SSE Hire
On Tour with the Arctic Monkeys
It's four years since the Arctic Monkeys took the music world by storm with the release of I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, the band’s debut single which went straight to the top of the UK Singles charts.
In November 2009 they embarked on the European leg of their latest tour with gigs in Antwerp, Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam before hitting the familiar UK arena venues starting in Liverpool’s Echo Arena on November 13th. The following night the Monkeys returned to their home city to play Sheffield Arena and then they continued with a 14 day sold out tour of the UK.
This was the band's first UK tour since December 2007 and to give it the impact it deserved FOH engineer Matt Kettle, TM Timm Cleasby and PM Peter van de Veld decided L-Acoustics K1 was the way to do it, supplied and designed by SSE Hire.
The L-Acoustics K1 was added to SSE's inventory in June 2009 and debuted at Download Festival, which is where Timm Cleasby first encountered the system.
Timm did a sterling job of mixing Welsh rockers SKIN at Download and came away suitably impressed to say the least.
So, when it came to planning this November arena tour of Europe, SSE Hire's Dan Bennett was pleased to hear that Arctic Monkeys were specifyng K1.
SSE's system tech, Nick Pain, (pictured right, below) who is one of only five L-Acoustics appointed K1 (KSE) system engineers worldwide, toured with the system.
In its basic form the touring system comprised of two hangs, each with 3 K1SB, 12 K1 plus 3 dV-DOSC; side hangs were 9 KUDO per side and the whole system was complemented by 8 SB28 subs per side in a cardioid format. For the UK leg of the tour, the system was increased to 14 KUDO per side, 12 SB28's and 2 more K1 for the MENA and Wembley shows.
For a number of the UK dates, including Wembley, ticket sales meant the arena coverage needed to extend beyond the normal 180 degree coverage, so two more hangs were added, making a total of six.
The whole system was powered by L-Acoustics LA8 amps, controlled by LA Network Manager with Dolby Lake for EQ and alignment.
FOH Engineer Matthew Kettle (pictured right, top) mixed the band with a Digidesign Profile, while Will Doyle (pictured right) used a Soundcraft Vi6 for monitors. SSE's crew boss Kev Sparks is a regular with Arctic Monkeys.
The sellout tour has so far been very successful and the whole team are extremely pleased with the performance of the K1 and the reception the band has received.
To conclude this tour cycle, the Arctic Monkeys are going out again in January-February 2010 with the brief, "Same again please..." We wish them the best and hope it will be as successful as the last tour.
