The tour started in the UK and Ireland, taking in 22 arena dates, most of which were sold out including three at London's O2 and two more at Wembley Arena.
John 'JJ' James and Mike 'Bunny' Warren are long-term members of the touring crews for both Cliff and The Shadows. "This year's tour is simplified in terms of the production, although we're using more-or-less the same front of house rig as last year - a PM5D, L-Acoustics PA and an Avalon compressor on Cliff's vocal." says Warren.
"I'm using a dbx162 compressor/limiter on Hank (Marvin)' s and Bruce (Welch)'s vocal, but apart from that all the processing is onboard the PM5D. I don't see any reason to use anything else because it's great. All the reverbs, gates, compressors, expanders are fine and it does everything I want it to do. As far as I'm concerned if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
James agrees adds, "The PM5D's processing is way more than adequate for monitors. I know some people say there are differences, but I think there's a lot of 'emperor's new clothes' when it comes to equipment. The onboard processing is absolutely fine for my purposes."
He continues, "Normally with a Cliff tour we have hardly any wedges and the stage is really quiet because everyone's on in-ears or cans.
"On this tour Hank, Bruce and bass player Mark Griffiths are using wedges, with everyone else on in-ears. I do five main monitor mixes - for them and stereo IEM for Cliff, plus another for drummer Brian Bennett, while the rest of the band are using Aviom personal mixers. We also have a pair of in-fills which give Hank and Bruce a lead vocal reference."
Out front, the challenge is to satisfy two very different sets of audience expectations - to hear the old songs as they know them, but to also provide the audio quality expected at a modern live show. "Live audiences have very different expectations now, compared to what live sound was like back then, so we're trying to provide a 1960s-style sound, but with modern quality," says Warren.
"Ironically, the liveness of the stage from using wedges brings back some of that bygone age and the band seem to really vibe off it. The guitar amps are accurate handmade copies of the original Vox AC30s. They sound stunning and provide a really original feature. And, although it's a modern drum kit, I only use a gate on the kick to stop it going off into unknown territory."
With five vocal mics, two guitars, two keyboards, bass, drums and percussion, Warren has 46 inputs, plus the effects returns. "I separate the snare and hats, kicks, bass, keys, guitars, Cliff's vocals, backing vocals and have them all on a DCA that goes across everything except the vocals," he says. "Then, if I think the vocals seem a bit quiet, I can pull the whole band down and leave the vocals at the same level."
At the monitor position, James is also making extensive use of the PM5D's DCAs, while both he and Warren use scenes throughout the show. "Pretty much everything at front of house is on a scene," says Warren. "Primarily it's to remind me to turn things off - for example there are lots of guitar changes, so I know if I do each one on a scene that the acoustic guitar will be off if it was on for the song before.
"It means I haven't got to worry about pops and bangs, plus I know the effects are going to come on for a certain song if they're programmed in."
Warren concludes, "One great thing about the PM5D is that it is so widely used," says Bunny. "You can get them virtually anywhere in the world. I can take my card, put it in and I know that, wherever I am, I'll have exactly what I have here. So using the onboard processing makes life really easy."
