International News

LONDON — Legendary metal band Metallica embarked on a series of European shows at the end of June for their “Sick of the Studio '07” tour. For its concert dates the band is carrying a Meyer Sound system built around the MILO high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker, 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoofer, and the new MJF-212A high-power stage monitor. A Galileo loudspeaker management system provides system processing and drive. Taylor, Mich.-based Thunder Audio is providing the sound system, with local support from Westfalen Sound of Emsdetten, Germany, and AVAB CAC from Oslo, Norway. 

LONDON — Live Earth, the mega-concert produced as a tribute to planet Earth, featured 70 Outline Butterfly Hi-packs installed by Britannia Row Productions at Wembley Stadium. The seventy Outline Butterfly Hi-packs were used along with twenty Subtech 218; Outline T Series amplifiers powered the system. Sherif El Barbari was system engineer for the event, as well as for the Lady Diana memorial concert on July 1.

BIRMINGHAM, U.K. — Last year Butlins Holiday Resort in Minehead undertook a major sound and lighting refurbishment, with a view to rolling the model out at their other resorts in Skegness and Bognor Regis. This aim has now been realized, and the Birmingham-based Cloud One Group completed the new technology infrastructure at both sites this spring. Cloud One has equipped both Skyline Pavilions and REDS in Skegness and Bognor Regis and also supplied Butlins with 16  Martin Audio low-profile LE1500 monitors — which they will add to their existing stock of LE400 enclosures already in use throughout the various resorts. 

SHEPPERTON, U.K. — It is with sadness that we announce the death of friend and colleague John Roden, Paul McCarthey's long-time monitor engineer. The funeral will take place in Surrey, U.K. The family has asked that donations be made to the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice.

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VENICE, ITALY — When Grammy-nominated Norwegian artist Jan Garbarek arrived in Venice for the Jazz Festival, he discovered that all equipment for the show had to be delivered to the historic La Fenice Opera House by canal boat — so bystanders were treated to the sight of the NEXO/CAMCO touring system arriving on gondolas.

LONDON — British alt-rock band Placebo have been out on a full world tour since January 2006, playing events and major festivals throughout the U.S., South America, Europe, Australia, China, Korea, and other Far East locations. For the first year of the tour, monitor engineer Charlie Bradley used a VENUE D-Show console, but in the last six months, he and Placebo FOH mixer Ian Nelson, switched to using a pair of the more compact VENUE D-Show Profile systems, which handle a total of 45 inputs for the band, along with the collective output requirements. By the tour’s conclusion, Bradley estimates that they will have used the VENUE systems at over 250 shows.

MEXICO CITY — Every year, Vive Latino in Mexico City ranks as one of most important Latin America rock "en español" festivals. Billed across the hemisphere as Festival Iberoamericano de Cultura Musical, Vive Latino's 2007 Blue Stage featured only NEXO loudspeakers including, for the first time, the GEO D Series.

KITCHENER, ON —Bowfire, the total string experience which combines step and tap dancing with virtuoso fiddle-playing, played a special show at the 2000-seat Centre in the Square theatre in Kitchener, Ontario. The entire show was run from an InnovaSON Sy80 digital console at FoH by Dennis Mortson, with an Sy48 on monitors piloted by monitor engineer/wireless tech John Smith.

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL — Sound engineer Christopher Winter chose Loudness Sonorizacao of Sao Paulo, Brazil, to provide the sound reinforcement system for the April Red Bull Air Race in Rio de Janeiro’s Botafogo Bay, which drew one million spectators, making it the largest sports event in Brazilian history. The system included four towers of 16 Vertec VT4889 line array elements each (64 in total), powered by Crown I-Tech 8000 amplifiers. Low-frequency fill was provided by 64 JBL SRX728 loudspeaker subwoofers.