Dockerty and monitor engineer Marc Peers have both worked with Spiteri and Texas for some years, with Dockerty reckoning he's mixed all her live shows since 1993.
A Soundcraft Vi6 console was at FOH and the PA was based around a big JBL VerTec rig, chosen for its "flexibility across the variety of venues" they played. They toured 20 VT4889 elements in total, along with 12 VT4880A subs. System processing was via Lake DLPs.
Onstage, Marc Peers did his mix using a Digidesign Profile. He customised his own stand to hold the monitor screen slightly off the desk and therefore leaving clear sightlines, and also made a specially adapted foot pedal for scene changes. He took full advantage of all the onboard facilities like gates and comps.
Peers ran a network of the new Labgruppen PLM 10000Q amps with inbuilt Lake software which he controlled using a wireless tablet remote. "It's an absolute result," he declares. "It makes such a massive difference to stand in situ and EQ the system rather than having to guess."
Spiteri's mic was a Shure KSM9 radio. Adlib also supplied a selection of Shure and AKGs. Monitors were 18 MP3 low profile wedges, with a lone Shure E5 IEM mix for the drummer who also had his own small mixer. The side-fills consisted of two L-Acoustics ARCS boxes a side each stack with a SB28 sub.
Lighting designer Brian Livingston was working with Spiteri for the first time. His aim was to design a rig that was practical to break down into different options for smaller venues, whilst retaining its basic look and feel.
He went for a simple classical two truss format with a quirky twist added by having the rear truss moving lights (eight Martin Professional MAC 700 Profiles and eight MAC 700 Washes) rigged off a series of different length drop bars. Other back truss fixtures were 4 bars of ACLs and sixteen 2-lite moles.
The front truss provided wash and key lighting via 36 PARs and eight ETC Source Four 19s, with some 4-lite Moles for audience lighting. Any gaps in the backline or on the stage were filled with floor lights - six bars of ACLs, six MAC 700 Profiles, eight 2-way Moles and seven PixelPAR 90s with the new 30 degree diffusion lenses. Another seven PixelPARs up-lit the gathered theatre-style voile drapes at the back of stage. Livingston operated the show using an Avolites Diamond 4 Elite console, and Adlib supplied two Avo ART dimmer/distro racks to the tour.
(Jim Evans)
