K DAY:BIGGER AND BETTER IN 2014

On 29th March, the annual Primedia K-Day Music Festival, a massive showcase of local talent brought to Cape Town audiences by 94.5 Kfm and MTN, rocked Sandringham Farm in Stellenbosch, Cape Town with what turned out to be a bigger and better event than ever before. 

Attendees were treated to a truly awesome 2014 local lineup which included the likes of:

• Parlotones
• Prime Circle
• MiCasa
• Elvis Blue
• Die Heuwels Fantasties
• LCNVL
• Blackbyrd
• Jimmy Nevis
• Danny K
• Lloyd Cele
• Goodluck
• DJ Kent
• Watershed
• Beatenberg
• Daniel Baron
• MacStanley

The Gearhouse Group of Companies was once again the contractor of choice for the technical elements - ensuring that the local talent enjoyed the same technical and crewing standards that visiting artists receive in South Africa. This was the third time Gearhouse has been involved since the inception of the event in 2011 and the Group was once again focused on showcasing the performers to their best advantage. 

The 1050m2, 16m high stage was comprised of some 70 tons of wood and steel, requiring 4 days to erect with a crew of 24 skilled builders, before they could start filling the space with 24m of SLICK Minibeam trussing and a host of rigging motors. 

An combination of 80 Lighthouse R16 LED panels for IMAG and delays together with 120 DuoLED panels for onstage graphics and eye candy ensured that even the “not-so-golden-circle” seats got their share of the action. 

Structures, Audio, Audio Visual, Power, Rigging and Lighting were provided by Gearhouse South Africa with LED Screens sourced from sister company, LEDVision.

Even coverage of the main audience areas was achieved using 12 Meyer Milo speakers with 6 Meyer HP700 and 6 Turbosound 21" subs per side and for the outlying areas, delay towers of Turbosound Flashlight kept the sound pumping and the party going at full tilt.

For this year’s event, Gearhouse purposefully kept the lighting rig simple, using a mere 12 each of their MAC 250 Washes and Entours, 6 Mac 2k Profiles, 8 ROBE Robin Pointe and 24 ETC Pars. This rig was then supplemented with energy efficient LED Pars and ROBE Robin 600 LED fixtures to deliver not only a massive energy saving but also plenty of punch. 

The entire technical rig was powered by a 200 kVA 3 phase blimped Generator for the Stage with an additional 125kVA unit for Front of House and Delay Audio. 

Gearhouse Project Manager, Ryan Shepherd, headed up the 50-strong technical team with the sole purpose of affording KDay visitors maximum enjoyment.

Event gear list

AUDIO

Meyer Milo PA - 12 per side

Meyer HP700 subs - 6 per side

Turbosound 21" subs - 6 per side 

Turbosound Flashlight - 12 per side

Midas Pro2c digital mixing console

Midas Pro9 monitors

LED:

80 Lighthouse R16 LED panels for Imag and delays 

120 DuoLED panels

RIGGING

20 Rigging Motors

TRUSSING

24m of SLICK mini Beam 

POWER

200 KVA 3 phase blimped Generator

125 KVA 3 phase blimped Generator

LIGHTING

24 x LED Pars

12 x MAC 250 Wash’s

12 x Mac Entours

6 x Mac 2K Profiles

6 x ROBE Robin 600 

8 x ROBE Pointe

24 x ETC Pars

4 x Atomic Strobes

CREWING

24 stage builders,  

8 Audio technicians, 

4 Lighting technicians / 1 Operator 

10 AV technicians

Story by Looe Swanepoel