After their memorable double header weekend—when they supplied premium Martin Audio PA rigs to both stages at Glastonbury and in support of Queens of the Stone Age at Cardiff Castle—rental partner SWG Events were back in the Castle grounds for shows with Wales’ national treasure, Sir Tom Jones.
The second of three shows saw support by another native son, Stereophonics front man Kelly Jones, this time leading his own spin-off band, Far From Saints.
Cardiff Castle has become a new venue for SWG Events, and so a meticulous design was undertaken for Sir Tom Jones where the optimisation of the system was of paramount importance, as SWG Head of Audio, Simon Purse explained. “The PA had to avoid the walls surrounding the Castle green to avoid any slapback. This was crucial and having DISPLAY [D3 software] really helped. Also since the Castle is in the middle of the City Centre, keeping noise pollution to a minimum was essential—and we had no reported issues offsite at all, as was also the case with Queens of the Stone Age.”
The stage is a permanent fixture at the Castle throughout the summer. “Previously we had left and right hang of 12 WPL and an outhang of 10 WPC on stage right to cover some of the audience and the disabled access platform, but we also deployed a similar outhang on stage left to add to the symmetry of the system.”
“EVERYTHING WORKED SEAMLESSLY AS WPC SOUNDS SO SIMILAR TO THE WPL, YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO A LOT TO IT SINCE IT IS VOICED THE SAME.”
