NAMM’s Wanna Play? Stage has become a yearly tradition that’s as much about fun and good music as it is about the show itself.
Located outside the Anaheim Convention Center at the John Lennon Plaza, the Wanna Play? Stage features performances from well-known and up-and-coming artists, and draws crowds of NAMM attendees throughout the Convention’s four day run.
The stage is named for NAMM’s “Wanna Play?” campaign, a public awareness initiative designed to encourage more people to play musical instruments.
Community Professional Loudspeakers provided sound reinforcement for the Wanna Play? Stage, which included Community’s Solutions SLS960 loudspeakers, along with the M-12 stage monitors, as well as the premiere of Community’s VLF-Series subwoofers.
The SLS960 three-way systems feature one-piece, fiberglass multi-horn baffles whose transducers are physically aligned to provide wavefront coherency, and high power handling for maximum performance, while the new VLF218 dual 18-inch subwoofers offers ultra high output and powerful low frequency performance.
The Community loudspeakers were put through a rigorous four days of shows, ranging from the big sounds of Upland High School’s Jazz Band and hard rock from Alice Cooper guitarist Damon Johnson to the Latin rock of Caravanserai, and the powerful gospel jazz/rock of Israel Houghton for the Roland Gospel Showcase.
“The Wanna Play? Stage is always a great place to hang out during NAMM, and see a tremendous assortment of artists and musical styles,” remarked Community’s Western Regional Manager, Rod Falconer.
“We selected these systems in particular for this stage because of the 960’s fast transient response and ability to deliver tremendous output, and the VLF218’s power and musicality, which is ideally suited for almost any type of material, from soft jazz and acoustic strings to powerful rock and percussion.”
“The system has been cranking all day for four days, and the response we’ve heard from both the musicians and their audiences has been that Community’s stages have consistently been among the best sounding of all the venues at NAMM.”
