FEATURES: LIVE
Far and wide
Loud N Clear’s Longbow system has powered a season of events in Riyadh, discovers Simon Luckhurst IMAGINE 70 DAYS OF CONTINUOUS ENTERTAINMENT, IN 12 different zones, all in all totalling more than 100 events in the span of just three months. If you thought we were talking about Dubai you’d be forgiven; the above slogan actually belongs to Riyadh Season. Starting from the middle of October 2019 and running through till 15 December, it’s part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s attempt to make Riyadh the capital city for entertainment events in the Middle East as it strives to achieve the 2030 vision laid out by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Riyadh Season is in fact the biggest cultural and entertainment programme ever undertaken in the country’s history. The Kingdom has welcomed an increasing number of international artists to perform in recent months. While it was not her first Saudi gig, popular Egyptian singer Sherine Abdel Wahab performed at the Abou Baker Salem in mid-November alongside Lebanese artists Walid Tawfiq and Ragheb Alama to an audience of more than 8,000. Having worked successfully in the past with the event organiser, Benchmark, Beirut-based live production company Loud N Clear was brought in to handle the audio portion of the Sherine concert and other events taking place at Abou Baker Salem during the season. In recent months, an increasing amount of the company’s projects have shifted to Saudi Arabia, to the point where Loud N Clear keeps a sizeable amount of local stock on hand to cater to last-minute requests. And as one of Beirut’s biggest audio specialists, it’s certainly no stranger to working on events of this pedigree – Guns N’ Roses, Bryan Adams and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are just a few of the high-profile names gracing the company’s portfolio. ‘Benchmark is one of the biggest companies in Saudi Arabia for festivals and we first started working with them quite some time ago,’ recalls Loud N Clear owner, Roger Bou Farhat. ‘They
28 PRO AVL MEA Januar y–Februar y 2020
Loud N Clear had to accommodate a complicated stage setup with an 80-person orchestra approached us to work on these latest events, not only because of our experience on big concerts, but also because we’re one of the few companies in the region with enough stock to cover concerts of this size.’ Martin Audio’s Longbow, the latest large-scale line array offered from the British manufacturer, has quickly become Bou Farhat’s system of choice. With no specific requirements from the client, Loud N Clear was free to design a system of its choosing.
‘Through my experience with Martin Audio, especially the longbow cabinet, we found it to be the most suitable choice for this event. With the entire festival lasting nearly three months and the venue being outdoors, the system had to be able to withstand the elements,’ he expains. ‘Additionally, the sound of the Longbow is very powerful and clear, particularly at the back of the venue where you can hear all the frequencies. Longbow is able to reach right to the back, 80m away, without the use of any delay towers.’
