SEPTEMBER | REVIEW
Acoustic
challenges
Jockey Club Live and Music Plus Sport
continued their partnership with the
2019 summer series spanning 24 dates
and 15 different racecourses including
Newmarket, Market Rasen, Aintree,
Carlisle and Haydock
A
ccess visited Sandown Park,
where more than 10,000 people
enjoyed a family day of racing
followed by an emotive Jess Glynne set.
Andrew Wilkinson, chief executive
of Music plus Sports told Access:
“This year it has not been as easy
as some. I think the competition for
good headliners and the oversupply
of entertainment generally has put a
squeeze onto a lot of outdoor shows,
but we’ve fared pretty well and are
optimistic moving forward. We always
want to sell-out although some artists
are better at achieving that than others.
There’s been huge amount of sport,
which is a direct competitor alongside
festival and live music activity, so we
have to make sure we are cost effective
with the cost of our tickets.
“Our USP is delivering a unique
afternoon of racing followed by music
in a great setting. The tickets are
generally around £50 (including VAT),
which is great value for afternoon
racing followed by an evening show.
This is our sweet spot as we constantly
look to improve the quality of our
entertainment through new talent and
changes to the themes and types of
music, with West End productions and
fifty-piece orchestras, DJ collaborations
being new and successfully undertaken
for the first time this year.
“Since we started six years ago
Symphotech has been with us looking
after all of our technical production,
Health & Safety, staging and noise
management needs. We work very
closely with them before, during and
after the event, talking with them about
any problems that might be anticipated
and how we overcome them. The
planning for next year starts now as
we are booking artists and they start
talking to the production managers of
these artists; discussions which will run
through to the shows themselves.
Sandown has seen successful
concerts with big acts such as Jess
Glynne, Madness and Pete Tong &
the Heritage Orchestra all headlining
this summer. Will Hodgson, director
at Symphotech commented: “We
coordinate the suppliers across all
courses to ensure consistently high
quality production in line with the
brand. This year we have brought
in Clair Global supplying audio and
lighting, which gives us one convenient,
cost effective, point of contact. Serious
Stages supplied stages and AVPs,
Midas supplied power, Blue Multimedia
brought in all the camera and video and
Alistage provided all the crowd barriers.
We do supplier deals across all of the
venues for all shows, which means we
can give Music plus Sport good value.
“Pete Watts is Symphotech’s
production manager for this and
many of the Jockey Club Live shows.
He manages all the technical aspects,
which includes lighting and the PA,
producing a standardised rig across the
shows. He then liaises with the various
artists, tour managers and production
managers to get technical specs agreed.
“Part of our role is compliance with
licences. Last week we had to organise
authority from the CAA for Pete Tong
to use lasers, which was particularly
sensitive with the venue being on the
flight path into Heathrow. It’s different
to other events, but went smoothly.
“We have a specialist company
called Acoustech that manages noise
levels for events, which is important
for the racecourses maintaining good
relationships with neighbours. Sophia
Livett is our on-site noise consultant
here (at Sandown Park), monitoring
and recording readings at key sensitive
remote locations. She also interacts
with the public and is constantly
relaying any messages back to the
front-of-house sound engineer to
manage levels, which is often altering
volume levels or getting adjustments to
specific frequencies when necessary.”
The operations manager at Sandown
racecourse, Gareth Richardson, stated:
“This is my fifth year working with
Music Plus Sport and Jockey Club Live,
they provide the acts and Sandown
provides the racing element. We
combine the two to produce a quality of
experience that reflects Sandown.
“Acoustech has that experience and
personal touch that means if the licence
levels are unrealistic, they can talk
to and manage those levels with the
council and the racecourse.”
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