Outline at the BBC Electric Proms

The BBC put Elton John, Robert Plant, and Neil Diamond on stage for its 2010 Electric Proms. The setting for the event was once again the Roundhouse, London's legendary theatre and cultural facility. The venue, which hosts festivals featuring the best of new UK music, has also staged performance by rock icons such as the Doors, the Rolling Stones, and Jimi Hendrix, as well as shows by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Peter Brook and The Living Theatre. In 1966, it was also the scene of the first real live concert by Pink Floyd.

As the name suggests, the 3,000-capacity auditorium is circular. From an acoustic point of view, the Roundhouse is "unforgiving" -- as many authoritative sound engineers can confirm. In fact, the theatre is well known for not being one of the easiest venues as far as this aspect is concerned. For five consecutive seasons, the Roundhouse management has specified Butterfly, the vertical line array by Outline, supplied by London audio rental company Britannia Row Productions.

This system has been used by Paul McCartney, James Brown, Sting and Robbie Williams, to mention just a few.

It is interesting to note that none of the numerous stars appearing at the Roundhouse during the last five BBC Electric Proms seasons have ever performed with systems by other manufacturers. Another very unusual fact is that from 2006 to the present day, i.e. from when the Butterfly system began to be submitted to intense use by Brit Row, it has never required repair.