Major Music Festivals Feature VerTec

MAJOR MUSIC FESTIVALS FEATURE JBL VERTEC™

NORTHRIDGE, CA - JUNE 20, 2001 Several recent, major multi-act rock festivals in the western USA have utilized the new VERTEC Line Array speaker system from JBL Professional, served up by top-level professional touring and rental sound companies. VERTEC's unique high-output capabilities, excellent fidelity and ease of rigging made it the choice for this year's major outdoor events in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas regions.

In May, California rock radio station Star 98.7 presented Fan Nation, an all-day concert at the Verizon Amphitheatre in Irvine, California. The Wallflowers, Third Eye Blind, Counting Crows, the Go-Gos and Billy Idol were among the artists who played the one-day festival that featured many fan-oriented events such as giveaways and autograph sessions. Over 20,000 people attended and enjoyed the show in the reserved seats as well as extensive lawn areas. Sound was provided by Flag Systems (Santa Ana, CA). This veteran rental company determined that the excellent long-throw capabilities of the two 12-box VERTEC arrays made lawn-area delay speakers unnecessary, so they were never turned on.

On June 2, Las Vegas' Sam Boyd Regional Park hosted some of the top classic rock acts in another all-day event. At Junefest 9, sponsored by radio station KKLZ, 16-box front and 6-box side VERTEC arrays were flown from both sides of the stage with smaller arrays of 4 VERTEC systems placed near Jumbotron video display screens throughout the area to cover the 40,000 person audience. Sound was provided by Audio Analysts (Colorado Springs, CO). Enterprise Live of Las Vegas assisted with additional sub-rental VT4889 enclosures. Journey and Styx co-headlined the show, which also included Bad Company, Billy Squier, Molly Hatchet and Nightranger. Again, VERTEC's audio quality and coverage, combined with low weight, ease of rigging and durability in a very warm venue (115° F. on load-in day) drove the sound companies' choice to employ over 50 Crown-powered VT4889 enclosures for the 13-hour event.

One of Los Angeles' premier annual events is Wango Tango, staged June 16 and 17 this year at Dodger Stadium. Sponsored by radio station KIIS, Wango Tango offered pop, rock, rap, reggae and more from over twenty performers to 60,000 fans on each of the two days. The massive colorful stage featured six VERTEC arrays to cover the entire Dodger Stadium, with no delay towers in use. Sound was provided by ATK/Audiotek (Burbank, CA).

Wango Tango's eclectic mix of acts covered rap, Latin, several decades of rock and even included innovative stage performers, Blue Man Group. Crowd favorites like the Backstreet Boys, Ricky Martin, Christina Aguilera, Nelly Furtado and of course Aerosmith and the BeeGees filled the stadium with hit songs. For some acts, it was their first experience with ATK's VERTEC systems.

JBL's VERTEC system is rapidly becoming established as the new touring standard for line arrays, with a broad range of major international artists adding this premium sound reinforcement system to their concert tour specifications upon gaining exposure to it at events like Fan Nation, Junefest, and Wango Tango.