The Proposal
To create an exciting and unique DJ Show at O2 Academy Brixton for the Award winning “Hospitality” – Club night from World Leading Record Label “Hospital Records”. The Concept was a full 360 degree show with the DJs playing from a stage in the middle of the venue.
The Outcome
O2 Academy Brixton has historically staged two “in the round” DJ shows where the stage was moved forward into the audience, and the audience were allowed back on to the stage.
In 1999 “A Date With Destiny” saw the legendary battle between Fatboy Slim & Armand Van Helden, and Norman Cook returned to perform a solo in the round DJ show from a camper van.
The challenge for ZEROdB Live was to recreate the wall of bass and insane light shows that are the trademark of the Hospitality Brixton shows, whilst moving the performance stage into the audience.
The main restriction is the severely limited weight capacity of the roof over the audience, which quite simply is not designed to hang production.
Sightlines and working space for the PA system also became more limited the further into the audience the stage moved.
Working closely with Mark O’Neill at Audio Plus and Tony Andrew of Funktion One to create lightweight flying frames for the new Funktion One VERO PA System, and Coloursound Experiment to purchase the lightest weight LED fixtures, the lighting rig and mid-tops of the PA were flown using a mother grid installed and designed by PTG Rigging.
The subs were run as a mono block, and required custom infills built by Dragon Smoke Construction to direct the maximum sub energy forward..
ZEROdB live designed and project managed the entire event, and created and supplied the custom stage and DJ stand.
“It was a totally unique project” says Production Manager Rob Stanley. “We were constantly told that DJ in the round shows at O2 Academy Brixton sound terrible and have sight line issues. We proved the doubters wrong.”
Our blueprint for In the Round DJ Shows at O2 Academy Brixton has since been used for Four-Tet.
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