A Saturday in June saw Ashton Gate, home of Bristol City FC, host its first multi-artist concert for a 27,000-capacity crowd. Hosted by Fatman Scoop with Ne-Yo headlining Ashton Gate Presents BS3, the bill included included Craig David, Jess Glynne, Dizzee Rascal, DJ Spoony and local legend, Roni Size. The staging was then changed when Kings of Leon played the venue as part of their Can We Please Have Fun world tour the following day.

SWG Events joined forces with Martin Audio network partner 22live to provide the weekend’s sound which comprised main LR PA drops of 16 Martin Audio WPL elements supported by two outhangs of 12 elements in each. There were a further two delay towers of 12 drops each, making a total complement of 80 flagship WPL line array cabinets deployed. These were driven in two-box resolution from Martin Audio’s process-controlled iKon amplifiers.

A further 24 smaller Martin Audio WPS arrays provided front fill, with Torus side fills and XE500s as optional reference monitors for those artists not using IEMs. Handling the bass were a total of 40 SXH218 – 30 in a split broadside array across the front of the stage, to enable a stage thrust to move in on the Sunday, with a further three in each delay position and a monitor for the DJ.

The original CAD design developed by SWG Events Head of Sound, Simon Purse, was transposed into Martin Audio’s D3 software, where system tech Ryan Bass took over. ‘I made a few tweaks, but everything was largely based on Simon’s original design,’ he says.

Purse added that the biggest challenge had been in mitigating typical stadium reflections. ‘There were a lot of hard surfaces, a lot of weird roofs, strange reflective screens that we had to try and avoid. But we used Martin Audio’s modelling software to optimise where and how we deployed and pointed the system.

‘At the same time we used Hard Avoid [in the D3 software] in the areas that we were actively trying to get rid of. So a mixture of PA design and software enabled us to achieve full system optimisation once everything was in place.

‘The PA design worked really well,’ he reports. ‘We had excellent intelligibility across the entire site, and while being noise considerate of the neighbours, we made no compromises to the audience. There are a few gigs every year where I stand back and think what an awesome rig this is – and this was one of those.’