Shambhala Music Festival marked its triumphant 2022 return with a sold-out crowd of concertgoers flocking back to the Salmo River Ranch in British Columbia. While the festival faithful were eager to revisit the familiar surroundings and programming of years past, one of the highlights was a completely redesigned Village Stage featuring a new PK Sound Trinity Black robotic line source system and T218 subwoofers.
“PK Sound has been central to The Village for two decades and is a huge draw for the artists performing the stage and the passionate fans packed in front of it,” commented Eroca Colins who, along with PK Sound CEO Jeremy Bridge, serves as Stage Director for The Village. “We’ve had PK’s robotic systems powering the stage in past years, though this was the first to feature Trinity Black arrays and T218 subwoofers. I can say confidently that it was the best-sounding production we’ve ever delivered and I think most of the performers and fans would agree.”
This year, the reimagined Village hosted scorching sets from the likes of Slander, Delta Heavy, Virtual Riot, Rudimental, and a surprise performance by Canadian superstar Excision. The system anchoring the stage boasted main arrays of six Trinity Black large-format robotic line source elements over three T10 medium-format robotic modules for downfill per side. Two additional arrays of four T10 elements each handled outfill and three individual T10s lining the lip of the stage provided front fill. The low end came courtesy of 21 T218 subwoofers arranged in seven cardioid columns of three elements each, and finally, the DJ monitors were composed of two T10 modules atop a single T218 on each side.
“This was our first time performing Shambhala, and honestly, it’s in a league of its own,” commented Derek Andersen and Scott Land of heralded duo Slander. “The people, the location, the stages, the sound – everything was immaculate. Shout out to the team at PK Sound for absolutely crushing the sonics at The Village. We’re grateful for the opportunity to have performed on stage and can’t wait to be back.”
Since its humble beginnings in 1998, Shambhala Music Festival has become an international beacon for artists and fans to celebrate music, art, and life in a pristine outdoor setting.
The festival’s unique layout has its six diverse stages in relatively close proximity, so PK Sound’s robotic multi-axis coverage control was a key asset. Using the company’s incoming .dynamics software platform, the sound field was precisely tailored to minimise noise bleed and concentrate the acoustic impact on The Village’s audience area.
“The new Village is more than a stage; it’s an immersive wonderland that embodies the spirit of our festival and family, and the incredible sound is central to that,” concluded Shambhala Music Festival CEO, Neil MacLeod. “We couldn’t be happier with the reimagined experience our friends at The Village delivered, and it was made clear why most of our stages deploy PK Sound systems year after year.”