UK - Saturday 19 July 2003 saw the Millennium Dome spring to life once again, hosting the capital's Respect festival, held in commemoration of Stephen Lawrence, the teenager who was murdered in a racist attack in 1993. The venue was changed at the last moment due to the former venue being destroyed by a fire. However, the Dome proved to be the ideal replacement and London's Mayor Ken Livingston said that next year's event would be on an even larger scale, bringing this festival on a national level. The Dome saw over 30,000 people listening to music from Rap, Hip Hop, and pop over eight stages. Headlining the event was Hip Hop artist's Public Enemy and Gregory Isaacs.

The sound was handled by Will Power PA, with JBL VerTec VT4889s being flown eight aside of the main stage. Adlib Audio supplied their own 2 x 18" subs, stacked eight per side on the ground. Will Norton commented: "This is the second time I've had the pleasure in using JBL VerTec, and I must say they performed outstandingly: their throw distance was superb, with a mix that was clear and defined."

Adlib Audio's Dave Kay was system engineer on the day, and commented: "I always find VerTec a pleasure to work with - it's a light and very easy box to rig, and with a complete range from the baby VT4887s to the medium size VT4888s along with the large but light VT4889s, JBL has the complete line array set-up, that can be flown or ground-stacked. Arbiter Pro Audio's tour sound sales manager, Karl Bates was also on hand to assist with the operations.

(Lee Baldock)


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