The Blue Man Group tour is a travelling version of the theatrical production show that combines music, comedy and multimedia theatrics. The main performers in the production, the 'Blue Men', are silent characters who use a variety of unusual materials to create musical tapestries that have also spawned three successful albums. The production is also supported by a full live band that plays throughout the performance.
Now in its fourth leg, the tour has already played in countless venues throughout North America, South America and Canada. Audio Analysts has employed JBL Vertec line arrays throughout the entirety of the tour. Ross Humphrey is The Blue Man Group's dedicated front-of-house engineer. Chris Hoff leads the Audio Analysts crew as crew chief/system engineer, along with Matt Fitzgerald, monitor engineer for Audio Analysts, and Rick Procopio and Brian Post, Audio Analysts' PA system technicians.
According to Hoff, the unusual nature of the production has posed some challenges. "There are a lot of unusual instruments being used, including several made of PVC material, so there are some gain before feedback issues that you don't normally see with conventional instruments," Hoff said. "With the Vertec line arrays, we have good rear rejection and don't have a lot of SPL coming off the back of the boxes, so gain before feedback is not so much of a problem as it would be with other line arrays."
(Jim Evans)
