CES MAKES 50 CENT LOOK LIKE A MILLION BUCKS
When a hip hop star of the stature of 50 Cent comes to Africa you can be sure there will be a buzz, but when he chooses to do a one-off concert at a race track on Maputo, Mozambique you can be sure there will be some raised eyebrows.
It turns out that 50 Cent has a huge following in Mozambique, according to journalist Nyangala Zolho: "Hip hop makes up a significant part of the Mozambican music scene, which includes the American-inspired genre of gangsta rap".
50 Cent – or Curtis James Jackson III, as his parents named him – is a controversial artist who is seldom out of the headlines. Problems seem to follow him - and problems also dogged the footsteps of CES Live, the Edenvale-based rental company appointed to handle the 50 Cent concert in its entirety.CES Live senior project manager Leslie Wahl explains: “We got the gig on the 19th of October and had two and a half weeks to arrange everything.” Working under pressure with looming deadlines is nothing new for CES Live – a company famous for their technical contributions to the H2O party series.
“We had some issues with some of our Mac 2000’s and Mac 101’s and we had to get them looked at on short notice. Renier Smit took this in his stride and got them serviced and checked, and loaded in no time. But in 11 years of dealing with Electrosonic SA that’s what we’ve come to expect from them.”
Apart from the 2000s and the 101s Electrosonic SA also supplied: 10 x Martin Mac 700 Profile; 10 x Martin Mac 700 Wash; 12 x Martin Atomic 3000; and, 12 x 4 Way Molfey blinders, all operated from a Martin Maxxyz lighting console. Electrosonic SA also contributed to the stage rigging by supplying: 18 x CM Loadstar Half Ton Motors; 14 x CM Loadstar One Ton Motors; an 8 Way Litec Motor Controller; and, a 24m x 14m Litec Libera FL76 roof system, which was used in conjunction with Layher Event System scaffolding.
"Electrosonic SA has been supplying CES with all the equipment on the list for the past decade and we value CES's continued support highly ", says Renier.
Still - it was touch and go with bureaucratic border officials almost having the last say. After two days of waiting on the SA-Mozambican border, it was only through the intervention of the client that everything was cleared and the trucks made their way to the venue. “Come Thursday night we were so far behind I didn’t think we would make the show,” continues Leslie “but on Saturday – after not really sleeping for three days - we were finished and the production crew could perform their sound and lighting checks for the evening’s show.”
The audio system for the gig was all DAS. A single hang each side of the stage comprising of eight Aero 50s and eight Aero 38As was configured as the main PA; 16 elements in total per side. Since the Aero 50s are passive boxes, four Lab.Gruppen FP10000Q four-channel amplifiers were employed per the top section of each array that comprised of the Aero 50s. The remaining Aero 38As are all self-powered. A further 24 Aero 12As boxes configured as two arrays of ten were used as left and right delay towers and a further four Aero 12As were used as centre-fills at the stage. Six RF118 single 18-inch subs were used for the left and right delay arrays. Finally, six Aero 8As were employed three-a-side as left and right stage-fills accompanied by two Sub-218Gs per side. CES MAKES 50 CENT LOOK LIKE A MILLION BUCKS
A total of 36 DAS LX218C dual-18” were supplied, configured in three stacks of twelve in a left, centre, right configuration and powered by six four-channel DAS D100 amplifiers. The centre subwoofer cluster was powered by six Crown I-Tech 6000 amplifiers.
Stage monitors comprised of twelve Nexo PS-15 wedges powered by Camco Vortex 200V amplifiers.
For FOH and monitors, two Yamaha PM5D consoles were supplied along with a 48-channel DSP5D stage box. Eight Shure UR4D wireless handheld microphones were supplied along with twelve PSM1000 in-ear monitoring systems for the band. The entire backline for the band was supplied by Kyalami-based rental company Sound Stylists.
Despite the many challenges along the way, CES Live once again pulled off a successful show and enhancing their reputation as the go-to guys when time-lines are tight.
“It was rough, but we had a jol!” laughs Leslie “the client is already talking about the next show and CES will stand by to help.”