Next Level Functional
All-in-one stage solution with 15 tonnes of soul.
All-in-one stage solution with 15 tonnes of soul.
Expert event management tailored to your needs.
Uplift audiences with a big presence, leading audio, bubbles, lights and endless performance options.
Communicate important social and environmental messages.
The Soul Defender is an urban artwork designed as a static stage, parade vehicle or crazy installation. It was a war machine (Army Mack R6x6 1984) converted to defend our souls with feel-good music, bubbles, fun lighting and uplifting performances.
The truck is owned and operated by Dionysus, an events and placemaking firm in Canberra with relevant insurances and licences, including multiple staff with Heavy Rigid truck licences and heart-shaped sunnies.
Sample projects are below, and a deeper look at the truck is here.
Georges River Council
UnContained is one Sydney's most unique arts festivals. Filling Belgrave street in Kogarah with light and good music.
June 2023
Production team operating the main event stage, consisting of artist management, sound engineer, lighting operator and stage manager
40,000 over three days
Escape Ferocity
An album launch to celebrate of one of Australia's most talented melodic house and techno artists.
14th March 2021
Event design and delivery
1000
National Multicultural Festival and Events ACT
The National Multicultural Festival is one of Canberra's most popular festivals. It sees hundreds of thousands of people flock to the city centre over the course of one massive weekend to celebrate our beautiful multicultural city.
February 2023
Battery powered stage live music activation, with full production support including artist management, sound engineer and stage manager.
380,000
MusicACT
MusicACT mounted a 700 person protest in Garema Place leading to the ACT Government releasing an Entertainment Action Plan and a Parliamentary Agreement for it to be enacted in this term. More information on the campaign is here: www.musicact.com.au
21 June 2019
Stage and production provision, compliance.
700
City Renewal Authority and King O'Malley's
Forum for ACT senate candidates to give their view on election issues for the Canberra region. Candidates and performers were staged on the Soul Defender facing audiences sitting in both City Walk and the King O Malley's beer garden. Supported by the CCMIL’s City Grants program.
17 May 2019
Event design and delivery
350
Yes Fest
Canberra’s annual equality street festival to celebrate the YES marriage equality vote in November 2017.
16 November 2019
Production team operating the main day-time event stage, consisting of event managers, sound engineer, stage manager, and event installation crew.
1,000 approx.
Australian Dance Party ‘Soul Defenders’ involves five dancers donned in pink 60’s shagadelic costumes with yellow water pistols roving beside The Soul Defender. ADP’s Soul Defenders disguise peculiar army drills, combining spontaneous body movements and soulful grooves to create an uplifting experiences for spectators of all ages to enjoy.
(all money goes to the dancers, which includes a site specific rehearsal to make it shmick)
The Soul Defender was the visual & sonic highlight of the YES!Fest 2019 day stage. Parked alongside Lonsdale Street’s Rainbow Roundabout, which acted as our daytime dancefloor, the Defender presented a totally unique stage & sound system bursting with retro magic.\ \ We are so lucky to have such an incredible vehicle available for events right here in Canberra and all of our interstate performers were blown away by it!
The Soul Defender has fast become an icon of the ACT. We hired The Soul Defender multiple times during Haig Park Experiments because it generates such a warm and positive ambience at our events, significantly enhancing the community’s experience.\ \ Everyone from kids to seniors loves The Soul Defender!
”If you scratch the surface of this city what you will find is a soul both waiting to be born and under attack. What does it consist of, this stringing together of moments that makes up its substance? Who or what are its enemies? At the border zone between the living and the dead The Soul Defender carries out its mission, its appearance as startling as a flame leaping up in a dark room, lurid flares that give light to the soul’s material. The Soul Defender’s mission is political, ethical, environmental and artistic – it travels in the middle ground where the mind strikes the world, a rainbow’s edge where beauty comes into being, where surfaces mingle and provide access to a space where art and life coexist, a striking of pure otherness creating something sublime…”
Provide details of your ideal event below and Dionysus will be in touch.
A variety of events: it can host panel talks, performances and parties; it can be used to activate spaces or market certain (positive) brands, or parade like at mardi gras.
Protests: as the name suggests, the truck defends the soul by supporting causes that promote a better world. The Soul Defender is a vehicle for change and we demand federal action to be taken on climate change, caring for our fragile country and changes to ancient sound laws preventing cultural development in Canberra.
Yes, if the road is closed or it's on private property (assuming compliance to our risk plans - we'll do them for you :).
But if the road is not closed, only one passenger and the driver can be in the cab and no-one on stage. But bubbles and music can still pump out of the stage on normal roads.
A Diesel Oxidation Catalyst and Particle Oxidation Catalyst (big filter) was lovingly installed in the truck's exhaust system to remove over 99%+ of Carbon Monoxide, 95%+ of Hydrocarbons and 60%+ of Diesel Particulate Matter.
Green Fleet also plant trees to offset the truck's carbon emissions.
It's not perfect, but leagues better than most trucks that deliver equipment to events.
Until the military and mining stop using obscene amounts of fossil fuels, using minor amounts with offsets to defend and uplift the soul is only a good thing.