Highlights from the final day…

A glorious London International Music Show came to an end yesterday, and a quick glance through day one’s, day two’s and day three’s highlights (not to mention day four’s must-see content below), proves what a stella year 2009 turned out to be.

We’re leading the final day with a shoe-tapping performance from Albert Lee and some ‘ingenius’ new product in the shape of the Mark Bass MoMark. And, of course, one or two oddities from the show floor… see you next year!

Day four highlights

VIDEO: Albert Lee live!
We crashed another aftershow party! This time it’s the Strings And Things/MusicMan ‘Knucklehead Bash’ and Albert Lee’s incredible country-blues chops

VIDEO: Mark Bass modular bass amps
introducing the ‘ingenious’ MoMark system and the brand-new Little Mark III amplifier…

The weirdest stand of the show award goes to…
Moose Guitars! The brand-new luthiers that ALMOST made it

The Pacemaker: a metronome in disguise
A metronome in the shape of a mini kick drum to ‘recreate the feeling of jamming with a real drummer’… one that doesn’t answer back!

Shure PG27 USB: LIMS’ best freebie?
Our favourite piece of show swag is this Shure USB stick, closely followed by a box of lollies…

Guitar Idol 2009 winner announced
Jack Thammerat from Thailand kicks ass, takes home a high-end PRS guitar, Marshall JVM amplifier and double stack cabinets

From the basement…

SpongeBob SquareBand

The most blingin’ headphones award goes to…

While the mother of all metronome videos was caught at NAMM 09 with the birth of ‘Metronomica’, Sonic Ventures brings its own take on beat-keeping to LIMS 09.

The Pacemaker is a metronome in the shape of a mini kick drum. It uses ‘realistic bass and snare sounds’, runs on a 9V battery and you can customise the skin with your own artwork.

According to the guys on the Sonic Ventures stand, The Pacemaker’s inspiration came from last year’s show. They wanted to recreate the feeling of jamming with a real drummer. A portable one! Nice…

Check out Sonic Ventures’ official site for more.

What did we tell you! It’s the weekend, and the rockstars have arrived. While Roland’s Juno-Di synth and Peavey’s Revalver III update continue to fly the flag in the new gear corner, Steve Vai, Guthrie Govan and The Commitments

Oh, and please do pull up a chair (or a stool) and join us in our favourite new hobby: finger drumming. Now, where did we leave that NanoPad…

Day three highlights

VIDEO: Roland Juno-Di
We liked this performance-friendly synth so much we swung by Roland’s stand, video camera in hand, to learn more…

VIDEO: Steve Vai interviewed!
Steve granted us a private audience to talk Alien Guitar Secrets, Naked Tracks and his upcoming live DVD, Where The Wild Things Are

VIDEO: David ‘Fingers’ Haynes rocks a Korg NanoPad
A finger drumming legend shows LIMS how it’s done. Triggering Toontrack’s Superior Drummer 2.0 along the way

VIDEO: Guthrie Govan live
If you want to watch a ludicrously-talented guitarist showing off in front of dozens of awe-gurning fans, this is the video for you

VIDEO: The Commitments live at Peavey’s LIMS party
We snuck in to catch this legendary band performing Mustang Sally… long live aftershows!

VIDEO: Peavey ReValver Mk III + RTAS support
Peavey’s Tom Allen gives us a whistlestop tour of ReVavler Mk III… this time in Pro Tools!

From the basement…

Walls of sound

Travelling to LIMS 09… Robot guitar style!

If Peavey made stools… oh, hang on

‘Behind’ the scenes

You might remember 1991’s film adaptation of Roddy Doyle’s novel of the same name: The Commitments. In a nutshell, it’s about a soul band. That same group took to the stage at Peavey’s party on Thursday night… and MusicRadar snuck in a video camera.

So apologies about the audio quality, but it was filmed by a camera small enough to fit into a trilby with a hole cut into it. Here’s Mustang Sally…

David Haynes is a drummer with a difference: he only plays using his fingers. The clue is in the name…

‘Fingers’ has made quite a name for himself performing at the likes of NAMM and Musikmesse over the years, with some of his video demonstrations picking up a cool half-million hits on YouTube.

It’s fitting, then, that David made his way to the London International Music Show 2009 to do what he does best: dazzle and amaze with a drum-machine. Here he is on the Toontrack stand armed with a Korg NanoPad triggering Superior Drummer 2.0 Amazing…

If these walls could talk… they’d be bloody loud!

Wall of Orange…

Wall of strings…

Wall of massive V-Drum…

Wall of pedals…

But, as ever, joy can be found in the face of adversity. The DLR provides a general buzz of excitement, and not just because we’ve almost made it. This, you see, is a self-driving train. Like a Gibson Robot guitar is self-tuning. Welcome to the future!

It’s day two of LIMS 09, the rock stars are out in force and the show floor highlights are coming in thick and fast…

Fans of Apple can rejoice because we’ve got the skinny on controlling Ableton Live on your iPhone. Those who like to hit things with sticks can sit back and relax as we expose Zildjian’s grand plan to sneak in a brand new update to its Z Series without anyone noticing. And for everyone else: here’s a lesson in beatboxing and looping… yes, it’s as hard (and cool) as it sounds. Tomorrow? The live music hall opens its doors: rock ‘n’ roll!

VIDEO: Novation Automap for iPhone
This software may be one of the most affordable new products at the show (it’ll cost just a few pounds) – but is it the most intriguing?

VIDEO: Zildjian’s brand new Z3 series
The third incarnation of the Z range retains the power and projection of the Z Customs, but the cymbals are more flexible (for better playability) than their predecessors

VIDEO: DubFX beatboxing and looping
Using a Boss RC-50 Loopstation and a Boss GT-10B bass multi-effects processor. Nice.

Samson Go Mic in the wild
Designed to either clip onto the top of your laptop or sit on your desk, this portable USB mic costs $49/£43 and, quite frankly, we want one

Custom painted guitars by Inky Hollow
Is the trend for custom-painted graphic guitars making a comeback? Guitarist magazine thinks just that…

Spot the star: Pink Floyd, Cradle Of Filth and Sandi Thom
One of the wonderful things about LIMS is the abundance of rockstar royalty roaming the show floor…

Roland Announces JUNO-Di Mobile Synthesizer
This latest addition to the Juno Series is specifically designed for the musician on the go: lightweight, portable and professional

From the basement…

12-year-old blues… just don’t call it vintage

One of the most talked about demos is happening on the Roland stand, where beatboxer DubFX is throwing together tunes using the Boss RC-50 Loopstation and GT-10B pedals. We caught him in action.

Enter the Z3: the third incarnation of the Z range and brand new for LIMS 2009. Catching up with Russ from Zildjian, we learnt that the Z3 series retains the power and projection of the Z Customs, but the cymbals are more flexible (for better playability) than their predecessors.

We also learnt why no-one had heard about the range – because it’s not being announced until Monday. So watch the video below, but keep it under your hat, eh?