Wilkestock charity music festival began its life as an outdoor party for a few friends in 2006 by brothers Tom and Olly Wilkes. Having grown through word-of-mouth and due to the great success of the event, it’s got a bit bigger since those days.
Nine years on and the festival still retains it’s home-grown ethos and commitment to championing new, local and international artists. Last year attracted over 1,500 people to the Wilkes’ brother’s fields of Watton, Hertfordshire with more increases on attendance expected year on year. Gone are the days of a few friends camping in a field over night with a sprinkling of local bands…..
We have worked Wilkestock for 5 years now providing Sound light and across its entire site a including 5 stages. It a pleasure year on year to be involved with a charity festival so unique as this. The setting of a natural amphitheater with straw bail forts, interconnecting tunnels and Potato crate arch ways make for a beautiful place to put on an event such as this. Head liners this year included the Mystery jets, The subways, DJ Hype to name a few.
Main stage – saw the use of our L’Acoustics Dv Dosc line array and SB28 bass enclosures combined with Sound craft VI1 and Yamaha M7CL Mixing consoles. 15Sqm of our 8.9mm LED screen made the perfect backdrop for both Artists Logos and great Vjing from Adam Greenford. Lighting on the Main stage was made up from 12 x Nebula Beams 8 x Martin 250 beam 8 x sun strips 2 x 4 cell blinders 12 x LED Pars and 2 x martin atomics.
The Dog house – shares the name of a local night club in Hertford saw the use of the latest generation funktion one EVO 6 boxes combined with FFA amplifers and NST processing. Again our 8.9mm LED screen was used to make a 6m wide 1m tall back drop for DJ’s. Lighting in the dog house includes 6 x Martin Mac 250 Kryptons, Martin atomics and Sun strips.
Bella stage – a live stage with curators such as BBC introducing and Folk stock which at night changes into another dance arena. Once again our L’ Acoustics DV dosc and SB28s were used in here along with one of our Allen heath QU32 mixing consoles with Digital AB168 Stage boxes. Lighting was kept simple and effective with 6 x Martin Mac 250 Kryptons, Martin atomics and sun strips.
Rock up and rinse – The smallest venue with sometimes the biggest crowds. This small yurt has the unique feature of any one can play – Artists from any of the stages may way another more intimate gig or a random punter may just want to bring a memory stick and have mix for an hour or so. Lighting just made up of a simple stage wash While the Sound system consisted of 4 x Funktion one F1201’s and 2 x L acoustics DV subs.
Bangorang stage – Always guaranteed to be Filled right to the end of the night and yet almost one of the hardest ones to find only accessible from one of two hard to fine tunnels. Sound system consisted of 2 x Funktion one AX88 2 x F215 mk2 Mid bass and 2 x BR221 sub bass enclosures. Lighting rig consisted of 4 x Martin Mac 250 Kryptons, Martin Atomics and sun strips. We also supplied out 50MW Laser array system consisting of some 40 x heads creating a laser net above the crowd.
It was a great weekend and year on year we see if improve again and again.
‘The Vortex crew always go above and beyond what is expected of them. They have a great proffesional, friendly, polite team that is a pleasure to work alongside making our lives easier in those somtimes tricky event situations.’ Wilkestock Festival