While the high-profile music festivals like Glastonbury, Roskilde, SXSW and Coachella inevitably receive much of the coverage, for every big event there are hundreds of smaller events catering for every possible age, interest and musical taste. In Amsterdam, the Brave festival champions new bands, with Yamaha and Nexo systems providing production on a par with more prestigious events.
On such event is the Brave festival is held in Amsterdam’s Tuinen van West, a managed ‘green space’ that provides a range of recreational facilities away from the city’s built-up area. Now in its second year, it was headlined by US indie rockers Augustines and featured three stages of live music with a ‘food village’ featuring cuisine from different cultures. The festival’s production company, Kaboem, appointed Skyline Sound & Light to provide and manage the technical production on all stages, as well as providing power and lighting for the entire site.
Skyline owner Bart Bakker served as Technical Production Manager: ‘The atmosphere at the Brave festival is easy and relaxed, it almost feels like going back to the 1960s,’ he says. ‘It’s very family-friendly, different generations come together to enjoy the music and all performers are heard sympathetically. The acts mainly comprise singer/songwriters, folk and indie rock bands. Because many of them are inexperienced, they are eager, sometimes timid, sometimes clumsy – but often unexpectedly good.’
The main stage system featured Yamaha CL3 digital consoles at front of house and monitors, a Nexo Geo-S12 PA with CD18 subs and PS15 wedge monitors. The Amphi Stage system comprised a Yamaha DM2000 digital console at FOH and LS9-32 on monitors, plus Nexo PS15/LS1200 PA and PS10 monitors. The smallest stage, in the Speakeasy tent, featured a Yamaha LS9-16 mixing both FOH and monitors.
‘Our job is to ensure that the audiences enjoy high-quality sound, but also to relax and inspire the performers by giving them a professional production,’ Bakker says. ‘These are two of the main reasons why we chose Yamaha digital consoles and Nexo loudspeakers, as well as their reliability and because the consoles make changeovers between the performers straightforward.’
Although the Dutch summer didn’t provide the best weather for the festival, it more than 2,500 people attended, with parents and older children enjoying the music, while younger ones played nearby in safety.
‘We were very pleased with how the stages sounded and the organisers were very happy,’ Bakker reports. ‘The right sound definitely helped to create the right festival atmosphere.’
