London-born Lily Allen, 24, has been no stranger to success. Well, at least not on the British side of the pond.
Her debut single, "Smile," topped the U.K. charts in July 2006, and her first album Alright, Still, sold over 2.6 million copies and received much critical acclaim, including nominations at The Grammy Awards, The BRIT Awards and The MTV Music Awards.
Her second record, It's Not Me, It's You was released on Feb. 9 2009 in the U.K. and the following day in the U.S.; it went straight in at number one in the U.K., Canada and Australia, number two in Europe and number five in the States.
Then, in September 2009, she announced that she had no plans to make another record and intended to take a sabbatical from the music scene, refusing to renew her recording contract.
Earlier this year, she picked up what many view as a well-deserved BRIT award for Best British Female Solo Artist. Although this doesn't seem to have changed her plans to stop making music – for now, at least – I was lucky enough to catch what might have been her last ever London show at the fantastic O2 Arena in Greenwich, London.
A Sizeable System
The sizeable sound system, provided by Britannia Row, consisted of the new L-Acoustics K1 line array system with a main hang of K1 elements with four K subs flown on top of the array – essentially an extension of the K1. Three dV-DOSC were used as downfills and the sides were made up of 18 deep hangs of KUDO. On the 270 – to cover the upper bleaches on the top – there were four ARCS hung per side.
Twelve SB28s (in cardioid mode) were positioned on both sides of the stage, and there was a center cluster of six SB28s (also in cardioid mode). Four ARCS were positioned on top of the center subs either side of the stage and a pair of dv-DOSC (left and right) acted as frontfill.
Filling the Gaps
Adam Smith of Britannia Row, who configured the system, explained:
"The KUDO is so flexible; we have created 110 degree dispersion on the box and that's also steerable, so we have that 110 degree coverage on both sides. The ARCS are there to fill the gap that isn't covered by the sides. I have only toured this system once before – with Kasabian at the back end of last year – so it is a bit of a learning curve, but so far the results have been very successful."
Sam Parker, who has been working as Lily's FOH engineer since last June, operated a Soundcraft Vi6 from FOH position. He ran 33 channels plus FX returns and used the in-built compressors, gates and FX. Outboard gear was limited to a TC Helicon Voice Pro and a TC4000 reverb.
"The Vi6 offers the best visual feedback, and I prefer the sound of it to most other consoles on the market," Parker said. "I find it more comfortable looking at the area that I am working at, touching it and being connected directly to it. I don't like to turn my head to one side and have to look at something while turning a pot in another place.
"Also, I don't like to look at a screen where the total layout is grey, because for me, the eye doesn't pick up that information as readily as when it's broken down into blocks of color. It's a beautiful interface – the closest out there to an analog one. You could come to this desk and start using it in about 15 minutes."
Monitor engineer Francis Lemoignan operated a Yamaha PM5D console from stage left, and the band members were on ACS triple driver PMs. There were also a number of D&B M2 wedges on stage, powered by Crown amplification.
Buckets of Low End
The extremely rowdy crowd was warmed up almost to a boiling point after an hour-long, hard-hitting set from British rap artist Dizzee Rascal (who also opened for Lily at the MEN arena in Manchester a couple of days before the O2 show).
Not surprisingly, there were buckets of low end in the mix – which the rig coped with comfortably – and Dizzee's band was full of energy.
When Lily finally took to the stage, she didn't disappoint her fans, drawing a big response and wielding a Sennheiser 945 wireless microphone to make her voice heard above the crowd. She opened with It's Not Me, It's You, and then paused to speak to her fans, admitting to being not only emotional but totally overcome by the size of the venue.
After a roar of appreciation, she then had the audience in the palm of her hand. She went on to perform a string of crowd favorites including "Smile" and "22" and finished up with her recent U.K. hit single, "The Fear," before coming back onstage for an encore of "Womaniser, F*** You" and the infectious "Not Fair."
At FOH, Parker mixed the set very "pop," and also particularly well; the musicians were also on the money throughout. Although not generally renowned as an outstanding vocalist, I was really impressed by her delivery from start to finish and loved the tone of her voice; she was incredibly likeable and it was a great show. London will miss you Lily, come back soon.
