International News

TORONTO – Held at four major locations in Toronto, the 35th Annual International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) drew the world’s finest jazz artists and thousands of enthusiasts for four days of education and performance. Sound Art Toronto handled sound reinforcement, deploying a wide range of equipment from Electro-Voice, Midas, and Klark Teknik for each of the conference’s ten stages.

MACAU, CHINA – Electrosonic Systems Inc. provided audio, master show control, an intercom system and a closed-circuit video surveillance system for the complex Tree of Propserity Show in the Wynn Macau, which opened in 2006. Electrosonic’s audio complement, consisting of Crown amps and JBL speakers, was fairly extensive with eight main speaker positions and subwoofers installed on the mezzanine level to play the music for the attraction.

BEIJING – In preparation for hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics, China has been cleaning up and modernizing its transit system in Beijing. To honor those who made a valuable contribution to traffic management in the previous year, the city held The Award and Variety Show for Traffic Safety for the Chinese Olympic New Year. Adamson partner Hunan Tian Yin Art Performance Company provided the Adamson system for the show.

BUFFALO, NY – Singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco recently played the opening nights of her hometown’s newest music venue, Asbury Hall, a 1,000-capacity performance space within a 19th century church in downtown Buffalo. The Church facility and Asbury Hall – known collectively as Babeville – are actually the latest grand-scale DIY project for the folksinger. DiFranco and her partner in Righteous Babe Records, Scot Fisher, who saved the church from demolition by purchasing the historical site from the city of Buffalo. Klondike Sound specified and installed an impressive sound system, made up primarily of L-ACOUSTICS components, including the KUDO line array.

With both leisure drinkers and employees of London’s financial heartland the core clientele of the Mint Group-owned Mary Janes, the new bar in London’s Minories exudes sophistication, tinged with an unmistakable sense of fun.

LONDON – Brit Nominees Kings of Leon rock! Full-on rock needs a full on sound system and Britannia Row’s Turbosound Aspect system is giving the band just what it needs. The band’s first experience of Aspect was for the initial part of the European tour earlier in the year, when the band and Front of House engineer Brent Rawlings decided they loved the system.

NEXO GEO tangent-array systems have accompanied Britain’s funnyman Bill Bailey on the arena tour of his one-man stand-up show, playing to crowds of 10,000 all over the UK.  Sound Designer George Glossop has specified NEXO GEO T as the main PA. Now that the comedian is playing some of the largest live venues in the country, the system design has been upgraded from the NEXO S8 system that Bailey has used in the past.

BANGALORE, INDIA – It’s been more than three decades since Aerosmith released their self-titled debut in 1973, and the “Bad Boys from Boston” continue to deliver exciting new material, most recently on a new blues album due out in this month. On their world tour, the band delivered a high-energy show in India for the first time ever, performing at the open-air grounds of the historic Bangalore Palace. To ensure every dB of power reached fans with ample clarity and presence, Bangalore-based Reynolds Sound and Lighting Services supplied a massive system based on Meyer Sound MILO-family high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers.

LONDON – Eighteen thousand fans packed London’s O2 Arena for the most anticipated concert in recent history.  John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, Jason Bonham (son of original band member, John Bonham) and Jimmy Page played a two-hour, 16-song set through a Meyer Sound MILO system provided by UK-based sound rental company, Major Tom Ltd. At front of house, Big Mick mixed the band, while Roy Williams handled Plant’s vocal.

GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND ­– With a multigenerational talent line up on three stages that included Amy Winehouse, The Who, Paul Weller, The Killers, Paolo Nutini, Arcade Fire, Bloc Party and a host of others, last Summer’s Glastonbury Festival was a success despite occasional heavy rain.

BOURNEMOUTH, U.K. – Marking the middle of a world tour in support of his third album, Call Me Irresponsible, Canadian crooner Michael Bublé played eight U.K. arena shows. Accompanying Monitor Engineer Craig Brittain was the latest member of the touring entourage – a DiGiCo D5 Live console.