Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Delta Sound was approached to handle the audio for the event: ‘We supplied a system that fitted into the stage design as well as delivering the audio solution that we wanted,’ says Delta Sound’s Andy Jackson. Mr Jackson decided on an L-Acoustic V-Dosc system for the concerts. This comprised of 46 tops, 18 dV-Doscs used as front fills and out fills, and 40 218 subs. The main LR PA was made up of 15 V-Dosc boxes a side with eight subs flown next to that on either side. ‘There were also two blocks of nine subs ground-stacked left and right which were moved further out to avoid some of the central lobes that you can get,’ explains Mr Jackson. There was also a centre fill of another six subs.

Also in use were four L-Acoustic Arcs, 12 XT112s and 14 Audio Analyst 12FR monitors. 80 L-Acoustic LA48a amps, four LA4 amps and 12 Crown 1202 Macro-Tech amps powered the speakers. Processing was handled by two XTA DP448s and eight DPA226s. Mixing desks included Yamaha’s M7CL V2, PM4D RH and 01V powered by four Yamaha PW8000 power supply units. Also in use were two Denon CD players, four BSS Blu-160 Soundweb units, a JBL Smaart system with dbx analyser and Digidesign Profile and Pro Tools 8. ‘It was quite a hefty system, but we were basically catering for a space of 40,000 plus,’ says Mr Jackson.

The unusual shape of the venue could have thrown up a number of potential issues for the audio system, but ‘because there was a lot of space-frame there, there was enough break-up for there not to be a problem,’ says Mr Jackson. ‘What you ended up getting was a bit of room reflection, which actually was quite good. But because there was no roof and no back wall, we weren’t dealing with the problems of an indoor arena. It was almost the best of both worlds really, on one hand it’s good to have a bit of room as part of a venue, and coupled with the fact that there was no roof worked quite well. It was a great site from a visual point of view, it was very impressive.’

‘Most of the artists had their own control and monitors, so most of it was just plug-and-go,’ says Mr Jackson. ‘We had a very good response from the engineers from all the bands; everybody was happy with the system and nobody made any changes. It was a very good gig to work on.’ Mr Jackson also feels the system worked well across the four nights: ‘The system was run well by the guest engineers, everyone did a very good job mixing their respective bands and it was a good event. It was high-profile so there was a bit of pressure there, but I think if you put the right teams on a job like that it makes life a lot easier.’

The concerts had a captive audience of race-goers on the island, and in the case of Beyoncé actually boosted the attendance. ‘I think it’s true to say the pit walk day, because of the Beyoncé concert was the best attended pit walk that they’ve ever had at Formula One,’ says Mr Charteris. ‘Beyoncé is a hot act right now and it was a challenge to start with her. She was the first act we secured for Formula One and I wish that the order could have been different, but ultimately, she was the one we booked first and that was the date she could play.’

This added a further challenge for the organisers: ‘It meant we had to get everything ready, there was no lead-up, we were straight in with our big attendance.’ Indeed, at around 46,000, it was the highest attended concert ever in Abu Dhabi.

Having four acts of such magnitude could have resulted in a whole ream of technical riders, but according to Mr Charteris, this was not the case: ‘I thought it would potentially be quite hard to impress on them the festival attitude, in that this is the show we want to present, we want you to perform in this space. And we were very lucky. Most of the acts brought their own control, they brought their stage set, but in reality, 95 per cent of what was on stage every day was provided locally. I’m proud of the fact that we could pull this off with local knowledge and local equipment.’ He puts the reason for this down to the strength of the event design: ‘People bought into it as a show rather than saying “no we’re coming and we’re doing exactly what we want to do”. The design element of the show was so strong and fitted the space of the show so well that people were happy to just come on stage and perform.’

The end result was a thrilling climax to the Formula One season and a celebration that Abu Dhabi can be rightly proud of.