Blur stay loyal to DiGiCo for reunion dates
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Built to exceed the ambitions of touring productions, DiGiCo’s Quantum7 was the mixing desk of choice for the band’s biggest ever headline shows, ensuring that the 180,000 fans that flocked to Wembley felt the full force of Blur’s influential back catalogue.
The mammoth gigs marked 35 years since the band’s formation, which was followed by a lengthy career of catchy chart-topping hits, numerous music awards and bust-ups with fellow Britpop stars. Alongside the Wembley shows, Blur also announced intimate warm-up dates in Colchester, Eastbourne, Newcastle and Wolverhampton, as well as festival appearances and brand-new album The Ballad of Darren.
Monitor engineer Dave Guerin and FOH man Matt Butcher are long standing, loyal Blur crew members and DiGiCo users. Back in 2015 when the band were last on the road, the two engineers were working on pair of DiGiCo SD10 consoles which helped them tame the sound at London’s acoustically tricky Mode Club – a venue the band chose to celebrate the release of 2015’s The Magic Whip. This time round, two DiGiCo Quantum7 desks made sure that Blur’s return packed as much of a punch as Song 2’s instantly recognisable riff.
The Quantum7 covers all bases, including functionality and audio performance, and can adapt to large scale stadium shows, as well as more intimate spaces. This was key for Blur’s tour, as the shows were switching from small 2,000 capacity venues to the mammoth stages of Wembley, which currently holds 90,000 spectators.
“The Quantum7 is a different beast,” begins Dave. “I now have 200 channels on the surface with 43 unused, 25 mono and 35 stereo aux with four unused, and 36 control groups with 11 unused. That channel count also includes inputs and outputs for the 34-person choir that joined us for the two Wembley shows.
“We added a third SD Rack with AES inputs and outputs on top of what we already had, and radio mics and IEMs for the choir. The Quantum7 accommodated it all without breaking a sweat and no additional desk or monitor engineer was required.
“For the album launch show, the choir weren’t with us, but Damon’s in-house string section Demon Strings were and the Quantum7 could additionally accommodate them without running out of resources.”
Supplied by rental company Entec Sound and Light, Blur’s tour benefitted from two additional full SD Racks with 32-bit input cards and a mixture of line output and AES output cards, all on two Optocore loops. “We have a long association with Blur and have been supplying DiGiCo consoles to them for many years,” notes Entec’s Dan Scantelbury. “We’re always confident that they’ll deliver a rock solid performance and meet Dave and Matt’s needs in terms of functionality and audio quality.” Entec also supplied a 192 channel record system that sits on one of the Optocore loops.
Blur are still on the road for the remainder of the year, with gigs across the globe in Norway, Japan, Belgium, Portugal and Colombia.
