This year Pearce Hire, was selected as the sole contractor for the Royal Variety prestigious post-show party. With the show taking place at the iconic London Palladium, the after-party took place a stone’s throw away at the Intercontinental Hotel Park Lane where Pearce Hire’s Project Manager Jake Vernum and the Pearce Hire team were loading in a full production package including lighting, sound, AV and cameras.
Giles Cooper of Giles Cooper Entertainment is the Chairman of the Royal Variety Charity, and Executive Producer of the Royal Variety Performance. He explained why he chose to work with Pearce Hire for the 2019: “My working relationship with Pearce Hire is long-standing as they are our main power and lighting suppliers on a year-on-year basis for many outdoor summer events run by my own company GCE LIVE, and so I know the Pearce Hire team to be amongst the best in the business. I was delighted when the opportunity came up to work with them in my capacity as Chairman of the Royal Variety Charity.”
Vernum expanded how “all the team at Pearce Hire have been thrilled to be involved in such a prestigious event.” He added: “We knew this was an incredible platform to showcase our full production services. We have worked with Giles for several years across various outdoor summer festivals and events on English Heritage sites around the UK, and so he was familiar with our modus-operandi and put his trust in us!”
The Pearce Hire team were given full creative control of the room with a brief to provide a high-end feel with colour and texture throughout the room, which could translate easily into lighting for a live band performance. As a result, they delivered an exceptional lighting package using Robe Pointes, Robe LEDBeam 150s, Martin by Harman ERA 300 Profiles, and GLP JDC1 Strobes, all operated by a ChamSys MQ100 and playback wing. The multifunctional lighting package also included CORE Lighting uplighters and the overall impact of the lighting rig was a high-end feel throughout the hotel ballroom over dinner and during the speeches before switching it up into a look that was more energetic for the rest of the evening when the live band took to the stage.
The audio package needed to deliver a system suitable for speeches as well as the live band and so the team installed a multi-purpose L-Acoustics PA system consisting of 115XT HiQs, X8s and SB18s, all driven from LA8 amplifiers. FOH and monitor control was provided by a Yamaha QL1 with Dante stage boxes. The system was designed to provide wall-to-wall coverage across the room for the speeches but to transfer seamlessly to cover the live band and cover the dance floor area without drowning out the rest of the room. The team had a challenge keeping the number of speaker cabinets to a minimum due to the lack of space for production in the room. Finally a Sennheiser IEM system was provided for the events house band Ipop.
Pearce Hire’s video team put together a comprehensive show graphics package that ensured all 750 guests had a great view of the live action in the packed venue. The system was based around a pair of 98 inch Samsung 4k displays flanking the main stage. These were supplemented by a number of additional 65in units from the Samsung pro range which relayed supplementary content. The numerous pillars in the room were clad with 43in low profile LED monitors to both fill the gaps in sight lines and provide further branding opportunities for the end client.
Control gear and signal distribution was taken care of by an Analog Way Ascender and a raft of Blackmagic fibre and SDI channels. Live camera was expertly delivered from a pair of Pearce Hire’s PDW-F850 broadcast cameras.
“The audience was at capacity and so we had minimal production space, but we worked in close collaboration with the venue to ensure we were able to install all we needed, in the right places, to do justice to the production for the party. With a room full of 750 high profile guests from the world of TV, theatre and light entertainment, I knew that the production had to be on-point,” reflected Vernum.
Cooper was delighted. “A major benefit of working with Pearce Hire is that I can 100% trust their commitment to any project they work on, along with 100% efficiency and complete professionalism – their service in nothing short of excellent. The end result was exactly what we wanted, and the overall look was exceptional. It was a great follow on from the London Palladium earlier in the evening.”
