In 2005, de Palmas proved his staying power with a tour that pulled capacity crowds in nearly every French city that could offer at least a mid-sized arena. The tour came to a triumphant close in late November, with the last 20 shows, mostly staged in venues with seating capacities of 6,000 to 8,000, being supported by a system built around 24 Meyer Sound Milo high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers.
The Meyer Sound package was initially presented to the tour's production company to try for only a few shows, according to Philippe Barguirdjian of Arpege Son Lumière, supplier of the system. "After initial agreement (from the production company), I consulted with the tour's FOH mixer and system tech, who also said it would be okay to give Milo a try. They tried it and liked it enough to keep it until the end of the tour."
Among the features of MILO that system tech Cyril Borri cites as having the most value for the de Palmas tour are: "the sound of the low-mids, and the vertical homogeneity, which gives us the same sound from top to bottom of the coverage pattern." Borri also found the RMS remote monitoring system, which comes installed standard on Milo, to be useful. "It's a fantastic tool," he says. " It tells me how each box is working in real time, and makes my daily 'solo box' test much easier!"
The tour system, designed by Barguirdjian, also included 12 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoofers, eight MSL-4 horn-loaded long-throw loudspeakers to reach far corners, and eight legacy, unpowered UPA-1C compact cabinets for front-fill.
Arpege Son Lumière is one of France's leading providers of sound and lighting systems for large-scale entertainment shows and public events. The company maintains offices in Nice and Paris.
(Chris Henry)
