Cape Town, South Africa, March 2024 – ULTRA Events recently supported the much-anticipated return of the pop-folk band Milky Chance to the stage in South Africa. The creative technical supplier provided a complete package including a full d&b audiotechnik sound system. The performance at Green Point A-Track Stadium, Cape Town, and part of a three-leg tour of South Africa, was produced in collaboration with Break Out Events and Rogue Entertainment.

The performance, part of the album tour for Living in a Haze, was supported by Neon Dreams and Sean Koch in Cape Town and was a long-awaited reunion of the band and their South African fan base. The duo shared, “It’s been way too long since we were over in South Africa. Back then it was so special for so many reasons and we felt welcomed by the people.”

Having recently expanded their d&b stock with the purchase of a set of AL90s, ULTRA Events was confident that a V-Series system would provide excellent audio quality and coverage for the 5,500 guests that attended.

Powered by D80 amplifiers, the sound system was based around d&b’s V-Series line array loudspeakers. This included 20 V8s and four V12s, stacked in a left-right configuration on either side of the stage plus a centre subcluster of 18 B22 subwoofers supplemented by two J-INFRA subs for extended low-end. Two AL90s were deployed as front fills and on-stage monitoring was handled by six M4 monitors.

Control over the audio output was of utmost importance for this project, owing to the location of the stadium within the built-up CBD business district, very close to a hotel and hospital. “The A-Track is a great venue for an outdoor concert, but we have to be extremely cognizant of the area in the CBD, and as such, the actual system-on time is very limited,” explains Patrick Dudgeon, Audio HOD at ULTRA Events. “With d&b’s ArrayCalc simulation software I can model the system coverage and frequency response to a very accurate degree. When I am happy with the model, I can punch that data into NoizCalc, and submit a very accurate noise prediction to the city council. As long as a certain level is maintained at FOH, the noise spillage is minimised so that we can continue to host events at this fantastic venue.”

The FOH engineer for Milky Chance, Mario Simic, highlighted the ease of tuning the consistency he gets with a d&b system, commenting, “It’s d&b, so if it doesn’t sound good, the problem isn’t the system. I love travelling around the world and knowing what the systems I’m walking into will sound like.”