Eastnor Castle Deer Park in the rolling Herefordshire countryside is transformed each August into Lakefest, a family-friendly 4-day UK festival for around 18,000 people.
Headliners this year included Echo & the Bunnymen, Groove Armada, Faithless and Busted, performing on the main Abbey Stage rigged as usual by Swansea-based Total Sound Solutions with their NEXO GEO M12 line array, P+ Series monitors and original Alpha side fills.
Lakefest 2025 was also notable as the UK debut for NEXO’s new Alpha+ hybrid source system which featured on three stages including the second stage Funkytown, which hosted performances by the Buzzcocks, the Beat, Brand New Heavies, Dub Pistols and So Solid Crew, with DJ sets from Woody Cook and Louis Capaldi.
With his own Alpha+ system arriving in the warehouse in the same week as Lakefest, Sash Pochibko from Derby-based event production services company Sound of Music took the opportunity to visit Lakefest and check out the new system in use.
“The first system we purchased 23 years ago was NEXO Alpha E, so we were very excited when we heard about the new Alpha+. We’ve been looking for a new large format point source system for some time and placed an order as soon as it was announced at ISE, but this is the first opportunity I’ve had to listen to the Alpha+ system in use. I listened to it on the Funkytown stage last night and I was quite honestly astounded at the result.
“Before Alpha+, a comparable system would have been many line array cabinets that would have had to be flown or required many technicians and crew to stack safely” continues Sash. “The Alpha+ system can be deployed very quickly with a fraction of the number of cabinets.”
Bristol-based PW Group ran the 7 Hills stage at Lakefest 2025, where company founder and production services veteran Paul Wiltshire was equally enthusiastic about the Alpha+ system rigged there.
“I think Alpha+ is phenomenal. It does everything we need it to do. All the different bands we’re doing –from reggae to ska, dance to pop, indie to rock – it just brings everything alive.”
“Alpha+ undoubtably has Alpha DNA in it” comments Sash in conclusion. “It’s definitely going to be a system that’s out of the warehouse more often than not.”
About Alpha+
Quick and easy to stack, Alpha + is a three-box system comprising M210 Main, B218 Bass and L20 Sub-bass modules. Drawing on the spirit of its legendary forerunner, Alpha+ applies groundbreaking new technologies to optimise performance and flexibility in a range of settings from live music and clubs to theatres and venues.
The continuously varying horizontal directivity from 60° at the top of the M210 Main Module to 120° at the bottom can be modified to 90°/120° or 60°/60° using flanges, and the waveguide block can be ‘unlocked’ and its articulation changed from Narrow vertical coverage (0°/-20°) to Wide/Standard (+20°/-20°). Such control over dispersion characteristics gifts Alpha + with many of the benefits of line array coupling along with the easy deployment typical of point source systems.
For further information on NEXO Alpha+, visit: nexo-sa.com/systems/alpha-series/
For further information on Total Sound Solutions, visit: total-sound-solutions.com
For further information on Sound of Music, visit: pahire.com
For further information on PW Group, visit: pw-group.co.uk
