Australia Day 2000
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On January 26th Sydney Harbour was filled with hundreds of boats and floats which showed up to attend the Australia Day festivities, coordinated by the Australia Day Council. The celebration, which commemorates the arrival of Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1778, attracted a host of harbor activities this year. Included in the entertainment lineup was the Norwegian Capricorn Line's "Jazz on the Water" performance that utilized a complete Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeaker system. "They required a full range, high quality, long-throw PA system to be flown from a container crane pointing across the water from the flotilla of water craft to the vessel, Norwegian Star," said Steve Devine of Meyer Sound Australia. Devine added that the PA system was suspended more than 300 feet in the air to reinforce the wharf concerts. "The boxes were flown from one of the large cranes used to unload containers from ships. The accuracy of the crane and the skill of the crane operators allowed us to move the array in 1-inch increments to allow very accurate system alignment. All loudspeakers were fitted with Meyer Sound Remote Monitoring System (RMS) which enabled us to keep tabs on the system from the mix position. This ensured the system ran at optimum performance." The Jazz Stage, located on the container wharf below, featured a host of bands, including popular performances from George Washing Machine, Andy Cowan and Big Mamas Door, Nightflight to Venus percussionists and the Norwegian Capricorn Line Singers. Providing the pro-audio equipment for the Sydney Harbour celebration was Coda Audio, which supplied a FOH stage PA configuration of four Meyer Sound MSL-6s, four PSW-6s, 4 MSL-4s and 8 DS-4Ps. An additional host of USMs served as foldback monitors on stage. "Coda Audio have made a huge commitment to Meyer Sound and this, along with their professional attitude and attention to detail reflects in the quality of work they are doing. The system sounded incredible," said Devine. In addition to this event, Coda Audio Services also provided systems for a host of other Australia Day Council festivities, including four other stages at Sydney Harbour. The St.George Main Stage included acts such as Tiddas, Marcia Hines, Pablo Percusso, Armondo Hurley and The Allstar Big Band, and also hosted the Lord Mayors Citizenship Ceremony. The ABC for Kids Stage featured popular children's performers such as Bananas in Pajamas, The Hooley Dooleys, Don Spencer, Bob the Kelpie and The Bunyips. NRMA 50's Stage featured Eddy Fraser & the Memphis Outlaws, The Comets and Satellive V, whereas the NRMA Swing Stage was host to the Dept. of Corrective Services Band, The Mell-O-Tones and Eddy Sevens Swingsation. Other Australia Day festivities that Coda Audio was involved in included the Rocks at Campbells Cove, featuring Sydney's town crier, Graham Keating, and the Murrumbidgee Rattlers. Keating called the Tall Ships Race and the Ferrython to the spectators. This year's annual series of races attracted an estimated crowd of more than a million along the harbor foreshores. The pro-audio systems for these events comprised Meyer Sound loudspeaker systems configured around MSL-4s, PSW-4s, MTS-4s, CQ-1s, CQ-2s and MSL-2A combinations, with several USM-1 monitors. According to the Australia Day Council, this year's Australia Day celebrations attracted a record number of attendees. "The response we have received from some of the thousands of patrons, our sponsors and supporter's has all been positive with many praising the day," said Suzanne Peri-Chapman and Sarah Thompson from the Australia Day Council. "We were very happy with the quality of your equipment and the hard work and flexibility of your [Coda Audio] staff." February, 2000 |
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