Eighth Day and Wigwam Provide the Punch for George Michael’s U.S. Swan Song.
It’s been nearly two decades since British pop superstar George Michael — known as much for his bad boy reputation as his chart-topping hits — toured U.S. arenas. From his start in the 1980s pop group Wham! to his illustrious solo career, hits like “Careless Whisper,” “Faith” and “Father Figure” catapulted him into a certified pop culture icon and sex symbol. After a five-year absence from the music scene, Michael returned to the stage in 2006 with an 80-show European tour. He stepped it up the following year with the “25 Live Stadium Tour 2007,” which featured less tour dates but larger venues including Wembley Stadium in London. To coincide with his retrospective greatest hits album, Twenty Five, released this year, Michael announced the North American segment of his “25 Live” tour — his first U.S. tour in 17 years — which he also claims to be his last. For all these reasons, Michael’s fans were pumped with high expectations for a flawless-sounding show.
Viva Las Vegas
The MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas was the third stop on Michael’s 22-city tour, which kicked off in San Diego. Although not a sell-out show, loyal fans filled the venue, eagerly anticipating, for most of the 20-something crowd, their first George Michael concert experience.
The set list included hits over the decades from Wham! (Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go) and solo efforts including dance numbers “Easier Affair and “Hard Day” along with some new material. Michael’s stage setup was simple, yet visually striking, with three large curving video screen back-drops and three-tier balconies behind the stage for his band and backup singers. This setup allowed an unobtrusive view of Michael, ensuring atten-tion never strayed from the star.
FOH Engineer Gary Bradshaw first toured with Michael in the early ‘80s as monitor engineer for Wham! His resume as FOH engineer includes Annie Lennox, Depeche Mode, Simple Minds, Pink Floyd, Roger Waters and Bryan Ferry. For the U.S. tour, he is standing in for Andy “Baggy” Robinson, Michael’s audio consultant and FOH engineer. He admits that Michael is quite a perfectionist when it comes to sound. “All artists care about what they sound like, but George is very particular about his songs — he’s got amazing ears,” he reports. “He’s not difficult to work with, but he demands perfection.”
And unlike many touring artists who want a raw and un-produced vibe to their music, Michael wants every song to sound identical to the studio version.
“I’ve done those kinds of tours where a band won’t have a set list, will play whatever song they want, and you just keep up with them, but this tour is very specific,” he says. “George wants it to sound exactly like the CD, so we go through great lengths to make it sound studio-quality.”
A DiGiCo D5 Live console at front-of-house allows Bradshaw to create a snapshot for every song, and as a result, he doesn’t have to remember specific cues for each song. When Michael starts playing “Careless Whisper,” for example, Bradshaw presses one button on the console that auto-matically resets all the reverbs, delays, EQs and levels. “A band member will be playing a particular guitar in one song and a different guitar in an-other song that requires unique level settings,” he says. “That’s all remembered in one particular snapshot.”
Three Times the Charm
A total of three consoles are used on the tour: two DiGiCo D5 Live consoles for front-of-house and Michael’s monitors and a DiGiCo D5T to mix the band. Michael has his own monitor engineer, Steve May, who will communicate with him between songs and who is solely responsible for the singer’s mix. This allows monitor engineer Simon Hall to focus entirely on mixing the band. Because of the hidden location of monitorland back-stage, both engineers rely on video cameras to see what’s happening on stage.
A DiGiCo system was chosen because of its ability to handle the show’s large number of inputs — over 100 — and 15 band members on stereo personal monitors. This allows May to concentrate on Michael’s needs without interfering with band mixes. “In order to accommodate the large number of inputs for this production,” adds Bradshaw, “I have had to disable the D5 onboard effects. However, I am using no external dynamic processing or additional EQ. All the compression and equalization for every input is done in the desk. This has resulted in a very small FOH foot-print that keeps production happy.”
Eighth Day Sound of Highland Heights, Ohio, supplied d&b gear while U.K. contractor Wigwam Audio supplied the DiGiCo consoles, control equipment and Sennheiser mics. The d&b gear includes two main speaker clusters flown left and right containing 12 J8 and four J12 speakers. Two side hang speaker clusters flown offstage left and right contain 10 J8 and two J12 speakers, while two 270-degree clusters flown on the extreme left and right contain six Q1 speakers. The stage has four Q7 and six Q10 speakers as front fills and 12 J series cardioid bass ground stacked six per side, three cabinets high.
The load-in started at 8 a.m. and crew had to be out the door by 3 a.m. to travel to the next gig in Phoenix, Ariz. Sound and lighting were setup be-fore the stage was complete, a common occurrence in large venues. “Many times, at these large shows, the stage gets built down here,” Bradshaw says pointing to the middle of the arena, “and later gets pushed into place.” Bradshaw adds that about 50 crewmembers pushed the stage to the front of the arena where it must align precisely with the video screen backdrop. Once the stage is in place, everything gets powered and crew can then begin sound check.
Bradshaw reports that Michael was late to sound check. “It didn’t look like George was going to show up for it,” he says. “We just went ahead and did a few songs with the band.” Michael eventually showed up for sound check and warmed up to his typical routine of songs. Because certain songs were more popular in America than Europe, Bradshaw says the set list for the show varies greatly from the European tour. “There is a huge list of songs — we have about 60 songs programmed into the D5.”
From Wham! to Father Figure
The concert started 45 minutes after its scheduled 8 p.m show time, although this did not come as a surprise to crew. Bradshaw reports that Michael is notoriously late for almost every show — perhaps to make an entrance, or build anticipation, or allow additional time to fill seats. With Mi-chael’s CD-sounding vocals and energetic performances throughout the two-hour, 23-song concert, there were few complaints from fans. The high-light of the tour is, without a doubt, Michael’s voice. At 45 years old, the range and quality of his voice has matured, sounding even stronger than it did in his younger years. “When we did the first couple of rehearsals, I was blown away,” Bradshaw says. “I just pushed that fader up and his voice was amazing — I never heard anything like that before. The best I’ve worked with in the history of my career.”
CREW
FOH Engineer: Gary Bradshaw
George Michael Monitor Engineer: Steve May
Band Monitor Engineer: Simon Hall
PA Crew Chief and FOH Technician: Don Parks
Stage Technician: Guy Gillan
Radio Technician: Bill Flugan
PA Technician: Trevor Waite
PA Technician: Chez Stock
GEAR
PA Speakers:
Main Hang
24 d&b J8 speakers
4 d&b J12 speakers
Side Hang
20 d&b J8 speakers
4 d&b J12 speakers
12 d&b Q1 speakers
Frontfills
4 d&b Q7 speakers
6 d&b q10 speakers
Subwoofers
12 d&b J series Cardioid Bass ground-stacked 6 per side, 3 cabinets high
Monitors
Speakers:
2 speaker clusters flown onstage left & right each containing
3 d&b Q1 speakers
2 d&b J Series Cardioid Bass
8 d&b M4 Monitor Wedges
Amplification
All amplifiers are d&b D12 amps
FOH Control
1 D5 Live DiGiCo console
3 stage racks & 1 local rack
3 XTA DP448 audio management
1 Lexicon 224
1 TC 6000
2 Yamaha SPX990
2 TC D2
1 XTA SIDD
1 TC Fireworks
1 KT 6000 Analyser
1 Tascam CD player
1 HHB CDR
1 Marantz PMD570
1 112-channel ADL MADI recording system
IEMs
12 IEM radio systems
9 IEM hardwire systems
Personal Monitor Earpieces
George Michael: Westone UM2 earpieces
Band: Mix of Sensaphonics and Ultimate Ears
Monitor Control
1 DB Live DiGiCo console
1 D5T DiGiCo console
4 local racks and 2 stage racks
3 Midas XL4 channel strips
2 Midas XL 88
2 Custom VCA faders
1 TC EQ station
2 Lexicon 224XL
2 Lexicon 960
1 TC Fireworks
1 Eventide Eclipse
1 HHB CDR
1 Marantz PMD570
1 Samson headphone amp
8 TC EQ stationS
1 TC EQ station fader controller
1 Yamaha SPX2000
1 HHB CDR
2 Thumper Amps
2 Thumper Units
1 Aviom base station
8 Aviom outstations
2 Rozandal World Clock Gen
Microphones
8 Sennheiser SKM/KK104 vocals
4 Neumann U87 drum & percussionoverhears
1 TLA 170 Sax
4 KM 184 Hihat, ride and congas
2 SM 57 Snare
4 E904 Toms
1 E901 Kick
1 E914 Acoustic Guitar
24 Avalon DIs
