Giving power to whatever came along, a total of eight racks travelled with the Carlson Audio crew housing amplifiers from QSC including PowerLight PL6.0 II and PL4.0 models, as well as PowerLight2 PL236s. Relying on an alternative power source for many years, Carlson Audio made the switch to QSC in 1997: "We run our PowerLights at two ohms across the board, and have never had a problem," Carlson adds. "We've also found that since we made the change, our power consumption has gone down dramatically, our truck packs have gotten considerably lighter, and our road cases last longer because the gear inside our amp racks doesn't weigh the same as a boat anchor anymore. Pound for pound and dollar for dollar, we can't ask for more out of an amplifier line."
Continuing through Europe until 27 March, R.E.M. kicked off the European leg of their world tour in Cape Town, at South Africa's Bellville Velodrome on 4 March. Moving on to shows in Durban and Johannesburg, the legendary band took the stage at Budokan in Tokyo, Japan on 16 March. With them throughout the tour will be Carlson Audio crew chief Allan Bagley and assistant tech Mike Scerra.
The UK leg of R.E.M.'s tour will be covered in detail in a future issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine.
(Lee Baldock)
