Peace, Pop, Audio and Opera in Oslo

11th Dec 2013, Oslo Spektrum – Morrissey.

For its 20th anniversary, the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert once again returned to The Spektrum arena in the heart of Oslo, Norway.  This year’s winners were OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons).  The star-studded event was hosted by Claire Danes and Aaron Eckhart, and featured, Morrissey, James Blunt, Mary J Blige, Jake Bugg, Envy, Timbuktu, Omar Souleyman, Zara Larsson and the fabulous Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

Audio company was AVAB-CAC who continue their long association with the Nobel Peace Concert.  They provided a very well designed Meyer/Midas system (more info below), which saw them using three Midas Pro9 surfaces onstage and two XL8 surfaces at FOH.  All the artists performed live, using the two outer stages, with some of them being accompanied by the orchestra, situated on the centre stage. Changeovers times were very tight as you might expect with a live TV show, but the AVAB crew took it all in their stride and the show sounded great and ran very smoothly.  They also made us visiting engineers feel very well looked after as we grappled with the XL8. Many thanks go to Sven Persson, Stein André Hovden, Stian Smith, Mons and all the other AVAB crew, with a special thank you to Lutz Buch who looked after us during rehearsals.

The TV Broadcast was mixed by the very talented gentlemen of NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation).

Finally, I must mention our visit to The Underwater Pub which we stumbled upon whilst attempting to visit another of best selling author Jo Nesbø’s, Harry Hole locations. It’s owned by a friendly Opera and Diving lover, who’s managed to combine his two passions within the pub’s decor to create a unique experience. We were lucky to walk in on a Tuesday night and were treated to some World class Opera.

Read more about Harry Hole locations on Tom Sweeney Travels Blog.