Half A Century Of Supplying Pro Audio Excellence: Britannia Row Turns 50

The story of Britannia Row is the story of live. The company has been supplying the world’s biggest tours with high-end audio equipment, skilled technicians and other live event solutions for the past 50 years. And while its service portfolio has grown to include communication technology and IT solutions for live event productions of any kind, the commitment to delivering the very best audio experience in any given environment has remained at the heart of all considerations, driven by an almost fanatic will to innovate.

When your foundations are laid by one of the biggest touring artists of all time, the need to deliver a successful live show becomes part of your DNA. Pink Floyd purchased the original building at 35 Britannia Row, Islington, London, in 1975, to house their recording studio, offices and warehouse for their ever-increasing lighting and audio touring equipment. During tour breaks, the band encouraged their crew to rent out their equipment to other bands. The Britannia Row group of companies was born, headed up by Robbie Williams (the production manager, not the pop star), Graeme Fleming, and the late Mick Kluczynski from Floyd’s production team.

The first gig supplied under the Britannia Row banner was the final show of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” tour at Knebworth Park in front of 125,000 fans in July of 1975; in 1976, Britannia Row provided audio to for Queen‘s Sept. 18 performance at London’s Hyde Park in front of 150,000; In 1977, Britannia Row Productions provided the audio solutions for Pink Floyd’s “In the Flesh” in support of the Animals album; and in 1978, Britannia Row provided audio support to The Picnic at Blackbushe Aerodrome, an all-day festival featuring Bob Dylan, Joan Armatrading, and Eric Clapton.

Joining the business in 1979 was Bryan Grant, whose job was to coordinate the rental activities under the banner of Britannia Row Productions. In 1984, Grant and Williams bought the business from Pink Floyd, and kept the company name. Mike Lowe joined in 1988, and he and Grant bought Williams out in 1991, focussing entirely on audio. Williams joined Pink Floyd as tour director, and went on to become one of the world’s leading production managers until his retirement in 2013. In 2017, Clair Global acquired Britannia Row, and both Grant and Lowe remain as non-executive directors, joined by the core leadership team around Managing Director Nicola Amoruso; Sales Director Lez Dwight; Broadcast Director Stew Chaney; Financial Director Christina Bosch; and Warehouse Director Chris Fitch.

Over the years, most of the world’s biggest touring artists have relied on Britannia Row’s delivery of audio excellence, from Andrea Bocelli to Hans Zimmer; from Stevie Wonder to The Cure; from P!NK‘s “Summer Carnival” extravaganza to Foo Fighters’ 2026 world tour. Most of them have been long-time clients, The Cure since 1979, the Foo Fighters since their formation in 1994 (before that, Britannia Row was supplying Nirvana).

One of the most recent examples of a partnership that began at the grassroots level and ended inside stadiums is Fred again.., who rented his first audio equipment from the company, a mere two radio mics, in 2021. He placed a slightly larger order three years later, when he sold out the LA Memorial Coliseum, to make sure he would sound immaculate from every seat inside the stadium.

The UK’s most important music award show, the BRITs, has been relying on Britannia Row’s audio expertise for 30 years now, as have some of the most iconic soccer events at London’s Wembley Stadium.

When asked about the secret to their long-standing success, Grant answers: “Our people; any fool can buy equipment.” Adds Lowe, “We have always played with a straight bat.” In order to remain at the top of one’s game for half a century, one has to “strive to exceed the expectations for both our customers and for our people,” he continues, “We believe our customers come to us for good solutions, good people, good equipment and good service and to not be ripped off. We can provide these things by continually being focused on efficiencies. To be able to do keep supplying what our customers require of us, we charge a fair, and not an excessive margin.”

All reasons why clients keep coming back. The company’s working relationship with Oasis, for instance, dates back to 1993, leading to the band’s now-legendary Knebworth concerts in August of 1996, when 300,000 fans were lucky enough to secure tickets (out of more than 2.6 million applicants). On this year’s “Live ‘25” reunion tour, Britannia Row joined forces with Urban Audio to design and deploy the live audio requirements for Oasis’ historic return. Noel and Liam Gallagher have of course built their own touring camps over the years. Integrating both into a seamless operation that caused Clash magazine to declare, “This is arguably the best Oasis have ever sounded,” is testament to Britannia Row’s company culture.

One of the biggest demands of modern tours is a commitment to sustainability. Sales Director Lez Dwight confirms, “we are constantly looking for sustainable solutions to offer our clients, from the small change of using rechargeable batteries to ensuring our facilities where possible are powered by carbon-offsetting solar solutions.”

Bryan Grant thinks of it “as a question of enlightened self-interest. Back in the day, before the huge rises in freight and fuel costs, it was almost a boast of production managers to say, ‘I’ve got a 50-truck tour’. Now, truck space and freight weights are very serious considerations when budgeting a global tour and the supplier who can help that budget by being more efficient in those areas has an advantage. The Clair Global model of being able to duplicate non key equipment and technicians locally in most territories has proved successful in mitigating this issue.”

Dwight agrees, “It’s incredible being part of the group; we can service our clients virtually anywhere they may tour by picking up equipment in multiple territories while still giving them one point of contact from the UK.”

Britannia Row’s clients don’t just keep coming back, they also keep wanting more. “Obviously,” says Grant, “the music and event business has changed dramatically over the past 50 years. It’s now a multibillion dollar market with an increasingly sophisticated and demanding audience, and this in turn increases the artist demands on the supply companies. From an audio point of view, this means massively increased precision and quality, not only of the equipment but of the people who operate it.”

Some of the most recent examples of shows Britannia Row has been involved in alongside Clair Global include both Adele’s Las Vegas residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace as well as her 2024 Munich residency, which set new production standards inside a pop-up stadium. For the former, Britannia Row supplied a L-ISA system, for the latter a K1/L2 system, both manufactured and designed by L-Acoustics. Laurent Vaissié, CEO of the French audio experts, remembers both projects as “one of the most accomplished and outstanding results in terms of sonic quality, technical deployment, and collaborative work ever achieved.”

Paul McMullan, Head of Sales, Northern Europe at L-Acoustics, says, “The company’s ability to adapt and meet the unique demands of each production is commendable. From ingenious,
custom-built solutions developed in their fabrication department to the creation of a gold K1 system for Robbie. No client request is beyond reach! Their commitment to the future is equally inspiring, demonstrated by the establishment of the Britannia Row Training Academy in 2012 ensuring their expertise and influence continue to shape future generations
of live sound professionals.”

“Britannia Row has shaped the modern live sound industry in the UK and far beyond it.
For five decades. They share our values: precision, professionalism, and a relentless
commitment to excellence. Their production standards make them an ideal match for Yamaha.
When Brit Row adopts a product, we know it will be used at the highest professional level,
and that pushes us to innovate further.”

– Tom Rundle | Application Engineer | Yamaha Music Europe

Robbie Williams (the pop star, not the production manager) was also at the heart of James Gordon’s first encounter with the team of Britannia Row. The CEO of Audiotonix/DiGiCo recalls first working with the team on the tour in support of Robbie Williams’ fifth studio album Escapology. “It was the first official tour to take out our then new rack-sharing and gain-tracking optical system. It is pretty normal these days, but was ground-breaking at the time, and not without some learning curves…This is an insider joke for Bryan and Mike, but no Exocet missiles were required. To this day it remains one of my favourite tours to have been involved with. We became life-long friends on that production.”

Another partner that’s been working with Britannia Row for the entirety of its 50-year history is Shure, which also collaborated on various educational programs over the years, sharing the same commitment to ensuring that the next generation of sound engineers have an education that allows them to flourish in this industry. Given this long-standing relationship, it’s impossible to pick one highlight. “There are simply too many to name,” says Tuomo George-Tolonen, Shure’s Senior Director, Global Market Development, “so I’ll pick something a little more unusual. The NFL have been playing regular season games in London since 2007, and we have had the pleasure of working together on these events ever since. It’s a fascinating mix of sport, music and entertainment, rain or shine, and you can guarantee that there is always a last minute surprise on the cards. Every year the show seems to get bigger, but that has never been an obstacle for anyone!”

The list of epic events Britannia Row has been involved in could, and should, fill a book. One of Grant’s proudest moments of the past 20 years “is Live 8 in Hyde Park in 2005. We were given only a few weeks’ notice to put this together in an already busy summer period and the line-up of artists was incredible, not to mention that the live and live broadcast audience numbered many, many millions. Everybody involved from our 40 audio crew to our suppliers stepped up and enabled us to help deliver an incredible event. Bob Geldof commented that the music production fraternity pulled off something that no other body, including the MOD [Ministry of Defence], could have managed in that time frame; I agree.”

Dwight recalls “putting together Ariana Grande’s ‘Manchester One’ charity concert in the aftermath of the 2017 arena bombing. This happened in four days. Assembling the team to pull this off was a true career highlight for me. I’m proud to have been one of hundreds of people that have made Brit Row what it is today. Hats off, and here’s to another 50 years!”

As one at the core of Britannia Row’s current leadership, his vision for the future is simple: “Continue to evolve delivering exceptional experiences for our clients and their fans.” The main questions he asks himself in 2025 haven’t really changed since Grant and Lowe ran the business: “What or who is the next big act? Where does the next generation of audio professionals come from? And, this is not a question but still key: never forget that amazing facilities are only ever completed by incredible people.”

Although this year the company moved into a brand-new and purpose-built, state-of-the-art facility in Surrey, there’s one more thing that hasn’t changed since Britannia Row’s early days, and it probably never will, according to Lowe: “the show has to start at a given time, with everything working.”

Britannia Row has played its part in achieving this eternal ambition more than 100,000 times since its foundation. Looking back on this incredible history, the first thought that
comes to Lowe’s mind is, “What a blast, but where did that go?!”

And Grant remarks, “50 years already? Now I know why my joints hurt so much!”

Both men know their legacy to be in good hands, though. They’ve made sure of that by their people-focused leadership style. “I’d like to give my very best wishes and send every success to all those that will be involved for the next 50 years,” says Lowe, before adding, “And don’t forget to have fun!”

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