The PA configuration was ground stacked and consisted of six Nexo Alpha M3 mid/tops, six B1 bass enclosures & four S2 subs a side. For the larger venues they added more M3s for in-fills and out-fills as required, and they also toured and used Adlib FD2 cabinets for in-fills.
The FOH desk was a Yamaha PM5D, on which they fully utilised its onboard effects and processing plus the proprietary Nexo processors. The desk also had enough space on which to fit the opening act.
The system was powered by Crown VZ 5002 amplifiers throughout - which are an Adlib standard when running the Nexo Alpha system.
At the other end of the multicore, Steve Coles ran eight sets of Sennheiser 300 IEMs for the band and their backline techs. The band all used their own Ultimate Ears moulds. The mics were largely Shure Beta 58s on the vocals with SM 57s on the guitars. They mic'd up a Yamaha C7 acoustic piano with AKG 414s, and Cole mixed on a Soundcraft SM20 console.
Adlib Lighting's Peter Abraham designed the lighting rig which consisted of a front and back truss, with four bars of six PARs and 4-lite Moles on the front, and eight bars of six PARs with four Martin Professional MAC 550 moving lights on the back. There were another four MAC 550s on the floor.
Abraham has also worked with Hanson before. He programmed and ran the show on an Avolites Pearl 2004. "I kept the design clean and vintage looking," he explains, saying that the idea was to have it a little bit retro but also to reflect the new album which is less poppy and has a more chilled out approach, complete with several acoustic tracks. His crew were Charlie Rushton and Dave Eldridge.
(Jim Evans)
