Roland products have been on the road again – but this time under the Musicians' Union banner. Keen to get their message across to a new generation of musicians, the MU enlisted the services of Roland, Trace Elliot, Session, Washburn, Sabian, Toa PA and Scintilla Technology Lighting for a powerful series of concerts and workshops across the country. The MU have been running workshops for some years but the latest series was on a larger scale than ever before. Playing to 500-1000 seater theatres the emphasis was on giving a really energetic musical performance, with questions and 'hands-on' demonstrations after the show.

The Roadshow band used a guitar/keyboards/bass/drums line-up featuring numerous Roland products. Drummer Ted McKenna, formerly of the Michael Schenker Group, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band and Gary Moore, played a complete Roland percussion kit with pads, DDR-30 brain and two sets of Octapads driving a TR-727 and a Super Jupiter. Tommy Eyre, who has recently finished a stint as musical director with Wham! played keyboards including an RD-1000 and a JX-10 synthesizer – perhaps the first British stage performance of the new Super JX. Ex Rick Wakeman guitarist and session player Tim Stone played lead while Robbie Burns played bass (and much else) on a Roland Bass Synthesizer. Dates were played at Manchester University, Sheffield Polytechnic, Birmingham Portland Club and the Riverside Complex, Newcastle. In view of the reception given to this lively blend of musicianship and instrument clinic, there is every chance there will be a further series of dates during the summer.