Production Profile

Genre-bending juggernaut Chance the Rapper is proving worthy of the arena-sized tour he’s now on, selling out his great-sounding pyro-filled show wherever he goes. On May 14, he made it a special Mother’s Day edition at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Chance brought his mother down from Chicago for the show and surprised her by bringing out one of her favorites, neo soul artist Maxwell. He announced that 18,300 people showed up to see him that evening, which seemed to surprise even him.

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Canadian pop music is a hot commodity these days, and it hasn’t taken long for Shawn Mendes to put his name alongside those of Drake, The Weeknd, Alessia Cara and Justin Bieber when it comes to international demand and acclaim. That point is made perfectly clear when one considers the routing of Mendes’ current Illuminate World Tour, supporting the album of the same name that ultimately cemented his status as a worldwide star.

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The Weeknd is on the Starboy: Legend of the Fall outing, playing festivals and sold-out arenas across the country in support of the artist’s third studio album, Starboy, which was released last fall. The Weeknd, a.k.a. Abel Tesfaye, is performing in the round for most of the shows. And while he spends a lot of time on the catwalk, he works the sides of the house more than he does the front or back, says FOH engineer Derek Brener. “It’s almost as if the FOH perspective has been shifted to the sides.”

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Not exactly your “typical” tour, the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience wrapped up last month, with the show’s composer Ramin Djawadi bringing the music of the wildly popular HBO series Game of Thrones off the screen and onto an in-the-round, 360-degree live immersive stage concert experience featuring 807 linear feet of jumbotrons and 3-D designs that rise from the stage floor. Oh, and sound — lots of sound.

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With sister Nancy tied up with another project, Ann Wilson has hit the road with her appropriately named “Ann Wilson of Heart” tour. The first leg included 20 shows that kicked off March 8 at the Moore Theatre in Wilson’s hometown of Seattle and wrapped up on April 7 at the Park Theatre PAC in Providence, RI. The second leg, including 23 concerts, is slated to launch May 19 at Indio, CA’s Fantasy Springs Casino. It continues through early July, wrapping up in Anaheim, CA.

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Lots of pedals, lots of gain— definitely not your daddy’s bluegrass band

“This is not a traditional bluegrass band — it’s a rock ‘n’ roll show,” FOH engineer Greg Burns declares. “Traditional bluegrass tends to be mixed ‘crispy,’ but [Greensky Bluegrass] can be dark and messy, and you’ll hear more songs in minor keys than major.”

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Keeping That Open Mic Night Vibe in Arena Shows

During the course of The Lumineers’ Cleopatra Tour, the box count has tripled. “This tour started on a smaller scale on purpose, because they weren’t sure how people would respond to the new album,” says FOH engineer and system designer Josh Osmond. So in the early Spring of 2016, they went off to play the club circuit and a few 3,000-plus venues before heading to Europe, just as the album exploded worldwide. Signs of what was to come could not be ignored as that month-long European tour sold out in a single day. Fortunately, Osmond was prepared, having already worked out on a spreadsheet exactly which system he’d need from supplier Sound Image at each step on the tour.

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Like so many rock bands, the Switchfoot story started off as guitarist Jon Foreman, his bassist brother Tim Foreman and drummer Chad Butler began rocking out in their San Diego garage. Armed with surfboards and cheap electric guitars, the plan was to finish college at the University of California San Diego, but tempted with an indie record deal from RE:Think records, they set out on the road — and never looked back.

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“Though we’re a big band with a large input list, we’re simplified in many respects,” Kid Rock’s FOH engineer Steve Cross says. The one-off Rock put on at the Scottrade Center arena on New Year’s Eve was certainly big (Lasers! Pyro galore! Balloon drop!) And, simply put, the audio team made it sound great, despite no real rehearsals and the audience hearing it all through a new console. The show was at this town’s home of the NHL Blues hockey team and, as a room, it’s pretty neutral, says Cross. “We had to put up quite a tall array to get the coverage we needed, but it worked out well. It’s always fun to take a large P.A. into a sold-out arena and have a great show. Couldn’t think of a better way to start the New Year… unless palm trees and sand were involved!”

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Sturgill Simpson is one of those artists who transcends a simple label or tag that defines his music. By his own admission, he is, and always will be, a country artist, but mixes his country influence with a blend of Americana, soul, funk and roots rock to create a sound that is distinctly Sturgill Simpson. And for his recently completed tour, supporting his first major label release, 2016’s critically acclaimed A Sailor’s Guide to Earth album on Atlantic Records, Simpson has broken new artistic grounds as well. Besides himself on guitar and vocals, this time he’s incorporating a three-piece brass section into his band, in addition to his more familiar touring lineup of keys, bass, drums, slide and electric guitar.

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[caption id="attachment_126004" align="alignnone" width="800"]The tour achieves a big sound with a minimalist approach to staging. Photo by Vic Wagner[/caption]

Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, known mononymously as Sia, recently set attendance records for her “Nostalgic for the Present” tour, which crisscrossed North America in support of her seventh studio album, This Is Acting. The artist is quickly redefining performance art while simultaneously setting the bar for those following in her wake. Special guests Miguel and AlunaGeorge accompanied the singer on the 22-city jaunt that kicked off at the end of September at Seattle’s Key Arena and wrapped up with a Nov. 6 show at Frank Erwin Center in Austin, TX.

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Not Just Another Day at the Office for Sound on Stage

In 1986, rocker Neil Young called in some industry friends to help him create a fundraiser for The Bridge School, an innovative organization based just north of San Jose, on the San Francisco peninsula and dedicated to educating children with severe speech and physical impairments through the use of creative approaches to education and communication. The reaction to that first event was an overwhelming outpouring of support from both fans and musical performers alike, and now it continues, after three decades of success and sold-out venues.

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