USA - With a stop off in Las Vegas for an intimate residency, the band's hometown shows brought a sophisticated nostalgia to fans in North America. They heard Smile Like You Mean It and Somebody Told Me through a d&b audiotechnik KSL PA system from Eighth Day Sound's LA location, overseen by account executive Meegan Holmes.
Out front, the band's long-time FOH engineer Kenny Kaiser has been part of the alt pop/rockers’ crew for some years, starting out as a PA tech before eventually taking his mixer position. He begins: "There's a lot of trust between the band and me, and that comes with time. The show must sound the way your artist wants it to, but thankfully, I'm lucky to work with a band that trusts me with the decisions that I make for them.
“Each album has its own sound and ethos, so you must stay true to those songs and to the fans that have so many memories with them. However, I can add my own 'flavour' to some songs for the more impactful moments throughout the show."
Kaiser mixes on a Solid State Logic L650 console: "I have been using SSL for a very long time – since version one. I have some great analogue outboard gear that I brought from my studio and started using live; Echo Fix EF-X2 Tape Delay, a Yamaha SPX90 Multi-Effects Processor, and an overstayer processor."
He goes on to explain that great results for his FOH mix come when system engineers truly understand acoustics, and with d&b, it’s easy to achieve: "With the d&b audiotechnik SL series, if you get the drawings just right, it makes your whole day better. It's quite remarkable how much control there is behind this box."
As the Rebel Diamonds world tour ensued, they stepped into The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, while Adele took up her residency in Munich. Here, the band performed a celebratory set of 20 Years of Hot Fuss, highly anticipated shows which marked two decades of break-out global success.
Toby Donovan, the tour's head of audio/system engineer, worked using Clair Global client Adele's rigging points at the venue, as her motors for the most part stayed in situ for her return. He says: "In Las Vegas, Adele's system engineer Johnny Keirle gave me a couple of good options in Soundvision, and I chose one that gave us a conventional main/side hang configuration. I then used the in-house motors and removed a hang of their centre subs and replaced it with six flown d&b audiotechnik SL Series subwoofers.
"We all felt the band and audience would benefit from us using d&b as it’s the product we have been touring with. I chose KSL main hangs and the new XSL side hangs, as these could also be powered by the smaller D40 amplifiers. Driving the system is a DirectOut Prodigy MP – one of many we have performing various critical tasks.”
Alongside the DirectOut Globcon control software platform, Donovan uses the Smaart v8 and Smaart Suite v9 software for measurement, and d&b ArrayCalc V11 for system design and R1 Remote software for amp control.
He continues: "We have had a lot of benefit from the system performance from all our d&b SL Series products, not least as they are cardioid across the range which helps our stage and wedge monitor engineer, Marty Beath. ArrayProcessing is great for giving consistent coverage across the audience area at a decent resolution."
To ensure this setup was a total success, Donovan reveals that working with Eighth Day Sound for these shows was a great experience: "When we get in touch with Meegan Holmes, Rob Gurton [operations coordinator] or any of the Eighth Day Sound team, nothing is too much trouble. Equipment prep is great, anything we need is done immediately and then it all leaves the shop looking great too!”
The tour's other monitor engineer, Matt Breunig, takes care of in-ear mixes, playback, and sampling keyboard sounds from recorded tracks to give anything frontman Brandon Flowers likes played live on keys to sound identical to the recorded version.
Also a fan of SSL desks, Breunig says: "Brandon is the only one on wedges and Marty takes care of him and broadcast stems. There are eight band mixes, plus a guest, backline, video, pyro, and broadcast mix, and the occasional sign language interpreter mix. I give each band member a mix that sounds as much like a live version of the record as possible.”
Breunig, who opts for Shure PSM1000s for monitoring systems and Jerry Harvey Sharona in-ears, furthers: "Everyone's panning in their ears reflects what they are seeing on stage, so their eyes and their ears aren't seeing and hearing two different things. While there are many reverbs to avoid crosstalk, none of them are long delays, most under 1.8s to psychoacoustic trick the brain into not thinking they have earplugs in with drivers.”
Breunig points out his experience touring with Eighth Day Sound in North America has been a good one: "We've all been happy; we've all worked with Meegan Holmes in the past, and she's just as awesome as she's ever been.”
Stepping in for this tour was Eighth Day Sound’s Ben Olson as RF and monitor tech. He says: "I had the opportunity to join just before the Vegas residency. Tom Gardner (previous monitor tech) left me with a solid system, and the rig was designed by Marty. The SSL consoles have a few neat features, allowing us to have a fair amount of redundancy.”
FOH engineer Kaiser concludes: "The people [at Eighth Day Sound] are great, and the support is next level. All the staff in the shop are eager to help – and eager to keep learning as well."
The Killers ended 2024 with more Rebel Diamonds tour dates across Australia with support from Clair Global Group partner, JPJ Audio, before adding further US shows in January and February 2025, once again utilising Eighth Day Sound’s services.
Read our interview with Eighth Day Sound’s Meegan Holmes in the latest issue of LSi.
