The best reveal we do at ICC Wales starts with the band hidden. The main hall splits down the middle - conference on one side, an 11-piece showband set up and line-checked behind the partition on the other. The session wraps, the partition tracks back, and a room that has been in lanyards and breakout sessions all day gets a full brass-led band landing on the downbeat. There is a beat where a thousand people work out what they are looking at, and then the floor goes.
A 4,000-square-metre flat floor changes the maths
ICC Wales is the largest conference and events venue in Wales, in the grounds of the Celtic Manor Resort at Coldra Woods, Newport, off junction 24 of the M4. The main hall is a pillar-free flat floor of around 4,000 square metres under a 9-metre ceiling, carpeted, banqueting north of 3,000 and dividing into six sections - which is exactly what makes the conference-then-party reveal work in a single room. There is dedicated production access with loading at stage level, so an 11-piece band, full backline, PA and lighting rig go straight in off the truck and there is room to build a stage that matches the scale of the place. With over 1,000 hotel bedrooms across the resort next door, guests stay on site and the night runs late without anyone watching for a taxi.
Big rooms need big sound
This is the headline reason a small band struggles here: a flat-floor hall that holds thousands swallows four pieces and a couple of monitors whole. It is a room for the full showband - eight musicians minimum for an evening, and the 11-piece with a brass section, full rhythm and multiple vocalists is what genuinely fills it, reaching the back of the hall without pushing the PA into distortion. If you are comparing bands for a room this size, the question worth asking is what comparable rooms they have actually played - a five-piece that is brilliant in a 150-cap barn does not automatically scale to a hall hosting 1,000-plus.
Loading in while the conference is still running
The venue has its own AV infrastructure, but for live music you want your own PA and lighting specified for the room rather than house conference sound. The dedicated access earns its keep here: we load in and soundcheck during the day while the conference runs in another section, line-check properly, and stay out of the way until the reveal. There are green rooms and production storage on site for a bigger line-up to wait in. We run in-ear monitors only, no wedges, which keeps a big live room clean and the front-of-house mix in our control. It is an organised venue used to running a live-music night on top of a full day’s business, which is what makes the band the easy part of the planner’s day rather than the part that needs managing.
The reveal, then the run to a late finish
The divisible hall is the key to the night. The format we would point any corporate client to is the surprise reveal - conference one side, band hidden the other, the partition opening onto a ready showband when the business wraps. From there it is a straight run: two roughly hour-long sets blended in our own style, mashups and medleys so the energy builds rather than stalling, with a DJ carrying the room to a late finish. It flexes by event - a gala times the band to peak once the awards are done, a conference after-party goes hard early because delegates have been sitting all day - so we always want the running order and the tone in advance.
The Brotherhood are South Wales’ go-to corporate band. Check our availability for your conference, awards or Christmas party at ICC Wales.
