Dainty Consolidated Entertainment brought Miley Cyrus to Australia in June. The Gypsy Heart tour commenced in Brisbane on June 21 and travelled to Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth.

This tour marked Cyrus’ first visit to Australia since being introduced to local audiences as Hannah Montana in 2006. Miley Cyrus has released ten albums and sold in excess of 500,000 singles in Australia.

During Autumn JPJ Audio provided audio and production services for theatre shows, television spectaculars, corporate events and numerous concerts. Here’s some of the shows we worked on:

Festivals	Theatre / Television	House Systems
Groove’n the Moo	Dr Zhivargo	Hordern Pavilion Install
Superfest	Hairspray the Musical	State Theatre Install
Blues Festival	Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber	Luna Park Install
	Project Runway
	Star Struck
	Yo Gabba Gabba

Concerts and Tours	Concerts and Tours	Corporate Events

It was a busy summer for JPJ Audio, the merged operation of Jands Production Services and Johnston Audio. JPJ Audio provided audio and production services for theatre shows, television spectaculars, corporate events and numerous concerts. Here’s some of the shows we worked on:

Festivals	Theatre / Television	House Systems
Big Day Out	Hairspray the Musical	Luna Park Big Top
Good Vibrations Festival	The Boy From Oz	State Theatre Sydney
Laneway Festival	Music of Andrew Lloyd  Webber	Hordern Pavilion
Sound Wave Festival	Dr Zhivargo
Future Music Festival	Australia’s Got Talent
Sound Relief 2	River Dance

Concerts and Tours	Concerts and Tours	Corporate Events

Massive Attack - Sydney Opera House forecourt

Massive Attack toured Australia in March 2010 off the back of their album `Heligoland`. JPS provided a L-Acoustics K1 system for the tour.

Tour Dates

March 12, Perth, Kings Park
March 15, Sydney, Opera House Forecourt
March 19, Canberra, Royal Theatre
March 20, Melbourne, Myer Music Bowl
March 21, Adelaide, Entertainment Centre
March 23, Brisbane, Riverstage

The world’s most famous virtual band, Gorillaz, made their live debut in Australia in December 2010.

After headlining the UK’s Coachella and Glastonbury festivals earlier in the year, Gorillaz headed to the Southern Hemisphere to tour Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and then Auckland.

The band – the brainchild of Blur singer Damon Albarn and Tank Girl cartoonist Jamie Hewlitt – consists of an eccentric animated quartet: singer and keyboardist 2-D, bassist Murdoc, guitarist Noodle and drummer Russel Hobbs.

As part of their first world tour the band included over 20 musicians on stage at any one time. JAS provided a D&B J system – and lots of it.

Date

December 11, 16, 19, 21

System

60 x d&b J series
16 x d&b J-sub
18 x d&b B2
Powered by d&b D12 amplifiers

FOH

DiGiCo SD7

Monitors

DiGiCo SD7
24 x L-Acoustics 115xt HiQ wedges

JAS audio crew

Craig Gordon
Conor Dunne
Guto Magic – Otavio Santos
Matthew ‘Boz’ Boaro

Powderfinger hit the road late in 2010 for their farewell tour of Australia and New Zealand. The band had decided after 20 years of making music and touring the world to call it a day and set out on the Sunsets Farewell tour. It consisted of arenas for the capitals cities and big-top tents for the regional areas. They toured for 3 months in total.

The band’s FOH operator Mark McElligot contacted JAS and asked for a D&B J system for the tour. He was enthusiatic about the systems amazing sound quality and knew that because of its size and weight it would be ideal for the big-top tents.

The system design incorporated J8 & J12 for the main and side hangs. J-subs were also flown with B2 subs on the ground.
The tour also had a B stage just in front of the FOH desk and with a separate monitor system package.

At Acer arena in Sydney a 2nd audio system was supplied and flown above the B stage and thus above the band.

Jet supported Powderfinger on the whole tour with FOH duties by “John Boy Rock” and Monitors by Will Burston.

Date

September 1 – October 16 2010

System

60 x d&b J series
16 x d&b J-sub
18 x d&b B2
Powered by d&b D12 amplifiers

Acer Arena B stage system

48 x Adamson Y18
24 x Adamson Y10

FOH

1 x Midas XL4
1 x Midas XL3 extender sidecar (B stage mix)
1 x Digidesign Profile (Jet and other acts)

Monitor system

1 x PM5DRH console
Nexo PS15 wedges
Nexo Alpha M3 side-fill system

JAS Audio Touring Crew

Conor Dunne
Craig Gordon
Mark Crawley

Australasia’s leading touring audio suppliers; Jands Production Services Pty Limited (JPS) and Johnston Audio Services, (JAS) have entered into a Heads of Agreement to merge the two companies. The Heads of Agreement is subject to undertaking of due diligence which is expected to be completed by the end of June.

Both companies have long histories in the touring sound market and over the past four decades have supplied production services to nearly every major tour and music event in Australia and New Zealand.

Eric Robinson, CEO of JPS, commented, “In our discussions it has become clear that we’re both facing the same challenges on large tours and music events. Our clients are looking to us for increased efficiencies and jointly we’ll be able to respond in a way that reduces costs, expands our equipment offerings, and solves logistical problems. Potentially it brings major benefits to promoters and touring artists.”

The companies will continue to operate from their existing premises in Sydney and Melbourne and both expect to benefit by having access to a larger pool of equipment and expertise. The merged group expects to use the synergies of working together to deliver outstanding service for their clients.

Commenting on the move, JAS Managing Director Bruce Johnston stated, “I am excited about the new equipment and services we’ll be able to bring to our customers. The combination of JAS and JPS will create one of the best audio companies in the world, providing real benefits to Australian and international artists.”

The merger of the two companies will increase the level of support and service available to JPS and JAS clients and reinforces the group’s ongoing commitment to meeting the challenges of the modern touring market. Together the companies intend to remain at the forefront of technology, clearly demonstrated by the recent introduction of new speaker systems and significant investment in control and amplification packages.

Jands Production Services was founded in 1970 and operates in the theatre, corporate and touring audio markets.

Johnston Audio Services commenced operations in 1985 and provides audio for tours, festivals and fixed installations.

Global comedy ‘rock-star’, Russell Peters, brought his hillarious Green Card Tour to Australia in May. As part of his “Green Card Tour,” the shows featured all new material since the release of his latest DVD, “Red, White and Brown”. He was recently ranked by Forbes — along with Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock — as one of the top ten highest grossing stand-up comics in the U.S.

JAS supplied a D&B J series arena system for the shows at the Acer arena in Sydney and the Rod Laver arena in Melbourne.

Date

May 8, 9, 11, 14, 17, 20

System

56 x D&B J
12 x D&B J-sub
6 x D&B B2 sub
Digidesign SC48 FOH console

JAS crew

Audio system tech: Doug Pringle
Audio system tech: Otavio ‘Guto!!’ Santos

The 2010 Groovin the Moo festival took a big leap in production from the previous years. The festival promoters had asked how they could step up the production levels without too large an infrastructure change.

The festival featured Silverchair, Vampire Weekend, Empire of the Sun, Tegan and Sara, Grinspoon and many more and with such a large number of acts the promoter was keen to upgrade the system and maintain consistency across the festivals.

Bruce Johnston helped out as the festival production manager with Natalie Earles as the production assistant. James Leydon also was the advance production manager for the Townsville and Canberra sites.

Johnston Audio supplied a complete turnkey production management service to the festival.

Date

May 1-2, 8-9, 15

Bendigo – Maitland

Main stage 1 & 2

24 x L-Acoustics VDosc
24 x L-Acoustics SB218
12 x L-Acoustics ARCs

FOH Consoles

2 x Digidesign Profile consoles

Monitor consoles

2 x Yamaha PM5D consoles
1 x Digidesign Profile
1 x Digidesign D-show

Stage monitors

16 x Wayloud wedges
16 x Nexo PS15 wedges
4 x Nexo Alpha side-fill systems

JAS Crew

FOH system tech: Doug Pringle
FOH system tech: Jock Bain
Monitor system Tech: Nicholas Brunney
Monitor system Tech: Mark Nicholls
Audio system tech: Jamie Davidson
Audio system tech: Otavio ‘Guto !!’ Santos

Townsville – Canberra

Main stage 1 & 2

24 x L-Acoustics VDosc
24 x Wayloud SB218
12 x L-Acoustics ARCs

FOH Consoles

2 x Digidesign Profile consoles

Monitor consoles

2 x Yamaha PM5D consoles

Stage monitors

16 x Wayloud wedges
16 x Nexo PS15 wedges
4 x Nexo Alpha side-fill systems

JAS Crew

FOH system tech: Peter O’Leary
FOH system tech: Nathan McGuinness
Monitor system Tech: Mathew “Boz” Boaro
Monitor system Tech: Simon Keet
Audio system tech: Shaun Ayles
Audio system tech: Sam Figalo (Townsville only) Gordon Wood (Maitland only)

Lady Gaga hit Australia for the Monster Ball tour. It was the first Lady Gaga solo tour and a monster show that featured an elaborate stage set. The shows ran for over 2 hours with numerous costume changes and sets that morphed constantly between songs, moving from New York cityscapes to Tim Burton-esque dream worlds

Eighth Day Sound Systems, Inc supplied the console and monitor package along with 6 crew. JAS supplied the stacks and racks along with an additional 2 audio crew.

Dates

March 17 – April 9

System

60 x D&B J8/12
8 x D&B J-sub
18 x D&B B2
24 x L-Acoustics dV-Dosc
64 x 1 ton motors.

JAS Crew

Audio system tech: Josh De Jong
Audio system tech: Peter O’Leary