Having taken over FOH duties from Jim Yakabuski partway through Lavigne's extensive European and American tour, Kerns found himself in the capable hands of Audio Analysts system technician Brett Dicus. "Jim came up with a setup that he really liked," explains Dicus, "which was Meyer mains and a centre sub-hang. That is our priority whenever possible. The Meyer high-end energy from about 5kHz on up can't be beaten. We find we do not have to do the usual boosts for intelligibility with the MILO boxes."
The typical setup for a Lavigne show employs substantial quantities of MILO high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers, as well as several other Meyer Sound self-powered models. "Our usual arena hang consists of two columns per side. The main hang on each side has 14 MILO cabinets and two MILO 120s (high-power expanded coverage loudspeakers) at the bottom, and then a side-hang of eight (MILO) boxes. When possible, we fly a centre column of subs with the box count depending on the available trim height, and then pairs of subs on the ground for supplemental coverage. The package also contains M1Ds (ultra-compact curvilinear array loudspeakers) and CQ-2s (narrow coverage main loudspeakers) for front-fills," Dicus explained. However, the Apollo's design meant that, on this occasion, the rig was considerably smaller with racks and stacks being supplied by London's Capital Sound, while Audio Analysts provided the infrastructure and consoles.
"The Meyer is such a clean system. It is very articulate," says Kerns. With the two London shows under their belt, Lavigne's Bonez Tour 2005 worked its way through Europe, finally crossing the Atlantic where Audio Analysts once again became the primary audio contractor supplying the full MILO arena specification to the tour. Lavigne's tour is working through 36 dates in the US and Canada, that started on July 15 in Toronto and finishes in Montreal on 3 September. After that, the show heads south to Mexico and South America. "We had a great couple of shows here with this setup," concludes Dicus.
A report on Avril Lavigne's Hammersmith show appears in the July-August issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine.
(Lee Baldock)
