The epic undertaking started at 01.00 on Sunday 26 October, when Irish rental company Litton Lane loaded their Midas Heritage 3000 and speakers into the Gate Theatre, Dublin. Meanwhile the PRO6 was loaded with new software and set up. Monitor engineer Tristan Farrow had transferred the show files from the XL8 during production rehearsals in London and the band sound-checked at 10.30 for the midday show.
The show finished at 14.00 and half an hour later the crew hightailed it up to Belfast by bus, accompanied by essential touring production including the PRO6. Waiting for them at the Empire was an H3000 loaded in that morning by local rental company the Production House. Showtime was 20.00, and three hours later the crew were onboard a ferry to the next destination, Edinburgh.
Despite problems with the bus, everyone arrived in the Scottish capital by 07.00 for a 10.30 soundcheck at the Assembly Rooms, where EFX had already loaded in an H3000 and monitors. Meanwhile, several hundred miles south, Britannia Row was loading a Heritage 3000, XL8 and speaker system into the Bloomsbury Theatre, London.
Again, showtime was around midday in Edinburgh and by 15.30 the crew was flying to Heathrow on a commercial flight, taking public transport to the final venue where the original XL8 from rehearsals was waiting. The band was onstage for the final show by 21.30 and after performing for the London fans, the 48 hours of carefully-planned and perfectly-executed madness was over.
"The PRO6 is a great desk; the software upgrade, surface layout and small footprint make it very functional for a monitor engineer, and of course it sounds amazing," says Farrow. "Ultimately, as sound engineers, the best possible sound should always be our main priority."
(Lee Baldock)
