Although only a small, 220-cap venue, the Half Moon in Putney has hosted some of the biggest names in show business over the last 60-plus years. It was the venue for U2’s first ever sell-out show, the place where Kate Bush first performed publicly, hosted KD Lang’s debut, and has had the likes of Bo Diddley, The Who, and The Rolling Stones gracing its stage.
But its sound system had been installed almost a decade previously and was nearing end of life.
The venue’s head engineer James Beck has been working at the venue all of that time and more. It was when Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason came through back in 2018 carrying Martin Audio’s MLA Mini loudspeaker array that the vast improvement in sound quality arrested his attention.
“I was well aware of the Martin Audio brand, and when I heard this I was super-impressed. It had already been in our mind to upgrade, as I’d never been completely happy with the old system, and I felt this iconic venue deserved a proper system.” So he started...
