International News

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.

Complete details follow:

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.

MONTREAL — Originally built in the late 1920s, Montreal’s landmark Olympia Theatre recently underwent a renovation project and technical facilities update that simultaneously took the “grand dame” of the city’s theatre scene both back in time and squarely into the 21st century. Mathieu Guilbault, who serves as front-of-house mixer for the theatre and codesigned the new system coordinated with local sound and lighting provider Kloda Focus to supply the venue with a new PA system, which now benefits from a Soundcraft Vi6 digital live sound console feeding Crown-powered JBL Vertec arrays.

REDDITCH, ENGLAND — The three days of the Give It A Name indoor shows in late April are seen as the start of the U.K. festival season, as up-and-coming new alt-rock bands rotate through three venues in England and Scotland. With up to 12 acts a day going through each stage of the early spring festival, this was a great opportunity for an army of different front-of-house engineers to get their hands on the NEXO GEO T line array, running the newly launched NXStream management software.