Adlib's lighting manager Dave Eldridge co-ordinated the lighting requirements for Bonamassa's regular LD Justin Duguid for the UK section of the tour, while Adlib director Dave Jones looked after all things audio for both the UK where a full sound rig was supplied and Europe where the tour continued with a control package. Eric Roa is the tour's production manager and Charlie Rushton was the main Adlib lighting tech out on the road, with Mark Johnson as the main Adlib PA tech.
The musical thread for this tour was British Blues Explosion with the music of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page plus a selection of Bonamassa's own hits including Sloe Gin. The band line-up featured four renowned artists, all famous in their own right.
For this tour, they started with four 48 ft. Prolyte S30 pre-rigged trusses for lighting. The front truss was rigged with 10 x Vari*Lite VL3500 Washes and nine 4-lite Moles pointing into the audience, and the upstage three were all identical and loaded with eight Clay Paky Mythos and 14 outrigged scaff bars, each clamped with three Martin MAC Aura LED washes - making 126 Auras in total.
The idea was to create a slanting back wall of lights that introduced a lot of depth to the picture, accentuated further by having the three trusses staggered at different heights which looked highly effective.
At the ends of the trusses - both upstage and downstage - were custom frames each rigged with six V*L500s for side lighting. These frames were independently flown on four quarter tonne motors. The lights had a triangular configuration with three at the bottom rail, two in the middle and one at the top.
There were another eight 4-lite (square) Moles on the deck along the back of stage that shone through and silhouetted the band dramatically in the smoke.
MDG's theONE hazer was provided for atmosphere and Justin programed and operated the show on an MA grandMA2 full size console with onPC as a backup.
On the audio front, Mark Johnson worked closely with FOH engineer Scott Ragsdale, monitor engineer Matt Naylor and systems engineer John Kaylor.
A full PA system in the UK comprised - in its largest format - of arrays of eight L-Acoustics K2 underneath four K1 a side..Side-hangs of K2 were added if needed for venues like Preston Town Hall which is very wide, and the out-hangs were essential.
They carried L-Acoustics ARCS speakers for in and out-fill as needed and Kara for lip-fills. Adlib supplied a DiGiCo SD10 for Scott at FOH - he keeps his mix straightforward with no plug ins.
Matt specified a Midas H3000 for monitors - Adlib keeps a couple in good working order for analogue requests like this. Both Matt and Joe Bonamassa love the console for its richness and warmth.
Joe has a few of pairs of d&b M2 wedges for monitors, which he loves for their tonality.
In this band, keyboard player Reese Wynans used one M2; bass player Michael Rhodes had a single M2 for fill; guitarist Russ Irwin on stage left who also sung vocals and played keyboards was on Sennheiser IEMs with custom Westone moulds; and drummer Anton Fig used a mix of Shure P6HW IEMs with Custom Futuresonics moulds and an Adlib dual 15 inch drum sub behind, for air movement.
Adlib supplied a standard mics package and the band also brought their own.
Challenges for audio included the Cavern Club showcase where they had less than a quarter of the standard stage space they usually take up. The control package only went in to this show.
The Greenwich gig provided the perfect setting for the DVD record - a fantastic backdrop with beautiful buildings and amazingly - and rare for the UK - proper summer weather.
For Europe Mark accompanied the control package for which the set-up was extremely well organised and geared for 30-minute changeovers in the case of their festival headliners which interspersed with own show headliners.
Adlib Director and account handler Dave Jones stated, "We've been lucky enough to work with Eric and his brilliant team for many years now, it is honestly a pleasure. The live shows have grown over the years and Joe Bonamassa has proven to be one of the best guitarists & performers out there on the live scene."
(Jim Evans)
