1999 Brit Awards

March 24, 1999

Held on the 16th of February in London’s Docklands Arena, the British Music Awards is heralded as the most exciting event in the British music calender, celebrating the best in popular music from around the World.

Enjoyed by over ten million viewers, both live and on television the following evening, the 1999 Brit Awards played host to a mass of international music stars.

The show featured live performances by artists such as Robbie Williams, B*Witched duetting with Bjorn Ulvaeus from ABBA, Placebo and David Bowie performing the once in a lifetime rendition of T-Rex¹s Twentieth Century Boy, and the Eurythmics, winners of the Outstanding Contribution to British Music, playing a medley with Stevie Wonder.

The massive lighting rig at this year’s Brits saw the largest amount of Martin lighting equipment ever specified. Mark Kenyon, chairman of STLD (Society of Television Lighting Designers), was responsible for the spectacular lighting display, working closely with three lighting operators, Roger Williams, Nigel Catmur and Will Charles.

The huge lighting rig consisted of 139 Martin Mac 600s and 100 Mac 500s along with 64 Martin Pro 400s (used as truss warmers). All the lighting equipment was supplied by Elstree Light and Power and the Essential Lighting Group.

Mark comments, "We have never put so many Martin lights together before, so we were a little nervous as to how they would work together. They performed brilliantly and would definitely be my first choice again in the future."

Ronan Wilson from ELP was also highly delighted with the quality of the Martin lights. "They performed flawlessly," he commented.