Bethel Music, one of the foremost names in the contemporary worship movement in the US, recently headed to South Africa for a two-night concert series. Alongside a much-anticipated appearance in Pretoria, Bethel Music led an evening of song and praise with the Henry Pike Worship Band at Meerendal Wine Estate, Cape Town on March 25th. The event, organised by Tygerberg Radio, required a powerful sound system, capable of achieving sufficient coverage across a crowd of up to 17,000 fans in an open-air setting. A full d&b system provided by Cape Town-based technical production experts, Golden Circle Events was chosen to meet the technical requirements of the bands.

“A great deal of kit is required for a production of this size, including audio, backline, lighting, video and power supply,” explains Golden Circle General Manager Lindsay Barton. “We worked closely with several other technical companies to organise the event, whilst loudspeakers were sourced by us, C&S Audio and Ultra Events. d&b’s compact V-Series line array system was chosen for its versatility and transparency of sound.”

On the day of the event, heavy rains made for a challenging set-up environment. Despite the conditions, an enormous system was deployed including 48 flown V-Series line array loudspeakers, 16 flown V-Series V-SUB subwoofers,12 B22 subs in a cardioid sub array, 4 V7Ps as front fill and 12 Q1s, all driven by d&b’s D80 and D12 amplifiers.

“Getting the subs to spread wide enough and to project all the way to the back at the same time was initially challenging, but with a few adjustments, we were able to achieve the desired coverage, reaching a distance of 170 metres to the back of the busy crowd and covering a width of 100 metres,” explains Barton. “Although the weather was against us on show day, the performance of the V-Series was exceptional, even with the minimal time we had to spend on adjustments whilst we worked to protect the stage and gear from the rain.”

Despite the downpours, an estimated 17,000 people attended the evening of worship, song and celebration with Bethel Music. Crowd favourites including Goodness of God and Raise A Hallelujah sounded crystal clear through the d&b system. “I love the system,” confirms Barton. “It’s one of the most transparent and most natural sounding systems I have ever worked with, and it doesn’t require loads of electronic DSP. The cardioid sub-arrays are another highlight; a hassle-free solution that is ideal for bands and touring environments.”

Not only did d&b’s system hold up against the elements, but the V-Series showed great versatility and proved that it can handle big events with ease. “This PA did exceptionally well,” remarks Barton. “I have always been of the opinion that the physical design of d&b loudspeakers is the reason they sound so good, and this event reinforced my beliefs.”