PARKLIFE HIGHLIGHTS / FARR FESTIVAL
DECORDIA Company owner, Cordi Ashwell, began by discussing Parklife’s silver screeninspired theme. “Studio Moross had once again created this incredible launch video filled with nostalgic movie references, characters and dreamlike versions of film memories,” she said. “It’s so much fun pulling out all those references and working out how to make them come alive on site. Along with the Parklife, team we decided to make the new home for the VIP area into an LA ‘downtown’ hang out. 6m Californian palms lined the the boulevard of bars, food trucks and neon signs. While sipping on a popcorn cocktail, a magic carpet would appear, or you’re suddenly surrounded by a group of toy soldiers who have just escaped from a film set! It was a great putting it together and the amazing weather over the weekend massively helped the Cali vibe!” Decordia’s big pieces at Parklife this year were 2 huge entrance arches, a 5m Universal Studios-style Parklife globe and Ashwell’s personal favourite - a 6m wide Parklife blimp that floated above the central point on site with the ‘The World Is Yours’ emblazoned on the side. “We also produced / designed the Palm House stage, the Utilita stage, and re-imagined Temple stage, complete with smoking chimneys and waterfall pipework,” she added. “There was around 20 of the core Decordia team on site at Parklife, made up of decor crew, chippies, mural artists, lighting designers, prop makers, set dressers and our own engineer who fabricates and installs all our steel work,” as Ashwell explained. The company started designing Parklife in November 2017, working closely with The Warehouse Project and Ground Control teams to ascertain the ideal look and feel for the site. Ashwell concluded: “We start building all the set bits in March and go on site at the end of May. It’s a big part of our year and one that I and the rest of the Decordia team massively enjoy being a part of.” www.decordiaevents.com
FARR Hertfordshire’s Farr Festival is a special affair that embraces the soul of musical gatherings. Seemingly devoid of obtrusive commercialism, it gives precedence to engaging environments & audio designs that let people feel the beat...
Dave Millard - Full Fat Audio’s founder and owner - has supplied the sound systems since the event’s early days, almost a decade ago. “I lived in the same village as promoter, Oscar Thornton, and we became friends. The first year was a birthday party in a caravan in the woods, with a couple of speakers. People enjoyed the setting so he decided to keep it going. “It grew from 500-1,500 in a couple of years, so they felt confident and comfortable enough to invest money and get bigger acts here & it jumped to 3,000 attendees. AEG took it over and absorbed Oscar, who was basically the architect of the festival. He’s still involved, overseeing its acts and personality, and I’m involved on the audio side because we deliver bespoke and unusual system designs, which are
what this festival requires.” As well as running FFA, Millard holds a sizeable stock of Funktion-One loudspeakers, which he pairs with his own amps for a variety of events throughout the year. Farr’s 5 stages are all equipped with this combination, with supplier support coming from Zion Audio. Millard explained: “I’ve been using Funktion-One since 2001. I was using Tony Andrews and John Newsham’s designs when it was Turbosound. It’s just something that appeals to me, something I really get.” The site is laid out like a mini-village that sweeps up from the entrance towards the woods. As attendees meander through the picturesque setting, they first reach the indicatively named House of Dinosaurs, where games, comedy, yoga and festival well-being accompany a mixed soundtrack. Sound reinforcement for the tented stage comes from 2 Funktion-One Res 2’s, a pair of F115 bass enclosures and 2 BR218 bass reflex speakers, which are powered by FFA-8004 and FFA-10000 amps 98
