Pulling Off an Event at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena (Behind Freestyle Kings)
Rod Laver Arena is one of the most recognisable rooms in the country, and it is not a forgiving one. Big volume, an audience on every side, and a schedule that does not move.
We were there with the Freestyle Kings crew, supplying audio, video and lighting for the show.
What does Forefront actually supply at a show like this?
All three departments, plus the people to run them.
Audio, video and lighting came from us for this show. That matters more than it sounds: when one supplier covers all three, there is no gap between the audio call and the lighting call, no arguing about who owns the network, and one team accountable for the result.
The room is in the round. What does that change?
Almost everything about the audio design.
A conventional end-on show only has to throw in one direction. In the round, the audience is on every side, and every one of them has paid for the same show. So the system has to deliver consistent coverage through 360 degrees rather than firing down the length of the room.
We covered it with an Adamson CS10 line array paired with CS119 subs, configured for in-the-round coverage.
How do you physically hang a rig in the round?
By using what the venue already has. Rod Laver Arena has an in-house movable truss grid, and we rigged the show off it to achieve the in-the-round configuration.
That's worth understanding if you're planning a show there. A movable grid means the hang points aren't fixed where the building decided they should be. You can position the structure around a centre stage and get a symmetrical rig over an audience seated on all sides, instead of fighting the room's geometry with a pile of extra motors and steel.
For a producer it shows up as budget and time: less rigging hardware to bring in, fewer points to build, and a load-in that starts closer to where you need to end up.
What's at front of house?
A DiGiCo Quantum 225 with Pulse.
The Quantum 225 is the same platform we run across our arena work, which means our engineers walk up to a familiar surface on show day instead of learning a desk under time pressure. In a room like Rod Laver, that familiarity is worth more than any single feature on the spec sheet.
How do you handle mics and in-ears for a show like this?
Sennheiser EM4 wireless systems, paired with Sennheiser G4 in-ear monitors.
An arena is a hostile RF environment. Reliable wireless is not a luxury item on a show where the presenter is the thread holding the whole thing together.
What's running the lighting?
A grandMA3 full-size console, with LSC Nexen R8 and R4 nodes handling lighting network distribution around the venue.
The full-size grandMA3 gives the operator room to build and run a show of this scale live. The Nexen nodes are the unglamorous half: they get the control data reliably out to every position in a very large room, which is what stops a rig this size becoming a troubleshooting exercise.
How do you get a rig like this in and out on an arena schedule?
Pre-rig trussing, onto that same grid.
The fixtures fly in truss that is already loaded, so the rig goes up as complete units rather than fixture by fixture. Combined with the venue's movable grid, it means far less time spent building structure before you can even start focusing lights.
On an arena day, where load-in, rehearsal, show and load-out all have to fit inside the venue's hours, that is the difference between a comfortable schedule and a stressful one.
On this rig that meant 20 x Martin MAC Viper Performance, 16 x Robe Spiider, 12 x Storm Bolt strobes, 12 x Martin MH11 beams and 16 x 4-way blinders.
GEAR USED
Lighting
grandMA3 Full-Size : Lighting Console
LSC Nexen R8 & R4 Nodes : Lighting Network Distribution
20x Martin MAC Viper Performance
16x Robe Spiider
12x Storm Bolt Strobes
12x Martin MH11 Beams
16x 4-Way Blinders
Pre-Rig Trussing, flown from Rod Laver Arena's in-house movable truss grid
Audio
DiGiCo Quantum 225 with Pulse : FOH Console
Adamson CS10 Line Array : In-the-Round Coverage
Adamson CS119 Subs
Sennheiser EM4 Wireless Systems
Sennheiser G4 In-Ear Monitors
So what makes an arena show go smoothly?
Value, quality and a team with the expertise to bring the show to life. That's what we try to bring to every room we walk into, and an arena is simply the version of it with the least margin for error.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Give us a call and we'll run through all the production phases with you, so you get a smooth, hassle-free event rather than a list of things to chase.
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All three, along with the crew to run them. At Rod Laver Arena for Freestyle Kings we provided audio, video and lighting for the show.
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Yes. At Rod Laver we used an Adamson CS10 line array paired with CS119 subwoofers, configured to deliver coverage in the round rather than firing end-on.
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Yes. Rod Laver Arena has an in-house movable truss grid, and we rigged the Freestyle Kings show off it to achieve an in-the-round configuration, with the lighting fixtures flown on pre-rig trussing.
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We do. The Freestyle Kings Live Tour took us through Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Adelaide Entertainment Centre and Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, with the same production standard at each stop.
Got an Event in the Calendar?
Get in touch. We'll run through all the production phases with you and give you a smooth, hassle-free event.