International News

LONDON – For Paul Weller's recent tour across the U.K. and Ireland, Andrew Jones, Weller's FOH engineer, and tech support Mike Savage used a Midas XL8 FOH supplied by Canegreen/SSE.

LONDON – Danish rockers Volbeat are currently in the midst of a European tour to promote their album Beyond Hell/Above Heaven. With inspiration ranging from Elvis Presley to Metallica, the band's unique sound features two DiGiCo consoles on the live shows.

BARCELONA, Spain – The BAM (Barcelona Acciò Musical) Festival, which runs concurrently with the Spanish city's traditional La Mercè celebrations, has attracted 120,000 music fans with mostly free, mostly open-air concerts throughout the downtown area.

OSLO, Norway – The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Concert took place at the Oslo Spektrum in December, with the live show and broadcast once again handled by a network of Midas digital consoles.

MINSK, Belarus – The eight Junior Eurovision Song Contest, held Nov. 20, 2010 in the Minsk Arena, hosted contestants aged 10-15 from 14 different countries, all performing before a live audience of 15,000 and some 40 million viewers in 15 European countries.

LONDON – The Colombo Group's new dance club, The Nest, occupies the site of the former Bardens Boudoir in Dalston, East London. Co-owner Steve Ball and general manager Matt Monhardt turned to Middlesex Sound & Light (MSL) for a flexible sound system, specifically requesting that MSL use Martin Audio components for the job.

BERLIN – EAW's KF740 Three-Way Full-Range Line Array modules made their German debut recently at a concert for Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis' Canto General at the Max Schmeling Hall. Hacksound Veranstaltungstechnik provided the multi-zone P.A. system comprised of EAW speakers powered by Lab.gruppen amplification.

GUANGZHOU, China – The opening ceremony of the Asian Games in China was bound to invite comparisons with the Beijing Olympics, but organizers were determined that Guangzhou would be different from anything that had gone before.

PARIS – For Deep Purple's tour, which continues through Germany and France, their long-serving FOH engineer Gert Sanner has taken the opportunity to transfer his show mix from his Soundcraft Vi6 digital console to the smaller footprint of the new Vi1.

ROME – EVR Media, one of the companies in Proel Group, opened its new office here with the kind of fanfare it hopes to be providing for other corporate events in the region. The event including sound support for jazz and DJ performances along with choreographed dancers, lighting and projection.

OSLO, Norway – Rubicon AS purchased an MLA rig consisting of 20 MLA top boxes, 12 MLX subs, and four MLD Downfill enclosures from their local distributor, em nordic AS. The order follows major system purchases by launch customers Complete Audio of Germany and North Carolina-based Special Event Services (SES).

SYDNEY – The Sarah McLachlan-led Lilith Tour 2010 suffered a number of setbacks, including the cancellation of a number of shows due to soft ticket sales, but McLachlan and her supporters still managed to raise money for women's causes, and McLachlan pressed on with an abridged, five-stop version of the tour in Australia, joined by Kate Miller-Heidke and the Verses.