Supergrass Returns To Touring WIth Brit Row posted: 04/05/2020
More than 25 years after they unapologetically catapulted into the UK charts, and 10 since disbanding to produce solo material, much-loved British rockers Supergrass returned to touring with audio rental house Britannia Row in February and March.
Describing his sound crew as being amazing at their jobs, Production Manager Adam King has, by his own admission, loved working with Brit Row and the Supergrass team for the band's recent return to live music. His hope that Covid-19 doesn't disrupt the touring circuit and festival season too much, was the thought embedded in every touring personnel's minds during early March as the news began to really affect live music. As we know now, the reality is Coronavirus has resulted in tragic loss of life and put an unimaginable strain on a wide variety of industries, with live music amongst the earliest to be affected.
Supergrass were lucky' in the sense that they finished their seven date UK run - which culminated in two sold out shows at London's Alexandra Palace - prior to lockdown. FOH Engineer Max Bisgrove notes: We had two fantastic gigs in London, and as these were my last two shows for what will no doubt be quite some time, it was good to go out on such a high note.
King agrees: The Ally Pally sound check sounded incredible in an empty room. It's near enough impossible to achieve that, given that the venue is half a mile of concrete and a glass roof! The engineers did a really amazing job.
I like to think of Supergrass as a classy punk band; they're so powerful live. I was really pleased they decided to get back together because they're one of our great British rock bands.
What struck me when I met them was the pure rush of energy that hits the second they start playing. It was quite a moment! continues Bisgrove. I had my brief for the mix instantaneously; try and get that energy across to an audience and make it as exciting as it had been for me in our rehearsal space.
The audio crew was completed by Monitor Engineer Annette Guilfoyle, PA Tech Nick Jorden and Brit Row System Designer Richard Trow.
Bisgrove notes: Brit Row deliver fantastic service, so they're great to work with. A sound company is only ever as good as its people, and both Nick Jorden and Richard Trow were superb assets to the tour.
Bisgrove states he kept things simple and mixed on an Avid S6L-24C with no external outboard other than a Waves SoundGrid Card and Extreme Server. I sent the Matrix outputs to two Lake LM 44s for better control of the various in-house PAs we used.
There was also an awful lot more carving up of the PA on the Lake than normal but explains this was necessary to get any kind of sonic coherence in Ally Pally. The two delay hangs rigged at around 33m helped enormously and I was very happy with how the end result sounded, he says.
Nick Jorden, who has been working closely Brit Row for a decade notes: Brit Row are second-to-none - their attention to detail is amazing and the care put into their packaging is amazing. You are safe in the knowledge that when you're on the road, they have your back. Any extra tech support is only a phone call away. No matter where you are, they'll source whatever you need.
Alongside the back to back London headline shows, a Brit Row system was spec'd for Manchester's Victoria Warehouse where an L-Acoustics K2 with KS28 subs, Kara as front fills and A15 as outfills was installed. In London, Trow designed K1 with K2 under hangs and KS28 subs, Kara front fills and A15 outfills, with K2 delays.
Unable to make production prep due to prior commitments, Monitor Engineer Annette Guilfoyle was extremely pleased to see her own gear well prepped when it turned up for the first rehearsals. Guilfoyle spec'd a DiGiCo SD12 console running 96 channels. Her SD rack, much to her delight, also came outfitted with a 32-bit card.
Of course, there was tweaking as time went on, but all requests were dealt with very promptly. Nick Jorden was brilliant; really on top of everything that was required - he was in constant communication with those back at the Brit Row warehouse and any issues we did encounter were dealt with swiftly.
DiGiCo is my choice of console. I always try to use what is most appropriate to the circumstances; I didn't need the channel count of an SD5 or SD7, and I like to keep the footprint of monitor world as compact as possible.
RF equipment was Shure PSM1000s running through the AXT600 Spectrum Manager. Guilfoyle continues: Given the reduction in available spectrum these days, and the fact that the band had a potentially large run of US tour dates and festival appearances ahead of them, Shure seemed the logical choice, due to performance quality and availability.
Although this triumphant return was shortened across their wider summer dates due to the unprecedented global pandemic, Guilfoyle looks back on this experience fondly: Supergrass are fantastic to work for; they love playing live together and it really shows.
They have great songs, great musicianship and great stage presence, so combined with a real camaraderie between them, it made this tour an absolute joy.
Notes to editors
Britannia Row Productions was formed in 1975. Throughout an illustrious, decade-spanning history, the audio specialist has supplied state-of-the-art sound systems for major artists like Pink Floyd, Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Oasis, Robbie Williams, Kasabian and Sam Smith, to name but a few. In 2017, Britannia Row Productions was acquired by Clair Global, following a year-long strategic alliance, ensuring the company is perfectly supported to continue its delivery of major world tours, shows and events.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
01/09/2025
Monitoring audio and video content in today's increasingly complex media environment requires more flexibility than ever. Fortunately, broadcasters' ado...
01/09/2025
A football season unlike any other is taking shape in a conflicted broadcast environment where big-game producers are delivering unprecedented viewing experienc...
01/09/2025
Moving live pictures from place to place was once a feat so spectacular that the European Broadcasting Union invented the Eurovision Song Contest, which has bec...
01/09/2025
24 players have entered Slane Castle ready to outwit, outplay and outlast in the ultimate game of trust and deception.
The Traitors Ireland has commenced.
Her...
01/09/2025
First time television presenter Cathal Dowd, aged 23, from Wexford is the newest addition to the news2day team. news2day is RT 's news service designed spec...
31/08/2025
Legrand | AV, a global specialist and industry leader in audiovisual solutions, returns to CEDIA Expo 2025, taking place Sept. 4-6 in Denver, with a powerful li...
31/08/2025
Global media technology company Backlight will unveil new capabilities in its Iconik, Wildmoka, and Zype product lines at IBC2025 (booth #1.D09), September 12 1...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
Supergrass Returns To Touring WIth Brit Row posted: 04/05/2020 
