Martin MAC 700 Profiles light up Lord’s Taverners charity concert in 2006

Following the success of the Lord’s Taverners charity concert ‘One Generation to Another’ in 2004, the children’s charity brought in Sound Advice to create another fantastic evening of ‘Rhythm and Blues’ greats at the Royal Albert Hall this spring.

It’s not very often that a collection of artists who have helped shape the music of today perform together under one roof, but this is becoming a trademark of ‘One Generation for Another’ concerts. With a line up of legendary artists including Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, Paul Young, Eddie Floyd, Kiki Dee, Geno Washington and Georgie Fame, the evening was filled with great music and a party atmosphere.

This is a format that Sound Advice has found suits the charity and the venue, and were given a free hand to create the event based on their experience. Sound Advice’s Managing Director Hugh Phillimore booked a line up to shape the show, while James Cobb took his role as Production Manager.

Production has never been simple or easy when it comes to working in the Royal Albert Hall, it is mainly the acoustically challenging elements that remain due to its size and shape. With more than 15 artists performing, it was the running order and performance times constantly changing across the show that created the most challenges. James Cobb sourced a combination of specialists in their field to work on the show, which was vital when it came to keeping to the tight time restrictions and limited rehearsal time available.

James explained, “There was no time for a full rehearsal before the show, and the first time Lighting Designer Baz Halpin heard some of the songs was as they were performed on the night, and he tailored the lighting to fit there and then! On a show like this when time is tight the production team has to think on their feet and be extremely versatile, it is vital that there is a strong network in place, which is why I chose the suppliers I did. There were additions to the playlist and changes in times across the show, so really the show was developing live throughout the duration!”

Baz explained, “Despite the minimal time for rehearsals, I’ve worked with some of the artists before and had a few pointers as to the types of colours and moods they wanted creating during their performance. Apart from that, the lighting brief was pretty open to my interpretation

Amidst the lighting equipment provided and set up by LXCO, was a loan of the new Martin MAC 700’s for trial at the show. A new addition to Martin’s range and a welcome one, LXCO incorporated eight into the lighting set, alongside Mac 500’s. Baz continued, “I really like the new MAC 700’s, they are the perfect mix between the Mac 2K Profile and Mac 2K Performance, having the best features of both lights. Sometimes when you use one or the other type of light, you miss a feature the other one has and vice versa, but it seems these new ones take everything you need from the two separate ones. It’s the light output and the great optics available with the MAC 700’s that make them good to work with.”

While a good time was had by all and classic R ‘n’ B songs such as ‘I got the music in me’ and ‘Come up & see me’ got everyone on their feet, it was the grand finale of an unforgettable performance of ‘Knock on Wood’ that led to everyone leaving the Royal Albert Hall humming and happy! Positive feedback from the Lord’s Taverners and more than £50,000 raised for the charity deemed the night a success and made it evident that Sound Advice can deliver time and again.