ADLIB is supplying the UK and European sections of the current Crowded House tour with sound equipment and crew.
It is the first time the Liverpool, UK, based company has worked with one of the best known Antipodean rock bands, whose international career started in 1985.
From Newcastle to Cologne the band have played to huge audiences and one of the more surreal occasions at Manchester Apollo , saw singer Neil Finn celebrate his birthday at the gig, by giving out muffins & cakes to the audience …which was a sweet gesture !
The legendary Dee McLoughlin heads the team on the road as Tour Manager, with the splendid Robin Scott as Production Manager.
ADLIB’s James Neale and Marc Peers are on the tour, ensuring that engineers Angus Davidson (FOH) and Paul Jeffrey (monitors) have a seamless working day and a fine sounding system each day.
The variety and size of the venues on the itinerary is eclectic, for which ADLIB is supplying an L-Acoustics V-DOSC system, with dV-DOSC infills, ARCs side fills and SB28 subs. This was specified by Davidson for its great sound and clarity – hearing the words is very important to Crowded House’s intricate live performance.
The set up varied according to venue, and in its largest format the main arrays consisted of 8 V-DOSC cabinets a side, with 3 x dV underhangs. They are using a combination of d-V and ARCs infills & outfills along the front of stage and with James Neale as systems tech, it’s fine tuned to perfection each day.
Dolby Lakes, an ADLIB standard, are being used for processing and EQ, and all the L-Acoustics kit is being powered by LA8 amps.
It’s all gone very smoothly, the main challenges being dealing with the varying venue sizes and swapping between flying and ground stacking the PA as appropriate.
Davidson chose a DigiDesign Profile as his console , one reason being that he works for AVID in Australia and New Zealand but apart from that because it’s an excellent product and ideal for a tour of this size with it’s neat footprint. He is using a variety of onboards and plug ins.
In monitor world, Jeffrey is using another Profile console. They are touring a total of 14 wedges (7 mixes) and 4 channels of Sennheiser G3 IEMs for bassist Nick Seymour and drummer Matt Sherrod , complete with 1 x ARCs & 1 x SB28 cabinet a side for side fills.
The wedges are D&B M2s, spec’d by Jeffrey after having used them successfully for some time, and the band are using all their own Earthworks mics.
Says Marc Peers, “It’s a really ‘grown up’ tour in that everyone has been around for a while and knows their job inside out. The band are extremely accomplished musicians and know exactly what they want. There’s a real family atmosphere here which creates a really pleasant working environment. There’s never any dramas on a tour like this”.
PM Robin Scott states, “ADLIB are by far one of the best supply companies I’ve ever worked with. Their work ethic and high standards never ceases to amaze me ….. and I wonder where they keep finding the quality of crew they keep sending me? As for the gear, it comes on tour in perfect condition and is maintained to the highest degree.”
For more press info. on ADLIB, please contact Louise Stickland on +44 (0)1865 202679 or +44 (0)7831 329888, or Email ‘[email protected]’, Contact ADLIB direct on +44 (0)151 486 2214 or check www.adlibsolutions.co.uk
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