Rat Sound's main man Dave Rat explains: "With our own proprietary system already hired out on a tour this season, we were faced with the task of finding another suitable world-class rig. The Peppers are very dynamic and musically diverse, so having a system where the response remains balanced at both low and high volumes was critical. Furthermore, thanks to L Acoustics partner companies like MSI (Japan), Jands (Australia), Gabbison (Brazil) and Dispatch (Europe), I was able to spec nearly identical V Dosc systems worldwide, giving us show-to-show consistency."
Jon Monson, who heads up systems and tours for Rat Sound, notes that the company added 50 V Dosc, 28 dV Dosc and six ARCS loudspeaker systems to its inventory in April, most of which quickly went out on the first US leg of the Peppers' worldwide tour. The loudspeaker complement for the recent second US leg, slightly pared down for shed venues from the first domestic sweep, consisted of two primary loudspeaker clusters each comprising of 12 V Dosc cabinets, plus three dV Dosc hung underneath for front fill. A centre cluster of four dV Dosc also addressed the area just in front of the stage, while two additional side clusters, both made up of six V Dosc plus six dV Dosc, covered the left and right wrap areas.
Red Hot Chili Peppers' By The Way tour kicked off last summer and has already been to Europe, Mexico, Central and South America, Japan, Australia and, most recently, twice through the US. The entourage now heads back to Europe before returning home for yet a third pass through the States, which will run through November.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
