LEEDS, England – Adlib Audio supplied a JBL VerTec sound system, three Yamaha PM5Ds and a Soundcraft Vi6 console along with all sound production equipment and crew for the Kaiser Chiefs rocking homecoming gig at Elland Road stadium in Leeds.
This followed on from Adlib’s work with the band on the last UK arena tour at the end of 2007.
Adlib's FOH systems engineers were Tony Szabo and Dave Kay. They undertook their first Elland Road site visit in February – the Leeds United Football Club ground is not commonly used as a concert venue. They measured it up and created a 3D model using SoundVision and EASE software, which also highlighted specific issues like coverage and delay sightlines, etc.
The main front hangs consisted of 16 JBL VT4889s a side, along with 14 VT4880A subs flown right next to them. The house right side hang was 14 VT4889s firing into the low seating stand on that side. On house left, the East stand is considerably higher, so the side PA hang of 16 VT4889s had to be focused carefully and augmented with an additional hang of 12 VT4889s upstage of this.
The delays had to be high to preserve the sightlines so Adlib hired in three Totem Towers from HSL that enabled the top boxes to be flown at 11 meters. The left and right delay clusters were six VT4889s, with four in the center. Underneath the stage were six front fill arrays totaling 24 L-ACOUSTICS dvDOSC speakers, plus 20 ground stacked L-ACOUSTICS SB28 high output subs.
The VerTec elements were all powered by Camco Vortex amps and the VerTec subs by iTech 8000s, with the L-Acoustics cabinets driven by their new LA8 amps. The drive rack consisted of eight Dolby Lake Processors, utilized for all the system EQ, time alignment, matrix mixing, etc. They also used a Meyer SIM3 system for measurement and time alignment.
At FOH, Adlib supplied the Kaiser Chiefs' FOH engineer Chris Leckie with a Yamaha PM5D console and provided a Soundcraft Vi6 for all the other acts appearing – The Enemy, Kate Nash, The Young Knives and Friendly Fires. Dave Kay ensured that the visiting engineers had all the facilities they needed and wanted for their shows.
Leckie used a small outboard effects rack with the PM5D, which included a TC D2 delay, a BSS DPR 901 dynamic EQ and dbx 160SL compressors.
James Neale and Declan Fyans worked with Kay and Szabo on the FOH team.
Onstage, Adlib's crew chief Marc Peers also kept an eye on monitor world, which was run by Ritchie Nicholson and Steve "Patto" Pattison, plus Laura Davies and Jay Petch. They ran eight pairs of d&b M2 wedges for all bands, including the Kaiser Chiefs, complete with three L-ACOUSTICS ARCS side fills a side, flown, with SB28 subs below on the deck.
Two PM5D consoles were supplied – one dedicated exclusively to Kaiser's monitor engineer Ilias Andrianatos – and one for all the supports. All processing was done onboard. The band arrived with their own two sets of Sennheiser G2 IEMs – for drums and keyboards – and another set used by Ricky Wilson during "Take My Temptation", which he partially performed from the back of the FOH mix position – out in the arena.
The Kaisers supplied all their own mics (they have a deal with Sennheiser), while Adlib supplied a full and wide selection to deal with all the other bands, which were sound checked on the morning of the show. ADLIB also supplied DJ kit and set up for Mark Ronson, who made a special guest appearance just before the Kaisers took to the stage.
One of the biggest challenges was fitting the PA hangs in between the lighting, scenic trussing and video elements onstage. By the time everything was in place, the main VerTec hangs were just centimeters away and tucked in behind a set of large shaped trusses spelling out K and C, when it became really crucial as to which boxes could be covered by the metalwork and which had to have a clear throw into the auditorium.
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For more information, please visit www.adlibaudio.co.uk.
