At Leviathan 3

A look around and a poke behind the scene at Christchurches newest tangent of large scale events Leviathan 3.

9 Sep 2001

It's 11:45pm; I'm standing outside the Christchurch Town Hall onlooking about 100 young ravers. Fire kids doing their thing on the pavement, performer on stilts.

This is Leviathan 3; the last party I went to in the CHCH Town Hall was 'Karma'. A group of girls squeal out loud when they realize that there are only three minutes till the doors open.

However there is a hold up as a late conference breaks out of the James Hay. About a 100 tired 'suits' pour out to face 100 freaky ravers. There is an uneasy standoff as raver's sort-of make way for woollen clad corporate's with laptops.

The doors open, a Chinese Dragon attends to greet the crowd, but no one seems to realize a possible protocol, and the Dragon is treated as part of the circus as kids bolt for the bouncy castles and the thump of the zones.

Inside the multi level zones were all on the same floor bar one, which was on a mezzanine floor. The rooms were given names, which implied different levels in the atmosphere. This is the Town Hall though, so it has the presence for Multi-school Choir Competitions and Ice House Concerts. It is has a civic coolness about it.

The fast walk around was Main Zone Trance; Jonathan Bezzer aka 'Helix' beating out the tunes. To the House room, bring on the fat 1 metre mirror ball. The Hip-Hop & Breaks room complete with Breakers and the Chill-out take it as you like mezzanine.

Each room had fairly decent sound supplied by Redd, however the one sound tech on-site was stretched between all four rooms as the DJs started to wind up gains and harass the compressors.

Deck setups were all fairly new and sturdy, but on trestle tables you are always going to worry. The House room sported some Vestax turn'ies and a poor little Vestax mixer, still when you overdrive a system it makes little difference. Trance with 1200's & DJM600 the generic kit of popular choice. Breaks was the same kit, not the toast for Hip Hop, but skills work with any tool. The Chill area had some USA 1200's running 110V through a big white transformer. This area had a constant hum while I was there, kinda comforting.

Lighting was there, with House and Trance getting the main focus of equipment. House had a central Dj booth with a dope 1 metre mirror ball. Four Mac 250s topped on standing truss, clean & minimal, effective. The breaks room was a bit sparse with two par cans, three strobes and three mini strobes by the decks, which I was into. The Chill area was a party of rope lights however there were no chasers to keep you mind running. Trance had four Mac 500's, Trackspots and a very cool homemade Lev3 mirror ball. Oh and a few video walls which were hard to notice.

One technical glitch worth telling, the strobes in the Breaks area were plugged into the Amp rack. Note: To avoid disturbing your sound signal, do not plug lights (especially large strobes) into the same power as sound.

Production wise, there was UV banners in the foyer area and a small number of plants in the chill zone. Someone was skilled with polystyrene and made large snowflakes for the Trance area, these were good props, plus a few other sculptures around. One Pulzar Fm banner sponsored breaks across the booth frontage. Overall things were neat and minimal. No one had attempted any over ambitious projects that I saw.

The candy for the party was two caged platforms with go-go girls from Rio's Bar. The last time I saw cage dancers was at a gay gig in the Wellington Town Hall, four girls doing a repetitive routine at stints through the night, cool! Always room for a few cage dancers now and again!

However exceeding the average age limit and not meeting the required energy level I was out of the building by 2am. I'm sure the Dj's were okay' I liked the snippet I heard of one of the Hard House girls. It would of made a great 30sec ad.

Good on Lev3 for pulling another party at the Town Hall. It was a fairly brave attempt at a large-scale event. The gear quantity was there and it had enough process to make it all work and have presence. In terms of the flyer value at $50 and hype value the balance was almost met. I am just wondering what is the acceptable margin before the punter can revolt!!