KISS & a concert for sharks
South Australia is renowned across the world for it’s fine wine, emerging food scene and the beauty of its landscapes from coastal to the Hills to the Outback. When Airbnb launched their new Airbnb Animal Experiences globally, they chose a unique way to capture the world’s attention. Based on one of the experiences people can purchase, viewing sharks in a glass bottom boat, Airbnb decided to take that up a notch and bring along KISS to play a concert for 8 lucky fans as they experienced Great White’s under their boats. And Novatech was entrusted to ensure the Sharks and attendees alike could experience this once in a lifetime event.
The event involved two boats venturing off the coast of Port Lincoln to a group of small islands approx. an hour off the coast. The first boat, a glass bottom boat that held the 8 experience attendees, anchored off the island in shallow water so the sharks could swirl underneath them. To attract them there, the second boat featured a custom staging and production system tailor made to KISS’s exacting specifications. From here, the guests would be treated to 30 minutes of high energy rock music that would also attract the local population of sharks. Instead of using blood and bait to attract sharks, the charter company, Adventure Bay Charters, uses music to appeal to the electroreception sense of sharks through acoustics in the water.
Faced with the challenge of mounting a temporary stage and high-quality audio and lighting system onto what is usually a fishing charter boat for one of the world’s most famous acts, Novatech turned to their trusted brands & experienced staff to bring this dream to reality. Starting with a solid structure is important so Nexstage Rigging and Staging custom built a stage deck with safety railings which provided the ideal & safe performance area for the famous rock legends.
As the concert would be held at midday local time, a suite of LED lighting fixtures were chosen to provide eye candy & energy to the show including brands such as GLP and SGM. Using moving wash lights and coloured strobes not only met the brief for high output and high impact visuals, it also enabled low power consumption to take advantage of the onboard power generators.
Finally, and some would argue, most importantly, an L-Acoustic KARA line array system was installed to ensure the legends of rock would be heard across the gap to the other boat. The small but mighty system ensured a powerful system in a compact form would deliver the high SPL required as well as the throw whilst keeping power consumption within limits of the boats generators. Combined with a Shure IEM’s and mics along with a trusty Yamaha QL5, Novatech’s audio solution rounded out a complete portable and high-powered solution for a potentially challenging situation.
From events across Adelaide, across Australia and indeed over Asia-Pacific, Novatech are known for their innovative approaches to unique event situations. And you don’t get much more unique than KISS playing on a boat to sharks off the South Australian coast. Once again, Novatech’s inventory of world leading brands and industry experienced people, enabled them to be entrusted with the production of KISS’s only Australian concert in 2019 – one for sharks.
