VILLAVICENCIO, Colombia — In support of Carlos Vives’ recent back-to-back concerts here and in Bogotá, C. Vilar provided separate P.A. systems, both centering on Adamson Systems gear. C. Vilar used its full Adamson Systems inventory, in fact, to support the needs of the two shows, held at Macal Stadium in Villavicencio and Simón Bolívar Park in Bogotá.
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Colombian music idol Carlos Vives has been performing in his native country in support of his latest album, Más + Casorazón Profundo, which dominated Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart not long after it debuted in mid-May.
Sound company C. Vilar was tapped to provide sound reinforcement for two of his most recent concerts held in Colombia. The back-to-back concerts took place at Macal Stadium in Villavicencio and Simón Bolívar Park in Bogotá.
“We used our full inventory of Adamson gear for these performances,” explains Mauricio Vilar, owner of C. Vilar. “Because the shows were held on consecutive nights, we provided two complete PAs for both events. We set up for the Bogota concert while the Villavicencio show was taking place.”
The first concert, held at Estadio Manuel Calle Lombana (Macal), was filled with 25,000 fans. C. Vilar equipped the venue with a main PA consisting of Adamson Y-Axis Series line arrays — left-right hangs of twelve Y18 followed by five Y10 enclosures covered the majority of the fans. Four stacks of four SpekTrix enclosures were spaced along the lip of the stage for frontfill.
Outfill was handled by two line arrays made up of eight Y10 boxes hung in scaffolding erected to the far left and right of the stage. Because of the size of the venue, as well as a desire to blanket the audience with sound, two delay towers were constructed toward the back of the stadium. Line arrays made up of eight SpekTrix compact line array modules were hung in each tower.
In order to ensure enough low end to cover every seat in the house, a total of 24 Adamson T21 subwoofers were deployed. Left-right two by four stacks were located under each line array, while another eight subs were deployed under the center of the stage in a cardioid configuration.
“Adamson has been chosen as the main PA for the last three Carlos Vives’ tours in Columbia,” adds Vilar. “It says a lot about the quality of Adamson sound reinforcement systems when the artist continues to choose to tour using a system from the same manufacturer year after year.”
Simón Bolívar Park is a series of green spaces — approximately 279 acres — located in the middle of Bogotá. The concert took place in the acoustic shell-shaped area in the park used for major concerts and festivals. The C. Vilar team was charged with putting together a PA that would cover an audience area of 200 meters long by 90 meters wide, once again relying on their Adamson arsenal to get the job done.
The main PA consisted of two line arrays made up of 18 Adamson E15 followed by four E12 enclosures hung in scaffolding located to the left and right of the stage. Front fill was handled by four stacks of four SpekTrix enclosures, sixteen total. In order to ensure even distribution of sound throughout the area, two towers — with line arrays of eight SpekTrix enclosures — were placed to the far left and right of the stage for outfill purposes.
“It was a very big area to cover,” Vilar says. “However, we were so confident in the performance of the new Energia system that we only put together one set of delay stacks. We have seen companies setting up two sets of delays at this same venue, but knew that the power of the Energia System could handle the job.”
The two delay towers were erected toward the back of the park with line arrays made up of eight Y10 line array enclosures. Adamson T21 subwoofers were once again tasked with providing energetic low-end. This time the job was handled by 12 T21 subwoofers stacked in a three by four configuration under each Energia line array.
“Fernanco Perez, FOH engineer, was very pleased with the performance and coverage of the PA in both venues,” continues Vilar. “The consistency of the system throughout each location was very impressive and the audio quality amazing.”
C. Vilar powered each PA with an assortment of Lab.gruppen PLM 20000Q amplifiers. Perez manned a Yamaha CL5 digital console from FOH. A Digico SD8 console handled monitor duties.
“The VIP section for the show at Simón Bolívar Park was full of artists and critical listeners,” concludes Vilar. “Everybody was happy with the show — comments on twitter, Facebook were exceptional. The Adamson Energia system is being used by more and more extremely important artists — we are excited to be part of this progress.”
