Kasabian's audio supplier is Britannia Row Productions, long regarded as one of the premier providers of PA systems for outdoor shows of this scale - the site boasted a capacity of 50,000 - and for this event Britannia Row supplied an L-Acoustics system.
The main arrays comprised a combination of L-Acoustic K1s and L-Acoustic K1SBs and L Acoustic K2s were used on side hangs. A formidable forty-eight L-Acoustic SB28 Subs were ground stacked along the front of the stage. Out on the site there were eight delay towers placed strategically rather than symmetrically across the audience area; each one flew six V-Dosc and four Subs respectively.
Kasabian's FOH engineer since 2011 is Paul Ramsay who reports, "I choose L-Acoustic speakers as I've loved the sound of them ever since first hearing V-Dosc back in 1999. In more recent years we have toured with the K1 with great results and this has become almost an industry standard on any large festival system.
"For this show at Victoria Park, I held discussions with Warren from the acoustic consultants Vanguardia to consider how we could maintain a good on-site SPL but still respect the off-site limit of 73dba due to the park being surrounded by residential housing. That was back in November: in January, Josh Lloyd of Special Projects from Britrow did a site visit and a prediction with L-Acoustic Soundvision for a proposed PA to cover the site. I had a look over it as did my system tech Adam Smith and with a few tweaks we had the system that we've used on the day."
(Jim Evans)
