10 years ago Canegreen supplied Paul Weller one of the first Meyer MSL4 PA's in the UK. On the current tour (rescheduled due to Paul having a throat infection in 2004) Canegreen are still supplying state of the art equipment, as MD Yan Stile explained: "We have a very strong relationship with Paul and his management team, so we are especially attentive to provide them with crew they know and the most suitable equipment to fulfil their production needs."
Canegreen supplied an EAW line-array system to accommodate venues ranging from Victoria Hall Keighley to Nottingham Ice Arena and the final three nights at Hammersmith Apollo, London. Weller is very particular about his sound and is still very much an analogue man when it comes to equipment, so longstanding sound engineer Ange Jones was found behind an XL4 with a tried and trusted effects rack. He said: "The set changes every night and there's always been a fair amount of improvisation going on in Paul's shows, so the XL4 is ideal for doing things 'on the fly'. Nick (Garrett, Canegreen's tour technician, who has worked on every Paul Weller tour since 1995) has been able to get a great sound from the line-array even when it's ground-stacked which I've been delighted with."
Monitor engineer Seamus Fenton has, however, moved into digital domain, using one of Canegreen's Yamaha PM1D consoles. He said: "I've gone through quite a learning curve with the arrival of digital desks in recent years and the PM1D is great for monitors with a particularly great EQ section. Canegreen have given me some of their new EAW PS 15 wedges for this tour, which I really like although Paul has preferred to have the Meyer USM 15s. We have also specc'd PSM 15s for the brass section, so there's all sorts going on up there; the Canegreen guys are very flexible and we've created a system that is ideal for this band and this tour."
(Lee Baldock)
