Dating back to 1980, when legendary names like BB King, Muddy Waters, Fats
Domino and John Lee Hooker were among headliners at the inaugural Pistoia Blues
festival in Tuscany, this remains one of the most durable annual events in Europe.

Supported by a Martin Audio PA, the 2015 edition again took place in the beautiful
city’s Piazza Duomo over the course of nine evenings (between July 1-24) —
organised by the Associazione Blues in conjunction with the Comune di Pistoia, (City
of Pistoia).

Today, the event has diversified far from its authentic blues roots, and headliners
this year included Mumford & Sons, Counting Crows, Hozier, Passenger, The
Darkness, The Dream Theater, Santana, Sting and an Italian Blues Night.

Technical infrastructure was provided by the long-standing Electra Service, headed
by Roberto Buttarelli, with the main PA system — Martin Audio’s flagship MLA —
provided by the consortium, All Access.

All Access had been set up in 2011 (at Buttarelli’s suggestion) to purchase the
award-winning MLA multicellular system, which is now increasingly being used in
national and international productions.

Electra Service duly commandeered the system, enabling PA manager Paolo “Red’
Talami to choose a set-up comprising two hangs of 12 MLA with two groups of six
MLX subs. Providing infill sound were four W8LM while two further hangs of six
W8LM outfills created width on both flanks.

Electra Service also provided 12 Martin Audio bi-amped LE2100S for monitoring
purposes.

Talami explained, “As in the 2014 edition of Pistoia Blues we again ran the MLA in
practically the same configuration — with the addition of the W8LM outfills; this
expansion was due to the installation of new grandstands on the sides of the historic
Piazza Duomo.

“The total number of W8LM’s was 20, including the infill system and all were
amplified by the new Powersoft X-series amplifiers,’ he confirmed.

Red Talami confirms that all artists’ production teams were entirely at ease with the
FOH set-up. “Most system techs and FOH engineers had already used the Martin
Audio MLA system in the recent past — and being able to work with a team of
technicians already accustomed to using this system made the work more efficient
and therefore more enjoyable.

“Also, as the event took place in a historical context — in a square surrounded by
walls and tall buildings covering dozens of metres — Martin Audio’s Display
software was essential, just as it had been last year. We were drastically able to
limit all kinds of sound reflections while allowing very detailed and consistent
coverage everywhere.

In conclusion production paid credit to all the audio crew — the same team that
made 2014 such a big success. These included Vittorio Magro, Tonio Gargano,
Beppe Acito, Andrea Frassy, Jean Claude Edifizii.