Bootleg Beatles
: First RAH Performance for d&b Q Series line
array
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Entec Sound & Light is supplying
full lighting and sound production
for the Bootleg Beatles current
UK tour. One of the highlights
was a sold out performance at
London's Royal Albert Hall.
The Bootlegs are the longest
and most successful running
Beatles show, with over 4000
performances to their name.
Their show encompasses the band's
stylistic evolutions, enabling
the Beatles legend to live on
for both original and new fans
of the music.
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RAH Sound
Entec has been associated with the
band for many years. On this leg of
the tour, FOH engineer Marc Langley
is using their d&b Q Series line array,
and the Bootlegs show was its first
performance for Entec at the renowned
RAH.
Entec has perfected the task of designing
d&b systems for this challenging space.
The Bootleg's show combined the skills
and experience of Entec's systems
engineers Stefano Serpagli, Tristan
Johnson & Liam Halpin with help from
John Taylor of d&b - plus the aid
of d&b's Q-Calc line array prediction
software - to help calculate the optimum
set up.
They went for a left and right array
plus two side arrays instead of the
conventional centre cluster for two
reasons - because it seemed the most
logical way to fit the sound image
to the spherical shape of the building,
and also for improved sight lines.
These were augmented with two d&b
Q7s pointing directly downwards for
front infill, and the same again each
side to shoot into the corners of
the room
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The main hang featured nine
Q1 elements and five Q-Subs
per side, and the two side hangs
utilised six Q1s a side. B2
subs were also positioned under
the forestage run in cardiod
mode to cancel out the low end
energy rumble. At the edges
of the stage were two Q10 side
shooters on wind-up stands on
top of their own Q-Sub. The
whole system was driven by the
new digital D12 & E-PAC amplifiers.
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The Q
System amalgamated 21st century acoustics
and the retro sound of the Beatles with
a rich, stylish and harmonious sound.
Today's Beatles fans would have enjoyed
a far superior sound to the original
concerts when PA was a virtually non
existent concept and amplification was
still relatively new - and what little
they had of either was drowned out by
hordes of screaming hysterical girls!
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Small is Beautiful
Langley also highlights the
compact nature of the Q Series
enclosures, making them ideal
for some of the smaller venues
on the tour. The light weight
makes it a quick and easy system
to rig, and the tidy footprint
meant that they were able to
leave plenty of room in the
truck for lighting, which was
beefed up for the latest section
of the tour.
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Entec
supplied a Yamaha PM1D digital console
as his FOH desk - again chosen for its
space saving qualities. He's utilising
all the onboard effects, EQ and system
processing, eliminating the need for
any outboard racks.
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New L-Acoustics
onstage
Entec also invested in a set
of new L-Acoustics 115XT HiQ
wedges for this tour, which
the band specifically like.
There's 6 of them onstage, driven
by XTA processors & Lab Gruppen
Amplifiers, including one for
monitor engineer Mark 'Magic'
Ellis-Cope's listen wedge. They
are proving punchy and pokey
enough for the band who like
it loud onstage. Additionally,
the 8 piece orchestra (9 for
the RAH) are all using d&b E3s
for wedges, and the keyboards
are serviced by another pair
of E3s.
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Magic
mixes using a Soundcraft MH 4 desk,
again small physically but with a good
channel count, and chosen for it's expedient
size. The vocal mics are all Shure SM58s.
Magic has a Lexicon PCM81 reverb used
on the d&b C690 side fills to add a
layer of ambience.
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Lighting
It's Adam Copland's first tour
as LD although he's worked on
the band's lighting crew in
the past, and again, Entec has
serviced the account for many
years. Production lighting would
have been non-existent when
the Beatles first played live
in the 1960's so Copland introduces
the technology slowly as the
show progresses.
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The fast-paced set packs in five
distinct Beatles musical eras. At
the start he uses 5K fresnels with
barn doors - with the advantage of
looking authentically retro - and
four basic colour washes on a white
silk Austrian curtain upstage - vintage
Mecca ballroom style.
The backdrop then changes to the
bandmembers' four large heads, during
which the PARs are introduced. Towards
the end of this section, the psychedelic
era kicks in, replete with oil wheel
projections - which look well groovy
oozing across the backdrop!
Then it's on to the full colour
Sergeant Pepper 'people' backdrop
at the start of the second half. The
moving lights are used for the first
time to bring a blaze of trippy Technicolor
to the stage. This gives way to a
Peace & Love drape, before concluding
with a large apple and two trussing
pods which lower down either side.
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The RAH fixture
count included sixteen Martin
MAC 250s, twelve MAC 300s, six
500s and two James Thomas Pixelline
batten. The generics are 12
bars of 6, four sets of Moles,
8 ACL bars and 10 Source Fours
used for key-lighting band members
and orchestra. The psychedelic
effects are produced with two
Optikinetics K4 projectors with
liquid effects plus a Solar
250 on the floor, covering the
front gauze of the keyboard
stand.
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Copland is using an Avolites Pearl
2004, updated with the latest software
which allows it to be run with a screen
and the legending input via keyboard,
which "Makes it even easier" to programme
and operate. Time was at the essence
at the RAH with a get in the same
day and lots of extra lighting to
be programmed into the show.
The Bootleg Beatles tour is currently
scheduled to continue touring the
UK till the end of February.
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