44 l April 2013
www.psneurope.com
livenews UNITED KINGDOM
let rip with We Close Our Eyes and King Of Wishful Thinking. Once airborne, and
Kim Wilde performed Kids In America and You Keep Me Hangin’ On
Gig in the Sky breaks record for Comic Relief
British Airways flies ’80s stars Kim Wilde and Tony Hadley to 43,000ft for charity performance, writes Paul Watson The 80s Gig in the Sky, was
ON 10 MARCH, British Airways set two new Guinness World Records as a string of musical stars from the 1980s flew to a height of 43,000ft (13.1km) in a Boeing 767 to perform some of their greatest hits for charity Comic Relief.
fronted by actor Shane Richie and celebrated 25 years of Red Nose Day. Lucky passengers, who won tickets through a competition promoted by radio station Magic FM and on Twitter, were
treated to exclusive sets from Bananarama, Go West, Kim Wilde and Tony Hadley. First stop for the 128 fans
was the BA Lounge, where Bananarama performed hits including Love In The First Degree and Venus, then Go West
Captain Mannering- Smith had announced that the aircraft had reached the correct altitude for the performance to begin, it was the turn of Kim Wilde and the ex-Spandau Ballet frontman. Wilde treated the passengers to renditions of Kids In America and You Keep Me Hangin’ On, and Hadley belted out Spandau Ballet classics, Gold and True, along with a cover of Queen’s Crazy Little Thing Called Love. James Blunt’s existing
‘gig at altitude’ record (42,030ft) had its wings clipped by Wilde and Hadley’s 22 minute and 36 second set at 43,000ft, which can now lay official claim to the Guinness World Record for Highest Concert in the Sky. But it wasn’t all about the artists – the audience literally danced themselves into the record books too, securing the Highest Harlem Shake, which the adjudicator, Guinness World Record editor-in-chief, Craig Glenday, cites as “one of the most amazing records I have ever witnessed”. Most importantly, of course, British Airways has now raised a staggering £4.5 million for Flying Start, the airline’s charity partnership with Comic Relief, which has helped transform the lives of many
disadvantaged children in the UK and across Africa. Audio provider for The 80s Gig in the Sky was Windsor- based Penguin Events, which deployed a MIPRO MA708 vocal PA system along with a PreSonus StudioLive 16.0.2 digital mixing console, and a handful of Shure SM58 microphones for the vocalists. The company’s production director, Richard Bowden, says he is very proud to have been associated with such a great cause. “We needed to design bespoke
battery packs tailored to the event that would be lightweight and compact for safe storage during take-off and landing,” he reveals. “Everything had to be carefully designed to meet both the limits of the aircraft and the specific needs of the artists; thankfully, it was a very successful show, and we are extremely pleased that we were able to bring our technical prowess to produce a live gig on a plane!” In keeping with the authenticity of the era, canapés inspired by British Airways’ 1988 menus were served in the lounge, and cabin crew even donned the original 1980s Roland Klein uniforms, nicknamed ‘the deckchair’ for their fetching vertical stripes and shoulder pads.
And the artists had fun too. Hadley says: “It’s quite an amazing feat to be part of; it’s really great that British Airways has put this event on, and I’m very excited to be in the Guinness Book of Records!”n
www.penguins.co.uk www.ba.com/flyingstart
Photo: Matt Crossick, PA for BA
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