Manning her FOH mix, as he has for the past five years, Chris Madden has specified the use of a full L-Acoustics K1 system for the entire duration of the tour, which is being equipped by Sydney, Australia's JPJ Audio - the merged operation of Jands Production Services, L-Acoustics' longtime Australian rental partner, and Johnston Audio.
Madden, who has also performed FOH duties for Joe Cocker, Sade and Jessie J in the past, originally fell in love with K1 on P!NK's Funhouse Summer Carnival tour of Europe in 2010. "We did quite a lot of shows in Germany for that summer run, all of which were supported by Black Box and their then-new K1 system," Madden recalls. "We achieved fantastic results with the rig and Roger Davies [manager for P!NK, Sade, Cher, Tina Turner and others] was very impressed, so it's been our system of choice ever since.
"From the very first time I heard it, I just thought K1 was the best PA I was ever put in front of. The projection and detail were both immediately apparent. On other systems, certain elements of a mix will disappear off into a mush, but L-Acoustics preserves so much detail across the full spectrum - and at distances that are truly remarkable."
The main arrays for P!NK's current arena tour are comprised of 14 K1 plus six Kara per side for down-fill, with a small middle array of six Kara flown to cover the audience area between the main stage and curved thrust. An additional six Kara spread out under the front edge of the main stage helps pull the sound image down a bit further for the crowd at the front.
(Jim Evans)
