RICHMOND: The 400th anniversary of the tall ship Godspeed's historic journey from Jamestown to Richmond was celebrated over Memorial Day weekend earlier this year with the Rock the Boat festival.

The event, held at the Intermediate Terminal on the banks of the James River at Richmond, VA, was highlighted by the arrival of the Godspeed and several other tall ships that were on display for the duration.

Richmond-based, full service production company Soundworks provided audio systems for the event. These included Turbosound TQ-445DP enclosures for political and business leaders presenting speeches and general entertainment such as native Indian dances and story telling prior to the start of the weekend's main events.

On the Friday, a flown Turbosound Aspect® TA-880 system was installed, consisting of six TA-880s and eight TSW-721 subs per side, for a free performance by Grammy Award winning hip-hop band The Roots, which drew a crowd estimated at around 9,000 people. On Saturday night, the same system was used for a performance by the Richmond Symphony Orchestra for a crowd estimated at 3,500.

"Aspect performed flawlessly to the demands of pounding hip-hop one night and the extreme dynamic range and subtle nuances required of classical music the next night," says Soundwork's Steve Payne. "We have many events under our belt with this client; they always expect impeccable performance and they were not disappointed.

"But particularly gratifying was the number of audience members that came up to the FOH mix position at the end of BOTH nights to compliment us on the great sound."