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Norwest provides Audio and Comms for the AFL Grand Final

Despite the cold and wet weather conditions 99,251 fans packed the MCG to witness Geelong triumph over St Kilda. Norwest Productions brief was to provide the full audio system and personnel for the Pre Show entertainment and then provide the control system for the rest of the days proceedings. Also to provide full Matrix Comms & a two way system to all personnel on the production team.

Pre-show entertainment saw Mark Seymour from Australian rock band Hunters and Collectors perform "Holy Grail" on stage, followed by Jimmy Barnes singing "No Second Prize" and then John Farnham sang "You're the Voice", joined later by Seymour and Barnes. The premiership cup was brought onto the field twice: once by captains and administrators from football clubs affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires, then later via zip-line by Adelaide Crows champion Mark Ricciuto. The Qantas choir performed "I Still Call Australia Home", and the national anthem was performed acapella by the cast of Jersey Boys. Equipment used included: 54 x L'Acoustics KUDO 18 x Lab Gruppen 10000Q Amps 18 x NW custom speaker carts 4 x Dolby Lake Controllers 1 x Digico D5T for FOH and on field MON. 1x Yamaha O1V w/DN360’s for band monitors Shure R Series Handhelds Sennheiser G2 in-ear monitors were used for the band and Shure PSM700 for performers on the field. Broadcast feeds were provided using a stand alone Optocore system. A Clearcom Matrix System and Two Way Radios were used for communications.

Crew included:
Paul Bailey – Account Manager
Andrew Marsh – Project Manager
Ern Rose – FOH Engineer
Drew Menard – MON Engineer and D5 Guru
Grant ‘Tosh’ Walsh – Control Preparations & Handover to Drew
Greg ‘Spike’ Millikan – Chief Cart Tech, Post Match & Army Wrangler
Pat Kearnery – Band Stage MON
Chris Leary – Band Stage Tech
Jackson Akers – On Field Tech
Chad Lynch – On Field Tech
Andrew Poppleton – Comms Chief
Curtis Tennant – Comms Tech
Shuichiro Ohki – Comms Tech

Andrew Marsh, Norwest project manager writes:
The MCG Stadium is always a challenging environment. Apart from the physical size, the alignment of the sources with the upper ring house system is challenging and time consuming. For obvious reasons all tests are conducted without an audience, making it difficult to set levels as they change dramatically between rehearsals and the show. Very long cable runs are also an issue, although we always find this easy to overcome with the large numbers of 100+ metre cables that are part of the standard Norwest inventory. Because of the long cable runs, power and signal always need special attention and planning. Signal is sent down optic fibre to ensure there is no lag. While the weather was not ideal, the event was still a huge success.

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