyst media server provided flexibility to change backgrounds to suit the different performance styles.
Nigel, now in his second year as LD, comments “I used as much LED as possible for three reasons. Firstly to provide as many colour changing options as possible, secondly to reduce heat emissions in the tent and finally to reduce power consumption”
He continues “The whole rig needs to be totally flexible as you don’t know where people are going to stand. I tried to keep a balance between good overall illumination and injecting some background separation on the stage. The LC video panels which ELP riggers flew towards the back of the stage were very effective in adding more depth to the stage and we could easily move them out of the way if we required extra space.”

BBC studio

ELP custom designed and built the studio structure for BBC TV, radio and for the BBC marketing suite which included online computer terminals linked to BBC web sites. ELP MD Ronan Willson was behind the structural design and Tim Williamson created the CAD technical drawings.
The portable structure was made from 15’ truss and Ali Deck stage units which could be assembled quickly on location. The overall structure served three purposes. An 8m x 6m television studio, a 5m x 6m live radio broadcast studio and an 8m x 6m marketing suite.
ELP supplied all the power and distro for the BBC compound including offices and edit suites from their 200 KVA generator set
ELP provided all studio lighting including 6K MSRs for outside patio areas where interviews took place when the weather was kind enough. There were two Arri 6Ks outside providing a lift during dull weather.
LD Henry Roberts created a couple different studio looks per day to keep things looking fresh. The generic part of the rig was controlled by a ETC Express desk and consol operation duties were shared by Kevin Morgan and Rhys Edwards. Darren Fletcher operated the moving lights from a Hog 2 desk.
The LD commented “The ELP crew have been brilliant. They have worked on the job for so many years that they know it inside out. They know peoples preferences and they are great with the client.”

Theatre

Technician Peter Griffiths looked after four performances per day in the busy Theatre tent. ELP installed a multi use rig into the space for a wide variety of shows. Pete worked closely with each visiting group to provide what they required and to offer advice on what will work best.
“Some were more organised and professional than others” remarked Pete. “But in the end all the theatre groups went away happy with the look and feel of their shows.”

Bandstand

ELPs 6m bandstand provided an impromptu performance space for passing choirs and musicians. This versatile structure can be completely installed in under two hours and is therefore ideal for these kinds of situations.
“It’s been really popular” says Sinbad “And the production have already requested the use of ELPs bigger 10m version for next year.”

Everything else

The ELP team made sure that power and basic lighting support was available across the whole festival site. This included areas such as the Literary Tent, Art & Crafts Tent, Maes’ A & B and the Beer Tent. Colin Goodacre maintained and operated both ELP power generators.

ELP Crew

• Darren Fletcher – Crew hief and Project Manager
• Sinbad – Technician
• Matt Smith – Technician
• John Lockwood – Rigger
• Gary Smith – Rigger
• Colin Goodacre – Generators

Photos by Sinbad and Andy Dec