A commemorative concert held at the Royal Festival Hall held to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the London Community Gospel Choir also provided the platform for an attempt on the world record for the largest gospel choir singing live in concert.
Previously held by a 1,138-strong German ensemble, 29 gospel choirs joined the London Community Gospel Choir (LCGC) along with special guests Jocelyn Brown, X Factor runner-up Jahmene Douglas and Magic FM DJ Angie Greaves, who was the MC.
Richard Nowell Sound Services – the preferred supplier of live sound equipment to the South Bank Centre – provided Shure UHF-R wireless microphone systems (comprising UR4D receivers and Beta 58 handhelds) and PSM1000 in-ear monitoring systems for the concert from its own inventory. ‘All of our radio mic systems are Shure, and have been for a while,’ says RNSS Projects Manager, Neil Herd. ‘Richard Nowell decided a couple of years ago that Shure seemed the most efficient wireless option overall, given the current background of the digital switchover and the likelihood that the RF spectrum available for radio mic use over the next few years is likely to be more limited. Once that decision was made, we got the UR4D systems and also some PSM1000 in-ear systems. We have been using in-ear monitors more and more for performers in recent years.’
Officiators from the Guinness World Record Global Records Management Team, led by their Director Marco Frigatti, circled the Royal Festival Hall as the 30-choir strong choir sang the gospel standard ‘Oh Happy Day’ and the LCGC’s own ‘Keep Moving’, and eventually concluded that although some of the people in the hall had to be disqualified as they were not singing, the record for largest number of people singing in a live gospel choir had nonetheless been broken, and now stands at 1,169.
Shure Distribution UK’s John Ellis, who sang in the massive choir, commented: ‘It was an amazing evening, and the radio mics did a great job of conveying some very crisp vocals from the key singers. The atmosphere in the hall when the Guinness team announced the record had been broken was unbelievable – we really raised the roof.’
