VENTURA, CA — The seventh annual Ventura Hillsides Music Festival held at Arroyo Verde Park featured the Neville Brothers, Traffic co-founder Dave Mason, Keb’ Mo’ and Jay Nash. The 2009 event also marked the seventh year that a full loudspeaker system from L-Acoustics has been deployed for the park’s natural amphitheater setting. Led by Jon Monson, Rat Sound used a FOH loudspeaker setup that included a dozen L-Acoustics KUDO enclosures augmented by eight SB28 subs and four ARCS cabinets — all powered and processed by four LA-RAK loaded with L-Acoustics amplified controllers. On stage, a dozen 115XT HiQ coaxial wedges were also available for monitoring, as well as three compact, self-powered 108P enclosures for front-fill.
“This year’s show was really fun and all of the musicians completely rocked it,” said Lynn Bartosh, coordinator of the Ventura Hillsides Music Festival. “But none of that would matter if it wasn’t for the top-notch production that both Rat Sound and L-Acoustics provided. We hear back every year from the bands, engineers and crowd that the sound is so incredibly good, which is amazing seeing that this is an outdoor festival. No matter where people are sitting out on the hill, the sound is always perfect. And it’s just as good on stage, too. After Big Bad Voodoo Daddy had played our festival several years ago, Scotty Morris came out and told us, ‘This is absolutely my favorite place that I have ever played.’ So, between the beauty of the Ventura Hillsides, the talent of our incredible musicians, and technical brilliance of both Rat Sound and L-Acoustics, we know that we truly have something special here each year.”
The Ventura Hillsides Music Festival serves as the primary fundraiser for the Ventura Hillsides Conservancy (VHC), a non-profit land trust founded by citizens in 2003 which is dedicated to preserving and restoring the hillsides in the Ventura region. Similar to previous years, the 2009 festival was deemed a success in raising both community awareness of the VHC and funds for its open space conservation projects.
For more information, please visit www.l-Acoustics.com.
