Front-of-house engineer Ian Laughton ordered up an Electro-Voice X-Line array system from Britannia Row for the arena shows. He says, "I first heard this PA in Wembley Arena and I was just astounded. To be honest, I was never really happy with line array systems until I got the X-Line. It just seems to fill the whole area. EV subs are the best I've heard in a line array, they're just phenomenal."
Laughton first worked with The Verve in 1993. "With this band, their concert programme starts off with the racket of the post-punk era and moves to the orchestrations of the Bittersweet Symphony, culminating in very acoustic-led pop. The X-Line system can track that seamlessly, and I can do it all by faders. However, to create the effect I want for the band, I'm using some old-fashioned rough-sounding reverb and old compressors. With a brand-new Midas XL8 digital desk and Electro-Voice X-Line speakers, it would sound a bit too fresh and clean so I've had to colour it, dirty it up a bit, especially for the songs off the first album."
This is Laughton's first gig at the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena, and he praises Brit Row's system engineer Richard Trow for supporting him with a system design that provides excellent coverage. Trow says. "The O2 is a great-sounding venue but it is very high so we have to think carefully about coverage. We needed an extra hang of speakers to handle the top seats at the very side of the stage, but otherwise the arena was covered by main left/right hangs of X-Line (13 cabinets each side) and supplemented by side- hangs (10 cabinets), with 12 X-Subs either side of the stage."
(Jim Evans)
