The Piazza Napoleone in Lucca with the Summer Festival 2004 stage.
Italy - From 2-26 July, 2004, the Tuscan city of Lucca, near Pisa, once again became the centre of the Italian music scene, as some 70,000 visitors flocked to the four week Summer Festival, now in its seventh year, to hear famous names from the worlds of pop, rock and jazz, including major attractions like James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel, Burt Bacharach, Pink, Giorgia and the Black Eyed Peas.

In the Piazza Napoleone the picturesque town has what must be one of the most beautiful locations for live concerts in the world - the only problem being the acoustics, with the danger of feedback from the magnificent old buildings lining the square ever present and the occasions legion when the sonic image during outdoor concerts has degenerated into a confused wash of sound.

In 2004, however, the sound engineers from Milano Music Service (MMS) demonstrated that with the right equipment even an acoustic environment as treacherous as the Piazza Napoleone could be mastered. Supported by EVI Audio's Italian partners Texim S.R.L., the MMS team under Riccio Colucci and Gigi Belloni solved the problem with a set-up that included 12 Electro-Voice XVLS, four Electro-Voice XVLT, 24 Electro-Voice X-Subs (flown) and 36 Electro-Voice P3000 amps.

(Sarah Rushton-Read)


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