BERN, Switzerland — Sven Gerber of Livesound and Jochen Sommer of Adamson Europe GmbH played key roles in providing audio support for the unique requirements of the annual Gurten Festival in Switzerland this year, which had a new emphasis on “green” technology. The audio system included E15 speakers from Adamson.
More details from Adamson Systems Engineering (www.adamsonsystems.com):
The annual Gurten festival takes place annually on a clearing a top the Gurten foothills on the Swiss Alps by the capital city of Bern. The 4-day festival originated in 1977, today managing the logistics of the festival are in one word a masterpiece. Access to the festival site up on the mountain is via one street, which can only be travelled in one direction at a time. The entire festival set-up takes about a month, and another two weeks for the teardown. Artists travel in special shuttles with priority on the road, there’s also a heli-pad set up for medical emergencies. The general population also arrives by ‘Gurtenbahn’ a local equivalent of a cable car. Some people choose to hike the 45-minute trek to the site. Practically all choose to stay and camp for the duration of the show. Due to the site’s constraints and access, a limit of 18,000 people per day is set for the festival.
Notably, Gurten Festival has made some efforts to be ‘green’. This year the organizers participated again in the international initiative of Viva con Agua campaigns for global clean drinking water and education projects. The organization is well known for innovative donation actions, such as the one used at Gurten Festival, where Viva con Agua puts clearly visible bins for used cups and bottles all over the festival ground and next to the drink-stands. The organization regularly empties these bins and redeems the cups’ deposit at the festivals catering stands for funding their well and other clean water projects. Also to power the festival, the typical generators aren’t used, instead they have permanent connections to the Swiss electricity network and the utility companies use this festival for research purposes (e.g., what happens in the network if a lot of extra energy is required for a short period of time). They also claim that the power for the festival comes only from hydropower.
The audio setup had two days to organize; sound design and system setup was headed by the very capable Sven Gerber of Livesound and supported by Jochen Sommer of Adamson Europe GmbH. Livesound’s history spans as far back as the festival, and they now do a lion’s share of the country’s summer music festivals, and have expanded their business to include corporate events, direct sales, and permanent installation markets.
Traditionally, since Livesound became an Adamson Y-Axis partner in 2005, Gurten Fest has had Y18’s on its main stage, this year’s festival saw an opening for Livesound to take on Adamson’s new E15 system and they did not hesitate to try out the new system. The E15 system was dispatched from the UK to Adamson’s Hamburg warehouse in Germany, where it was prepped and shipped to Switzerland.
The Festival’s principal stage where artists such as Lenny Kravitz, Snow Patrol, Norah Jones, The Roots, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, and Gorillaz Sound System performed, the main system consisted of 24 Adamson E15s, 15 Adamson T21 subs which were divided into two stacks of six enclosures placed on L&R of the stage, with three cabinets in the center, eight Adamson SpekTrix were used as out fills, and eight more for near and lip fills. Eight Adamson Y18s were used on delay towers behind the FOH position.
Jochen Sommer of Adamson Europe adds: “The (Adamson E15s) got raving feedback from many engineers of acts such as Snow Patrol, Norah Jones, Nick Brave and the backbeats, Casper, Züri West, and Lenny Kravitz.” Noel Gallagher’s Flying Birds FOH Engineer Antony King was saying that the E15s are ‘great stuff’, how he has loved Adamson’s boxes for a while now, and how more Adamson PA was needed in the UK. On the performance side King describes the E15s as: “(they) feel fantastically clear whilst retaining a smooth warmth, that most modern systems seem to lack.”
Thomas Gfeller, technical director of Livesound explains “We did a 4-day test drive of the new Adamson E15 in combination with our T21 Subs. The E15 delivers much more power at a reduced weight compared to any array in the market. The system’s consistencies in the horizontal plane, as well as superior resolution even at highest SPL were very impressive.”
Kaspar “Tropf” Philip Wiens, FOH engineer for Jan Delay, mentioned he’d love to take the festival’s combo of E15s with T21 Subs on tour: “They provide a very transparent sound with a well-defined spatial separation of source, with amazing vocal definition — even with an artist like Jan Delay whose voice is complex to mix. From a sonic point of view I would rate the Gurten Festival among the top three Jan Delay shows ever.”
The system also received many positive comments from visitors and management: “A deliriously happy promoter hollered at us: ‘There is no way around the E15s in the future!’” Gfeller explains.
On the B-Stage, the Zeltbühne or “Tent Stage” 16 Adamson Y10s were used as the mains, which were complimented by 20 Adamson SpekTrix Subs for low-end, and SpekTrix & SpekTrix Ws for delays.
