They opted for a left and right array plus two side arrays instead of the conventional centre cluster for two reasons - because it seemed the most logical way to fit the sound image to the spherical shape of the building, and also for improved sight lines. These were augmented with two d&b Q7s pointing directly downwards for front-infill, and the same again each side to shoot into the corners of the room. The main hang featured nine Q1 elements and five Q-Subs per side, and the two side hangs utilized six Q1s a side. B2 subs were also positioned under the forestage run in cardiod mode to cancel out the low-end energy rumble. At the edges of the stage were two Q10 side shooters on wind-up stands on top of their own Q-Sub. The whole system was driven by the new digital D12 & E-PAC amplifiers.
Langley also highlights the compact nature of the Q Series enclosures, making them ideal for some of the smaller venues on the tour. The light weight makes it a quick and easy system to rig, and the tidy footprint meant that they were able to leave plenty of room in the truck for lighting, which was beefed up for the latest section of the tour. Entec supplied a Yamaha PM1D digital console as his FOH desk - again chosen for its space saving qualities. He's utilising all the onboard effects, EQ and system processing, eliminating the need for any outboard racks.
Entec also invested in a set of new L-Acoustics 115XT HiQ wedges for this tour, which the band specifically likes. There's 6 of them onstage, driven by XTA processors & Lab Gruppen Amplifiers, including one for monitor engineer Mark 'Magic' Ellis-Cope's listen wedge. They are proving punchy and pokey enough for the band, who likes it loud onstage. Additionally, the 8 piece orchestra (9 for the RAH) are all using d&b E3s for wedges, and the keyboards are serviced by another pair of E3s. Magic mixes using a Soundcraft MH 4 desk, again small physically but with a good channel count, and chosen for its expedient size. The vocal mics are all Shure SM58s. Magic has a Lexicon PCM81 reverb used on the d&b C690 side fills to add a layer of ambience.
This is Adam Copland's first tour as lighting designer, although he's worked on the band's lighting crew in the past. The fast-paced set packs in five distinct Beatles musical eras. At the start he uses 5K fresnels with barn doors - with the advantage of looking authentically retro - and four basic colour washes on a white silk Austrian curtain upstage - vintage Mecca ballroom style. The backdrop then changes to the bandmembers' four large heads, during which the PARs are introduced. Towards the end of this section, the psychedelic era kicks in, replete with oil wheel projections. After this, it's on to the full colour Sergeant Pepper 'people' backdrop at the start of the second half, and the moving lights are used for the first time to bring some colour to the stage. This gives way to a Peace & Love drape, before concluding with a large apple and two trussing pods which lower down either side.
The RAH fixture count included 16 Martin MAC 250s, 12 MAC 300s, six 500s and two James Thomas Pixelline battens. The generics are 12 bars of six, four sets of Moles, eight ACL bars and 10 Source Fours used for key-light
