Cape Town & Johannesburg, January 2024 – Bad Weather Productions, a leading name in South African event production, recently handled the creative technical needs for the hotly anticipated Rocking the Daisies Festival, held in Cape Town and Johannesburg late last year. Said to mark the beginning of South Africa’s festival season, Rocking the Daisies hosts big-name international artists from a diverse spectrum of genres across three days at Cloof Wine Estate, near Cape Town, followed by one day at SuperSport Park, Johannesburg.
With a decade-long involvement in Rocking the Daisies, Bad Weather Productions has played a part in the festival’s evolution. Notably, they pioneered the first hip-hop stage, TwosUP, in 2016, diversifying the festival’s music offerings. Over the years, the collaboration has expanded, with Bad Weather Productions leading the production design and execution across every arena.
“It’s been an incredible journey working with Rocking the Daisies over the last ten years, and watching it develop into one of the most diverse festivals in the country,” says Jonathan Bandli, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Bad Weather Productions. “This year, we were entrusted with handling the AV production for four stages in Cape Town and one stage in Johannesburg, making it one of our most complex projects to date.”
The resource challenges of working in Cape Town during the height of the festival season were overcome by strategically selecting specialised rental and events companies to provide equipment and support for each stage. Bad Weather Productions leveraged its relationships to handpick a team of 50-60 crew members, from lighting operators to front-of-house operators, with teams assigned according to specialities.
“With headliner acts such as BRIT Award winner Stormzy, singer-songwriter, Greentea Peng, American rapper Denzel Curry, and influential pop band, The Vamps, audience expectations were exceptionally high,” explains Bandli. “To ensure optimal audio performance and consistency, the festival opted for d&b audiotechnik systems across all stages.”
Indeed, the chosen d&b systems proved to be reliable and efficient. “d&b just works, every time,” states Bandli. “The lightweight form and versatility of both the V and Q series systems allowed us to overcome obstacles, such as flying the PA on a cantilever in high winds on the main stage or dealing with weight restrictions in the dome structure. Deploying loudspeakers in this way would not have been possible with most other brands.”
A total of five stages across the two events required powerful and reliable sound systems. In both Johannesburg and Cape Town, the main stage was equipped with arrays of 16 J-Series mid-high loudspeakers per side, with flown J-SUBs supplemented by ground-stacked B-Series subwoofers. On Cape Town’s Maybelline Stations stage, a d&b Q-Series system was chosen as the main PA, given its versatile form factor, whilst the Savannah Beach Club, dedicated to showcasing local artists, opted for V-Series line arrays and V-SUBs, supported by J-Infra large format subwoofers. A V-Series system was also deployed on the Heineken House stage.
On the main, Blackmagic Design solutions were chosen for capturing the event for IMAG. SAE Institute, one of South Africa’s leading creative media universities partnered with Bad Weather and Blackmagic to allow its students to work as interns at Rocking the Daisies. “These internships are truly invaluable, with students working alongside leading industry professionals and A-list artists,” says Bandli. “We had interns handling all of the cameras and with Blackmagic Design equipment, everything ran smoothly. It’s the ideal technology for dynamic live environments such as multi-stage festivals.”
Both Bad Weather Productions and Rocking the Daisies are committed to sustainability, and the choice of d&b products further helped the team adopt energy-efficient practices during the production. “Power consumption and truck footprint were significantly lowered with d&b due to the reduced weight of the loudspeakers. This saves costs on transport and diesel,” confirms Bandli. “Ensuring the stages were as efficient as possible was a priority.”
Bad Weather Productions also highlighted the consultation provided by South African professional audio supplier, Stage Audio Works, who supplied many of the companies involved in the production. “We switched the structure of the main stage to a Stageco dome this year, and therefore needed to change the position of the PA system,” explains Bandli. “Having the Stage Audio Works team there to consult around the system design and give us feedback was critical to the show’s success. I feel empowered by the support received from the Stage Audio Works team.”
With another ‘Daisies’ in the bag, Bad Weather Productions reflects on this year’s event: “As local audiences expect more and more from live performances, we are certain that company collaborations, such as those we saw at this year’s festival, are an effective way to deliver the expertise and technology required for large-scale events,” concludes Bandli. “It is certainly one of the most challenging events of the year, but when everything comes together there’s no better feeling.”
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