It was the first time that Adlib has worked with Starr. Account handler Phil Kielty comments, "It was a great honour to be asked to work with one of Liverpool's best known musicians and one of the remaining Beatles, his Liverpool show in particular was amazing."
However, Adlib won the project not because of their geographical location, but because they came highly recommended to Starr's production, and because they could deliver the L-Acoustics PA specified by Starr's FOH engineer John Cooper coupled with excellent service.
L-Acoustics was chosen for its reliability, consistency and sonic character. As they were playing a wide variety of different sized venues, Adlib supplied a selection of options to facilitate both V-DOSC and Kara main speaker hangs, which could be configured according to what was most suitable for each venue - The V-DOSC for the larger spaces and the Kara for the smaller.
L-Acoustics ARCS and d-V's were used for in and out-fills, SB28 and SB18 subs completed the sonic picture from Adlib. "We were basically prepared for all eventualities" explains system tech George Puttock, who coordinated everything on the road & liaised with John Cooper.
The largest example of the system set up was at Bournemouth BIC, consisting of Eight V-DOSC cabinets per side, with three d-V downs, three SB28s per side for subs, together with Kara and ARCS in-fills.
The entire system was powered by LA8 amplifiers and processed via Lake LM26's for EQ and time alignment - which is a standard Adlib combination. Starr's production brought their own consoles and complete monitor rig from the US.
Lighting wise Adlib provided a rig to compliment Starr's lively show. LD Susan Rose was supported by Adlib's Neil Holloway and Charlie Rushton as the touring technicians.
Adlib supplied an array of moving lights and generics to Rose's specification including a drape truss onto which was hung a custom backdrop, along with inflatable star surrounded by highlighting LED strips which were brought in by Rose.
A back truss consisted of 24 Martin Professional MAC 700 washes and four MAC 2000 Profile II's, two 6-way PAR bars and three bars of ACL's. The final fixture on the back truss was a top mounted Lycian MZ follow-spot.
The front truss had 10 MAC 2000 profiles, with four 6-way PAR bars and 16 Source Four profiles with 19 degree lenses .
On the floor, Adlib supplied two MAC 700 washes with 18 individual floor cans for up-lighting the touring backdrop.
(Jim Evans)
