International News

LONDON — In 1978, Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds made its debut. This year, The War of the Worlds — Alive On Stage paid homage to Wayne’s Worlds in arenas around the UK and Europe. RG Jones, meanwhile, supplied a Synco by Martin Audio-based sound system for the touring spectacle.

WUXI, China — A $200 million Buddhist temple that opened here in May was the culmination of a multi-year construction and interior design effort in cooperation with the Chinese Association for Buddhism.

JOHANNESBURG — Gearhouse South Africa supplied sound and crew for R Kelly’s first visit to South Africa. After five days of production rehearsals at Sun City Superbowl, there was one show there and another at Cape Town’s Grand West Casino.

LONDON— With bands ranging from Oasis, Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand and Snow Patrol to Newton Faulkner and Bat for Lashes, sound engineers Dave Roden at FOH (here deployed as system tech) and Will King used digital mixing environments where incoming engineers could hit the ground running.

NORMANDY, France — France Galop, a company that owns several horse racing tracks in France, selected an Allen & Heath iLive digital system to manage audio distribution in its Deauville Touques venue. The company’s other racetracks are in Longchamp, Auteuil, Chantilly, Deauville, Maisons-Laffitte and Saint-Cloud.

LONDON — Can entertainment audio gear adapt to a buttoned-down, 9-to-5 lifestyle? That seems to be the case for Midas’ PRO6 live audio system.

MINSK, Belarus —JBL touring systems teamed with rental sound company Touring Services to supply an expansive audio system for the Global Gathering Freedom Festival at the Borovaya Airfield that included products from JBL’s VerTec DP Series and HLA Series loudspeaker lines.

LONDON — Relentless Garage, the new incarnation of the iconic venue, The Garage, re-opened at the end of June after a three-year closure. The refurbished venue includes a substantial Turbosound loudspeaker system.

GLASTONBURY, U.K. — With over 200,000 people on site and well over 100 stages and venues, the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is one the highlights of Europe’s summer festival season.

Submitted by Jon Bullock:

I am one of the fortunate few sound guys that is also a musician and earns a living doing both.  I am also one of even fewer who get the honor to travel overseas entertaining our troops, which I have been doing since 2001. These tours have taken me, multiple times, to Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Germany, Belgium, Japan, Korea, Italy, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and a few of the other “-stan” countries.  

LONDON — Two Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing systems were used at FOH for a production by Rick Wakeman at Hampton Court Palace for two sold-out nights. There, Wakeman performed his 1973 album, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, to mark the 500th anniversary of Henry’s ascension to the throne.

MEISSEN, Germany — An outdoor event celebrating the 45th anniversary for Stern Combo Meissen, a group that has been a favorite in this porcelain-producing mecca since the 1970s, served as the first use for the Aero 12A system from D.A.S. Audio in Germany.