We were back at ICC Wales yesterday - but not in the main hall, and not in the Woodland Suite either. Outside this time, on the plaza - the open space out front of the conference centre, with the big red steel dragon sculpture to one side. For the after-conference party the ICC team had turned it into a mini-festival.
The Plaza, the Dragon and a Mini-Festival
Outdoor stage, a big D&B Audiotechnik PA, food stalls dotted around, the dragon presiding over the whole thing. Delegates had been in sessions all day, and the moment they stepped outside the mood shifted from corporate to festival. The ICC team know how to put on a party.
Two One-Hour Sets
We played two one-hour sets with a fifteen-minute break - plenty of music to fill the evening without exhausting a crowd that had already had a long day, and time in the middle to grab food and another drink. The dance area filled up fast. Helps that we play rolling sets - seamless transitions, mashups and medleys keeping the music flowing without a break, so once people are dancing they don’t stop.
Clean Stage, Hi-Fi Sound
Outdoor stages are a different beast to a ballroom. The room isn’t doing any of the work for you - the PA, the lighting and the band have to fill the space on their own. Every player is on in-ear monitors, so nothing comes off the stage except the PA mix. Indoors in a smaller room you can get away with some stage bleed - the kit and bass amp are part of what the audience hears anyway, with the PA reinforcing. Outdoors, anything coming off the stage just fights the engineer out front.
For events like these we run two mixing desks - one engineer behind or on the stage handling monitor mixes, one working front-of-house. Monitor mixes get dialled in exactly how each player wants them, without compromising what the audience hears. It’s how the bigger touring acts work. Dan on FOH had a blank canvas all evening, and the result sounded like a hi-fi system at festival volume.
The Eight-Piece Brotherhood
This event had one of our Eight-piece lineups - Sam, Cam and Jon on vocals, Dan on sax, Matt on guitar, James on keys, Alun on bass, Adam on drums, and Dan on FOH (a different Dan to the one on sax - there’s a lot of Dans).
ICC Wales for Outdoor Corporate Events
The plaza isn’t the first thing people think of for events at ICC Wales - the main hall and the suites get most of the attention, and we’ve played plenty in both, including their opening day. But when the weather’s on your side, it’s a brilliant outdoor space - attached to the venue, room for festival staging and food stalls, and the Celtic Manor’s hotel rooms next door so delegates can walk home. This is South Wales, of course - but on a good May evening, hard to beat.
If you’re planning a conference, an awards night or an after-party at ICC Wales and want to talk about what works, get in touch.
