EVANSTON, IL — John Legend recently performed for an audience of 5,500 at the Welsh-Ryan Arena on the campus of Northwestern University. Gand Concert Sound provided audio for the event, produced by A&O Productions. SCS Productions provided lighting and staging. The event marked the inauguration of Morton Schapiro as Northwestern University’s president. It was the first time in four years that a concert had been held in the venue. Along with Legend, the event featured other performers affiliated with Northwestern.
As part of the audio rig, Gand provided 12 NEXO CD18s, 10 GEO T4805s and two GEOT2815s per side for out fill. Gand used eight GEO T4805s and a T2815 per side for mains, left and right, and four NEXO PS8s as front fills. Since the band was on PMs, three NEXO PS15s were used for stage monitors. Gand also used a Yamaha PM5D-RH digital audio console at front of house.
“Since the arena was set up for stadium seating on the sides, the side hangs where bigger than the mains,” said Gary Gand, president, Gand Concert Sound. “I used to go to concerts at NU when my wife was a student there and, acoustically, it was a typical nightmare athletics-type room. Bands like Mountain, Springsteen, Simple Minds, even the Dead, just got swallowed up in echo. Now that the NEXO Tangent Array has proven itself in thousands of shows, the venue has changed radically into a pretty nice-sounding, mid-sized room with great potential.”
For more information, please visit www.gand.com and www.yamahaca.com.
