STS Touring Productions Ltd.

Anathema, were back on the road with an Orange Amplification endorsement and a Monitor Desk, IEM Set Up and STS Custom Build Split System for a 3 month run in the UK & Euro, culminating in a support tour with STS Client Opeth. Opeth ‘Unplugged’ saw the band take out a Digico SD8 Console with Apple Macbook Pro running Logic Recording software for the band to document all these intimate shows.

The Manchester College came to STS to purchase a small PA system for Speech and Presentation that could be easily moved and set up quickly. STS provided a Turbosound Solution with four TCX-8 Speakers and T-45 Amplifier, as well as a pair of flight-cased Shure MX412 Microphones and accessory kit.

The new football season saw STS Audio Operators Paul Danson and Dom Kelly back at the Etihad Stadium for all of the Manchester City Football Club Home Games.

Great Big Events kept STS Audio Technicians, Paul Danson, Dom Kelly and Lucy Melling busy for the rest of the year. After a great summer of sport, STS provided Sound Operators for the European Rowing Championships in Italy, National Track Cycling and Revolution Track Cycling Events in Manchester, and yet more National and International Netball. September saw Jamaica take on England in the International Netball Series at The LG Arena, Birmingham, The Echo Arena, Liverpool and The English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. STS provided Audio and Lighting Solutions for the Sport Presentation of the event. A tunnel entrance with Effect Lighting was built at all three locations to bring the players on to court and PA design had to take into account of three completely different, sold out Venues with very little time for set up. The start of 2013 found STS back at The Fastnet Grand Prix Netball Finals and again out on the International Netball Series for England vs. Australia at Bath University, Wembley Arena, London and The National Indoor Arena, Birmingham. Lighting & Video Design from STS Technician Jim Powell saw a new Entrance Tunnel Design for the players incorporating rear project screens to enable silhouette effects of the players and video imagery.

At the beginning of September, STS Touring took on the Technical Management of the Manchester Ritz Venue. After a refurbishment of the Ritz around 18 months ago, a Turbosound Flex Array PA System was permanently installed. STS System Designer Paul Danson was deployed to work his magic on the venue with a full analysis of the room using SMAART to set up the system to its full potential. Since then STS Technicians have been looking after the venue maintenance and band technical riders alongside the in-house technicians, working with artists such as, The Blackout, Deaf Havana, Adam Ant, Gary Numan, John Cale and regular STS Clients Devin Townsend Project and many more.

Marc Almond was back on the road again in September and October and as always came to STS to provide a Turbosound Monitor Package and Yamaha Control System for the Tour. STS also provided their flagship Digital Grand Piano for the Tour, the Yamaha Avant Grand N3.

Yet more sport in September, this time Squash and the Rowe British Grand Prix held at the National Squash Centre in Sportcity, Manchester. A Nexo PS10/LS500 System was used with Yamaha Digital Control with STS Audio Technician Dom Kelly taking on operating duties. STS provided full Sport Presentation Sound and Lighting for the event for the 4^th Year running for regular client International Sport Group. The tournament saw the top 8 players in the world battle it out for the Grand Prix Trophy.

The Manchester Food & Drink Festival again called on STS to design Lighting and Sound Systems for the Albert Square Site. A Nexo PS10 sound install with Sennheiser G3 Radio Systems was used for the Chef’s demonstration area, with Turbosound Flex Array being used for the Bar Area and on the Live Stage.

Regular client and experienced engineer Ben Hammond had a busy autumn taking out Custom Built Monitor Split Systems and Stage Line Systems for Lower Than Atlantis, The Blackout and Deaf Havana.

October found STS Lighting Designer Jim Powell back out with STS regulars The Gaslight Anthem.

STS provided full lighting, truss and rigging to Jim’s design for both of the UK shows at Brixton Academy, London and The O2 Apollo Theatre, Manchester. Jim was then back at the Apollo as LD for The Lumineers and The Civil Wars, again with equipment provision from STS.

Firmly back to its roots, STS favourite classic rock station, Real Radio XS, had their Halloween ‘Monsters Ball’ at Bowlers Exhibition Centre, Manchester with full Sound and Lighting Install from STS. Station fans had the pleasure of some fantastic tribute bands such as Judas Beast and Megadeth UK.

Swimming and Badminton kept the sport going to the end of the year with the ASA County Teams and ASA Masters and Seniors Swimming Events in Ponds Forge Swimming Pool, Sheffield. Nottingham Badminton Association, along with Badminton England started a new tournament, The Nottingham Mixed Masters Trophy. Full Sport Lighting and Sound Installs were designed by Jim Powell and Dom Kelly in the unusual setting of The Albert Hall Conference Centre, Nottingham. The event was a great success and is now a regular addition to the Badminton Diary. STS are looking forward to playing their part again next December.

October found STS Senior System Designer Paul Danson out on the road for the UK leg of the Emeli Sande Tour. Paul took out Turbosound Flex Array and Aspect Elements along with TSW-218 Sub Bass Enclosures for a variety of venues up and down the country including The Royal Albert Hall, London, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester and the famous Armadillo Theatre, at the SECC Glasgow.

As always The Manchester Cathedral has kept STS busy for the rest of the year with regular Sound and Lighting Installs for a variety of sold out shows including, Amanda Palmer (formerly Dresden Dolls), Bat For Lashes for two incredible shows, The Dirty Three and right into January for Peter Hooks current project ‘The Light’. St Philips Church, Salford found STS providing Sound and Lighting for I Am Kloot’s sold out show to preview their new album, with STS General Manager out of the office on Front of House Sound and Tour Management duties.

The Sound Department found themselves finishing the year with a sold out acoustic set from Beth Orton at the Royal Northern College of Music and a short 5 date tour with ex-Oyster Band and regular Fairport Convention Vocalist June Tabor. The Rizzle Kicks came to STS to augment their Touring Lighting Package for their Manchester Apollo shows and the Sound boys found themselves in Derby City Centre providing Audio reinforcement for Derick Acorah (Most Haunted) and Ghost Fest.

What better way to finish the year than with the Thunder Christmas Party Extravaganza at the Manchester Academy. Lighting Designer Ian ‘Scampi’ Bintliffe came to STS for Lighting and FX provision for the Academy which included five snow machines, inflatable Santa’s and penguins and 6ft Christmas Trees with miles of Fairy lights.

Having had a great Festival Season, STS hit September …. with another Festival.  The Freedom Festival held on the Quayside in Hull saw STS Favourite and regular client Martha Reeves & The Vandellas headline the Main Stage.  STS Technician Mike Quirk was on site for 2 days looking after a full stage of backline as well as a complete set up for Martha Reeves and her band.

 A long term hire left the warehouse in September for three months for the Lionel Richie.  A full complement of Yamaha Motif Keyboards was supplied to the band for the duration of the dates. 

The BBC, based at Media City in Salford, continued to keep STS busy with a variety of shows including BBC Breakfast, CBeebies, 6Music, Radio 4 and Radio 2 for artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Joe McElderry, Deacon Blue, McFly, Rebecca Ferguson, Andrea Bocelli and Katherine Jenkins. 

October saw backline out with American Alternative Rock group The Helio Sequence for their UK and European Dates.  Motion City Soundtrack was back again for their UK & European Tours, furnished with an endorsement Drum Workshop kit for their Drummer.  New client for STS, Motionless in White took backline out and returned early in January 2013 to start off the STS calendar with another backline rental. 

STS Managing Director Pete Dutton was back on the road as front of house engineer for Ian Hunter (Mott the Hoople) in October for a long European and UK Tour, taking in most of Scandinavia. The band came to STS to supplement their own backline with STS stock.  Pete was a busy man in October and November, staying out on the road with STS Backline Technician Dom Hardy and STS Monitor Engineer John Taylor for the Barclay James Harvest UK Tour. 

The UK Tour of American Idiot the Musical found STS supplying a pair of Pedal Timpani as stage props for the show.  Full backline supply in October for the Don McLean UK and European Tour, Orange Endorsement and Ugly Kid Joe and Duff McKagan’s Loaded who were support acts on the Alice Cooper UK Arena Dates and Orange and Drum Workshop Endorsements for Down for their UK and European Shows.  Ugly Kid Joe were back again in December for their headline tour culminating in a headline appearance at Hard Rock Hell VI Festival in it new location in Pwllheli. As well as Ugly Kid Joe at HRH VI, STS provided Generic Backline for the three stages and full backline for Sebastian Bach (Skid Row). 

More return bookings in October from Girlguiding UK for their annual ‘Big Gig’.  Full backline supply with technicians was taken over to Sheffield Arena for JLS, Lawson and Coverdrive.  Still going strong in October with two more festivals for the STS Diary, both firm favourites, with full backline supply and technicians for four stages at the Supersonic, Birmingham based Alternative Music Festival and entering its 10^th Anniversary year in 2013, the AOR Festival ‘Firefest’. 

STS Director, Paul Collis was back on the road from October right through into February 2013 with The Devin Townsend Project, taking in UK, Europe and USA on headline and co-headline (with Fear Factory) shows.  STS supplied supplementary backline and custom mains transformers for all shows, with extra Litedeck Risers and a Digico SD8 with Logic Recording System for the London Roundhouse Show where Devin unleashed The Retinal Circus, an extravaganza in its own right. 

Backline stocks are always being increased to meet customer demand at STS, but autumn 2012 had several odd requests to fill as MMOTHS wanted Nose Flutes and Efterklang were back in the UK with all manner of interesting and unusual percussion hires.  The instrument stocks were on the up as STS added a Gibson J45 Acoustic Guitar for Mick Hucknall.

STS hit November with full steam as the MOBO awards were back in town at the Echo Arena, Liverpool.  Full Backline and Technicians were on site for Labrinth, Emeli Sande, Trey Songz, JLS, Connor Maynard and Angel.  STS Staging department had its handful at this one, with Stage Technician Dan Dutton looking after 48 rolling risers, which were all over the arena. 

More festival work in November and December as STS Backline Technicians Martin Aspinall, John Taylor and Ben Norris took on the Metal Bands at Damnation Festival, Leeds and the Punk Bands at the Rebellion Xmas Bash in Birmingham. 

There was no rest in December as STS regular client Dweezil Zappa was back in UK and Europe with his Zappa Plays Zappa Outfit.  STS provided full backline hire and endorsement Drum Workshop Drums.  Canadian Band ‘Stars’ were the last ones back to STS a couple of days before Christmas, returning from a month in Europe with full backline hire from STS.  The XFM Winter Wonderland Show rolled into the Manchester Apollo in December taking a full complement of Rolling Risers from STS. Backline and Rolling Riser supply filled up December and finished of an amazing year at the Jingle Ball shows for Capital Radio and Key 103 at the Manchester Arena, O2 Arena London, Metro Arena, Newcastle and the LG Arena, Birmingham for Flo Rida, Lawson, JLS, and McFly amongst others.

With a short break for Christmas, January 2013 started with a bang, straight out on the road with backline for AWOL Nation, Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), retuning client Motionless in White and STS regulars Clutch and Dispatch. Hopefully going to be another exhausting year…….!

March saw the newly reformed Inspiral Carpets back on the road, touring with new visuals they called upon STS to provide Christie Projectors Systems with Fastfold Screens. This was then repeated in early September with the addition of a Yamaha Front Of House Console & Monitor System for another small tour including the Twenty20 International Cricket Match at Old Trafford, Manchester.

The Turbosound Flex Array PA System was at work in the Manchester Arena for the Festival of Male Voices – The Combined Welsh Male Voices Choir. STS provided all Sound Reinforcement, Rigging and Lighting for the show. PA System Design came from STS Senior Systems Technician, Paul Danson.

STS Sound Engineers Paul Danson and Dom Kelly continued their Audio Operator roles at Manchester City Football Club through to the end of the winning season, which culminated for them on the Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay Stadium Shows.

Manchester Cathedral kept STS busy again with full production sound & lighting being provided for the likes of Marina & The Diamonds, Sinead O’Connor and Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros to name a few. Having supplied the Cathedral for nearly 18 months for all the shows in there, STS have designed the temporary install of Turbosound Flex Array to cover the wide audience areas with out fault, but not so many boxes that it takes away from the aesthetic of the Cathedral. Likewise STS Lighting Designers, Jim Powell and Rik Foreman have tailored the lighting installs to emphasise the architecture as well as lighting the events.

As always STS have been extremely busy in the sporting field, not only due to this being the year of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Following on from the British Swimming Olympic Trials at the London Aquatic Centre, Dom Kelly was back in Sheffield at Ponds Forge over April to August, with 2^nd round Olympic Swimming Qualifiers, Olympic Diving Trials, as well as the usual ASA Nationals, Age Groups and Masters Championships. July saw STS Audio Operator Lucy Melling flying solo for the first time for British Swimming at the National Open Water Championships at Rother Country Park, Rotherham.

Dom Kelly & Paul Danson have been jetting off round Europe with Great Big Events as Audio Operators for International Rowing Championships in Serbia, Switzerland and Italy, including World Cup and Olympic Qualifying Matches.

England Netball and Great Big Events again called on STS to supply Sound Reinforcement, Effect Lighting and an Entrance Tunnel for the Super Series League Matches in the new Olympic Sport House in Dagenham and two small tours, covering Sheffield, Liverpool and Birmingham Arenas.

July found STS back in the Manchester Arena for the NBA Basketball matches between the USA and GB, Mens and Womens Olympic Teams. STS were contracted to supply full sound reinforcement for sell out crowds of 18,000 people in full 360 degree seating and to design and build four HD Screens and scoreboards, flown above the centre of the court in a giant octagon. It was a fantastic installation and production, but unfortunately the USA wiped the floor with GB, but still a great show.

London 2012 Olympics called on Dom Kelly for his services as Audio & Playback Operator for all the Football Matches held at Old Trafford Football Ground, Manchester.

STS regulars Gogol Bordello took out the Digico SD8 and Custom Built Monitor Split System for their Summer Festival dates, whilst Anathema took out a Sennheiser In-Ear Monitor Package, Yamaha LS9-32 Monitor Console and Custom Monitor Split System for two European and UK Tours as well as their Festival Shows.

May found STS Systems Technician Paul Danson getting straight off a plane from Serbia, going straight to the Royal Albert Hall, London for Brit Floyd, the 2^nd show there in 12 months for them. He worked alongside ESS PA Hire System technicians to fly a large Turbosound Flex Array System, complemented by Turbosound Aspect TA-890L Flown Subs, all being driven by Turbosound Amplification and Processing.

Midland Sound & Light came to STS for the second year running to take out the Turbosound Flex Array to furnish all their outdoor festivals again this summer. Acts included Jools Holland, Status Quo and The Wanted. As well as the equipment hire, they called on the expertise of STS Senior System Technician Paul Danson to make sure they were getting the best from the system.

June saw the STS PA Department taking care of the Now Wave stage at Manchester’s Parklife Weekender Festival. Full Turbosound support on Front of House and Monitors with Yamaha PM5 & M7CL Consoles being looked after by STS Engineers John Taylor and Dave Skelton. Later in June the Willowman Festival took delivery of the Flex Array for front of house duties on the Main Stage.

With its recent move to Salford, from London, the BBC have kept STS busy in all departments. STS Sound Technicians Dom Hardy and John Taylor provided Sound Reinforcement for the joint BBC Radio 5-Live and Sport Relief Show at Media City. Acts joining them on stage included Badly Drawn Boy, Cast and The Futureheads.

STS took care of two permanently installed sound and lighting systems at the Laugh Inn Comedy Club in Chester, recently taken over by Jason Manford. The installs were overseen by STS Audio System Technician Dave Skelton and Lighting Designer Rik Foreman. Jason Manford has already increased the profile of the club, bringing acts such as John Bishop and Michael McIntyre. Local, long standing Manchester venue, Band On The Wall came to STS to put together a small touring monitor system for their shows they promote in other venues. STS put together a Turbosound Monitor System of TMW-115 Wedges, powered by T-Series Amplification and LMS-D24 Processor, all controlled by an Allen & Heath i-Live Console.

STS hit September with a flying start, with STS Director Paul Collis and STS Lighting Designer Rik Foremen off to the Beat The Street Band and Crew Bus Headquarters in Austria for their 20^th Birthday celebrations. After an initial site visit in early August, Rik set to work designing a ground supported rigging system to turn the Beat The Street Bus Depot into a Rock and Roll party. Production Manager Paul Collis really had his work cut out, flying over to the event in Austria from his current Devin Townsend Project Tour in the US, to not only make sure everything was going to plan but design the sound for the event too. A great night was had by all.

After a great start to the early part of the year, STS have been in full swing with repeat tours and bookings from Simple Plan, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Biohazard, Chiddy Bang, Of Montreal, Sleigh Bells, The Gossip and The Maine to name only a few.

A new Client for STS in May saw the Elvis Costello Tour take out the Hammond C3 with Leslie 122 Cabinet for their UK dates. The band and crew were so happy with the quality of the equipment and the level of service provided they extended the hire to include the European dates too. Well done to the STS Backline prep and service guys for that one – a tricky piece of equipment to maintain to a high standard.

June found STS regulars SUNN-O back in town at Manchester Venue – the HMV Ritz. As always they requested their full set up of 12 Marshall 4×12” Cabinets and 6 Ampeg 8×10” Cabinets. HMV Ritz called upon us for extra help with PA reinforcement as well on this show. To compliment the 2 flown Front of House Hangs of Turbosound Flex Array, STS installed 2 rear ground stacks of Flex Array – an extremely loud show indeed!

The big show in June for the North West was the Stone Roses at Heaton Park, Manchester. STS were very excited to be involved with the production of such a memorable reunion. For the 6 months previous, STS had supplied a Turbosound Monitor System to a secret location for the Roses to rehearse. We were then contracted to provide all the Rolling Rises for the Stage and also supplied The Wailers with a full backline for all three nights. STS Backline Technician Nick Gosling was on site for the duration of the show. A weekend to remember!

The Wailers backline then rolled on to their UK Club Show tour. During the same week STS supplied full backlines to the legendary Psychedelic Furs UK Tour and for Southside Johnny & The Asbury Dukes on the Blues Fest 2012, London & Manchester Shows.

Since the move of the BBC from London to Salford’s Media City, STS have increased their relationship with the BBC, now supplying to the BBC Breakfast programme on a very regular basis. Acts include Regina Spector, the Gypsy Queens, Joe McElderry, Keane, Violinist Nicola Benedetti and Rita Ora to name a few.

In July, STS were proud to support the STICK IT TO MS charity, in their World Drumming Record Attempt at Event City, Manchester, supplying a total of 20 Drum Kits to some of the drummers from all over the UK, Europe and USA. Congratulations to all who were involved as the world record was smashed with 798 drummers, breaking the record by over 200 more drummers.

To fill out an already over filled month, STS Touring were honoured to be the Backline and Stage Riser supplier for the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons UK Tour. A truck full of Backline and Litedeck Risers took to the road with STS Backline Technicians, John Taylor and Ben Norris at the helm. The tour saw them take in venues including Hampton Court Palace, The Royal Albert Hall, London, UK Arenas and Newmarket and Epsom Racecourses.

Throughout June, July and August, STS were booked up on the festival circuit, but still managed to find time and equipment to service the filming of the second series of Fresh Meat, with comedian Jack Whitehall and Inbetweeners star Joe Thomas. STS provided Backline, DJ Equipment and PA equipment for various scenes in the new series.

The Festival Season started for STS with a big weekend at Donnington Park for Download 2012.  STS have been the Site Backline Supplier for the last 7 years, providing Stage Manager, Backline Tech & full backline for The Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage as well as two trucks full of backline to service the rentals on site.  This year was as busy as ever, supplying to bands such as Ugly Kid Joe, Billy Talent, Steel Panther, Saxon, Theory Of A Deadman and Killswitch Engage.  Site Backline was managed by STS Technician Dom Hardy.

Download 2012 got the festival season into full swing moving straight on to the Radio One Big Weekend at Hackney Marshes.  Here STS Technicians Dom Hardy and Mike Quirk provided full backline support for regular STS client, Taio Cruz and NAS. This was part of a short UK tour for NAS which saw Mike Quirk out on the road for the duration.

July was when everything started to get very busy with festivals every weekend – STS Technician John Taylor spent 2 weeks in Hyde Park, London for the Barclaycard Wireless & Hard Rock Calling Festivals.  After a week off it was back to London for 3 weeks in Hyde Park and Victoria Park for the BT London Live Festivals over the duration of the London 2012 Olympics.  Richard Knowles was on site at Victoria Park for the entire period as Stage Manager with a truck full of backline to service up to 50 different acts a day.

It wasn’t just the STS Technicians out on the road this summer – Managing Director Pete Dutton had his fair share of Festivals, with John Lees Barclay James Harvest taking him and STS Monitor Engineer John Taylor round Europe and out to Japan, and Micky Moody’s Snakecharmer keeping him and STS Backline Technician Dom Hardy busy in both UK and Europe.

August found the STS PA, Lighting and Backline Departments empty for the annual Rebellion Punk Festival.  Backline was provided for all 6 stages and full production Lighting and Turbosound PA Systems for 3 stages.  Bloodstock Open Air Festival saw STS provided two full Recording/Stage Split systems with Alesis HD24 Recording Setups for bands to get full multi-track recordings of their live performances. A last minute phone call from the Production Team at Wilderness Festival found STS supplying backlines for regular clients, Spiritualized and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.  Rounding off August, STS supplied backline for the Colne Blues Festival, now in its 23^rd Year, including artists such as Booker T, The Animals and Mungo Jerry. Finally, in their 5^th Year of supply, STS had another successful year at V-Festival’s Weston Park Site providing equipment for the David Guetta, Tim Minchin, The Charlatans, Ben Howard and many more.

Not to be outdone by the Backline department, the STS PA and Lighting departments have been incredibly busy since the New Year. With its fantastic links to Sport Presentation, STS took off early in January with the Fast Net Grand Prix Northern Conference Netball Final, working alongside GREAT BIG EVENTS, the world leading Sport presentation company. Moving straight on from there STS Sound Engineers Dom Kelly and Paul Danson are both keeping the sound going at all the Manchester City Football Club home matches.

The National Badminton and National Squash Tournaments came along next for STS, now into the 12th year of supply for both tournaments. Full NEXO Sound reinforcement and TV standard lighting rigs being installed at Bolton Arena to allow for the National Badminton Championships to be shown on Sky Sports for the second year running. Dom Kelly carried on duties for British Swimming at the British Water Polo Championships in Manchester Aquatics Centre. Coming up next week we have Great Britain taking on Russia in the FINA World League Preliminary, again at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

The McCain Indoor City Challenge saw STS Technicians John Taylor and Chris Jones taking out NEXO Sound reinforcement to the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield and the Lee Valley Indoor Athletics Arena, London for two matches. Whilst this was going on, STS supplied full Lighting and Sound Systems to new client, the UK Cheerleading Association, for the 2012 National Championships held in the Exchange Hall at Manchester Central. With over 1300 screaming athletes, the Turbosound Flex Array Sound System was put to the test, with monitoring and In-Fills as NEXO PS10 speakers. Rik Foreman was on Lighting duties.

March saw British Swimming putting on the British Gas Swimming Championships. These were the Olympic Selection Trials and where better to do the trials than in the London Olympic Aquatics Centre at the Olympic Park. STS provided equipment for the event putting in Sound, Lighting and Vision Equipment into a VIP room for the British Gas Family and Guests, an entrance tunnel on the poolside for athlete entrance and extra lighting for various Press Conferences. A small NEXO PS10 System was used for background music and announcements with Robe 250 Spots and LED Par Cans creating a relaxing mood. Christie Projectors, new to the STS stock were employed to project 10m square back drops on to the walls of the room, all themed in Red, White and Blue by Rik Foreman, Lighting and Rowan May, Video. STS Sound Technician Dom Kelly was left on site for the entire run to operate sound in the main pool, again shows being produced by Great Big Events.

STS provided a small NEXO Sound System for the opening week of TONEWORLD, the boutique Guitar, Amplifier and Effects specialist based in the heart of Manchester City Centre. The opening day saw a live performance and signing session with Manchester favourite, Johnny Marr.

SPIRITUALIZED are back on the road this month with a dry hire of Sennheiser G3 In-Ear Monitoring Systems from STS. We are looking forward to hearing the long awaited new album and seeing another one of their legendary shows at Manchester Academy 1 on 25th March.

The Turbosound Flex Array System has not been resting in the warehouse either this year. With a quick turnaround early January, painting and refurbishing boxes, the system was out January with Yamaha M7CL Digital consoles at Front of House and Monitors taking care of the incredible ADAM ANT. Wow that was a show! Normal service was resumed back at Manchester Cathedral with Flex Array and Turbosound Monitoring for the first 2 shows of the year, LAMBCHOP and SINEAD O’CONNOR. Lambchop Front of House engineer Menko Leeuw, on his return to the Cathedral after a great show last year with Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell, was happy in control of the Digico SD8 Digital Mixing Console. With Light design from STS Lighting Engineer, Rik Foreman this was another excellent show in great surroundings.

One of Island Records latest signings, REN HARVIEU came to Manchester last week for a Media heavy showcase at Matt and Phreds Jazz Bar on Oldham Street. STS provided ChromaQ LED lighting to create a superb atmosphere, controlled by STS Technician Mark Simpson. Front of House sound engineer, Martin Mittler, was conscious of the important guests coming to check out the show and employed STS to reinforce the House PA System with Turbosound Flex Array and NEXO PS10 Monitoring. Careful planning was needed to ensure sightlines were not disturbed and that the monitoring on stage was small enough to allow for a large band. Martin is a fan of the DIGICO SD8 mixing console and spent a day at STS preparing the show file ready for the sound check. A long day of Promo for the band culminated in an excellent show, leaving a very happy Band, Crew and Label – what more could you want!

March saw STS in The Point, the purpose built corporate venue at Old Trafford Cricket, for the BOOT OUT BREAST CANCER Charity 80’s Ball. Sound Design came from STS Senior System Technician Paul Danson, employing 20 Turbosound Flex Array Cabinets flown from four points to ensure full coverage over the entire main ball room. Control came from the Digico SD8 at Front Of House and a YamahaM7CL for Monitors. Live entertainment came from Radio 1 DJ, Nihal, Live music from Heaven 17 and Go West. Light Design was done by STS Technician Jim Powell and Rigging taken care of by Rik Foreman. Jim went to town on the 80’s design for the room, using conventional lighting fixtures alongside Robe and Clay Paky moving heads and ChromaQ LED equipment. Lighting control came from a Avolites Pearl 2008 Lighting Console. STS again used their new stock of Christie Projects to allow for live camera feed of the Presentations and Bands and PowerPoint graphics. The Event was a huge success with the charity far exceeding their expectations. The organisers were over the moon at the show that STS put on, turning a corporate venue into a real 80’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Show.

There was no recovering from Christmas and New Year at STS, as 2012 had a flying start in the Backline department with two tours straight out of the warehouse in the first week of January. Old favourites and friends of STS, CLUTCH, were out on the road supporting Thin Lizzy on a UK Theatre Tour. Closely following them around the country, were THE MAINE, out on the road on the All Time Low Tour.

Next saw CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH on a UK and European Headline tour, whilst back in the UK were long time STS client BRAND NEW. STS had the fortune of landing I AM THE AVALANCHE on the Brand New Tour as well. The Brand New Production crew commented back to STS that it was the nicest and most successful tour the band had been on in years. Hopefully see them all again soon.

February saw the return of BIOHAZARD back to the UK for a short run of dates and we look forward to them coming back again for another UK festival season starting in June. The original Motown diva of dance music MARTHA REEVES AND THE VANDELLAS played a fantastic, intimate show at The Duchess in York with all backline looked after by STS Technician, Chris Oliver. Carrying on the soul vibe through February and March were SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS, the world’s premier live soul act, with full backline support from STS.

The relocation of BBC headquarters from the South to the North has started to reap its rewards for STS, with our first Blue Peter show – a live set from CHER LLOYD. Next were the BBC RADIO 2 FOLK AWARDS where STS stepped up to the mark providing rolling risers and additional backline for those last minute musician requests! The BBC aired their STARGAZING – LIVE programmes, STS Technicians Dom Hardy & Dan Dutton provided support for Sound and Vision equipment – even on the rough Mersey Ferry Crossing!

Dom Hardy ended February with a short backline tour of the UK with founder of THE MODERN LOVERS, singer, songwriter and guitarist, JONATHON RICHMAN.

A last minute telephone call had a van racing to Glasgow with a Drum Workshop Collectors Series Kit to help out CHIMAIRA on their current tour. Within hours everything was all sorted for them.

March sees STS getting into the Festival Season early with Backline and Consumables provision at Chic Festivals ‘HAMMERFEST 4 – THE HAMMER OF THOR’.

Our Turbosound Flex Array was out in Liverpool Arena for the World Netball Series, which saw England take the gold medal, STS also supplied lighting, truss and rigging with Rik Foremen on lamps, and Paul Danson on sound. (scroll down for pics)

The Armani store in Manchester took two systems for one of their promotional nights including the amazing JP Cooper.

The Rock Radio Xmas party was certainly rocking, with full STS crew, sound and lighting.

STS MD Pete Dutton has been out mixing Mick Ralphs from Bad Company and the mighty Kenney Jones. Also the first show for the new line up of Snakecharmer with Micky Moody, Neil Murray, Laurie Wisefield, and Harry James.

STS Director Paul Collis is still out with Devin Townsend in Canada, having completed a UK leg which saw use of our Digico SD8 with recording via RME MADIface to Logic / Mac Book Pro and also Alesis HD24 systems used for a full multi-track recording in preparation for a live DVD to be released next year. Also used were STS backline extras, rigging and motors.

Flex Array was again in action for Toss the Feathers in Manchester, along with Nexo PS10’s and Yamaha consoles.

A Yamaha M7cl 48 was also in action for Goldie Looking Chain, along with some TSW-218 subs.

Paul Danson is still making sure all is well at Manchester City’s Etihad stadium at all home games.

The Lighting dept. made the journey down the street to light Imelda May at Manchester Apollo.

Dom Kelly spent two days in Media City’s studio HQ2 providing PA mix and DAW operation for BBC One’s “Bang goes the theory” stage show.

The “Ian Anderson plays the Christmas Jethro Tull” show at Manchester Cathedral was overseen for STS by John Taylor, who made use of Turbosound Flex Array as well as a significant compliment of flown Nexo PS10’s to get round issues of coverage and sightlines for the extended seating areas. Turbosound TFM 330 wedges were supplied along with Sennheiser G3 IEM’s. Lighting was looked after by Scampi.

Recent Manchester Cathedral shows have also included Anna Calvi, 2 nights of Wild Beasts, and Turin Brakes.

Screens and Projectors were provided for the Nico McBrain Drum Clinic at the Willows Rugby Club in Salford

Yellowcard and Saves the day, also Clutch are still touring Europe and The Bronx have just set off on a lengthy European stint.

Tinchy Stryder and James Morrison took over the first week.

Hollyoaks music show is back on air, using STS backline were the usual suspects Professor green, Wretch 32, and Nicola Roberts.

George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic – Northern Leg of UK dates

Zappa Plays Zappa (Dweezil Zappa)

Switchfoot

Quireboys

Carter Unstoppable Sex Machine

Andrea Bocelli

Elbow, Coldplay, Small Rehearsal PA System for Lady Gaga – last minutes hires for all three.

Nicola Roberts Backline

Lowry Theatre, Salford – again last minute hires.

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival

Game in Newcastle and Manchester.

The magnificent Glen Campbell has recently been out on tour using STS backline, as well as Fountains of Wayne and the mighty Clutch.

A full truckload of STS backline accompanied by personnel Martin Aspinall, Jonnie Read, and Ben Norris were at 3 stages in Leeds for the Damnation festival. STS Director Paul Collis was also on site performing FOH duties for headliner Devin Townsend.

The Musicport world music festival lasted for 3 days over in Bridlington, on site support was handled by STS’s Dom Hardy, with Hugh Masekela topping the bill.

The Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and Leeds Town Hall hosted Tsunami victims benefit concerts, again with STS supplying backline.

Long time friends of STS, cult Manchester band, The Fall have been using STS equipment for their latest run of dates.

Taiwanese superstar Jeff Chang took a van load of equipment to shows in Manchester and London, ably assisted by STS’s Chris Jones.