A JBL VerTec line array system at Rock in Rio Lisboa 2006 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Gabisom Audio Equipment of Sao Paolo, Brasil provided concert audio services for Rock In Rio Lisboa 2006, held at Bela Vista Park in Lisbon, Portugal. Gabisom deployed a massive JBL VerTec line array system for Rock In Rio’s World Stage, which was attended by more than 500,000 people over five days. An audience of 100,000 attended the festival’s opening night May 26 to hear Shakira and Jamiroquai, with equally large crowds attending subsequent shows that ran from May 27 through June 4. The festival featured artists such as Sting, Roger Waters, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Carlos Santana and Anastacia.
The largest concert audio company in the southern hemisphere, Gabisom stocks a broad range of loudspeaker inventory from various leading suppliers. For this year’s Rock In Rio, which marked only the second time the event has been held outside Brasil, the company relied upon their stadium-sized VerTec system.
Gabisom’s chief engineer for Rock In Rio Lisboa 2006, Peter Racy, coordinated an audio team of 11. “Our JBL VerTec VT4889/VT4880 system performed exceedingly well at this year’s Rock In Rio event,” he observed. “We received nothing but praise from band engineers, artists, promoters, audience members and the regional press.”
A total of 98 VT4889 full-size line array elements were suspended at the World Stage, with main left and right arrays comprising 18 enclosures each. These were supplemented with 40 VT4880 full-size arrayable subwoofers powered by Crown MA5002VZ amplifiers. The system was supported by 40 additional ground-stacked subwoofer enclosures. The Gabisom crew relied upon an additional set of six delay towers, each supporting six VT4889 full-size line array elements, to increase stage-sound throw all the to the back of the audience area, a distance of 1,200 feet.
Noted sound mixers on-site included Brad Madix (Shakira), Toby Francis (Guns n’ Roses), Dave Rat (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Rob Mailman (Carlos Santana). Many engineers serving acts on the festival had requested JBL VerTec in their concert riders, based upon success with the system on their own headlining tours.
“We have always been known for being able to supply whatever our international clients expect for their events,” notes Gabisom’s Jose Luis “Gabi” Ferreira. “With JBL’s VerTec system having now achieved global prominence, and with our long-standing trust and reliance upon JBL loudspeaker components, we felt the time was right to offer this additional option to our clients.”
Gabisom can be reached at gabisom@uol.com.br. For more information, visit www.jblpro.com, www.harman.com and http://rockinrio-lisboa.sapo.pt.
