FRISCO, TX – The 58th Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks and streamed live on Amazon Prime and Twitch, took place May 11 at Ford Center at the Star, a 12,000-seat indoor stadium practice facility for the Dallas Cowboys in Frisco, TX.
The show celebrated country music’s biggest stars and emerging talent and featured 18 performances from 25 artists, including an array of novel collaborations and unexpected moments that captivated fans around the world.
Highlights included Chris Stapleton’s win as Entertainer of the Year, his 15th ACM Award and first win for that coveted title. Lainey Wilson and HARDY led the night in total wins with four awards apiece, followed by Cole Swindell with three wins.
Clair Global’s ATK Audiotek provide audio support for the complex live show. Jeff Peterson, who looked after FOH engineering for the event on behalf of ATK/Clair, credited Shure’s Axient Digital for keeping the wireless gremlins at bay.
“With the scale of this show growing each year, and the available RF spectrum shrinking, Shure Axient Digital wireless systems continue to provide the reliability and sound quality we rely on,” Peterson noted.
Curt Armstead, production manager and monitor engineer for Lainey Wilson, also credited the company for its vocal mics. Wilson, whose four ACM awards included Female Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Music Event of the Year and Visual Media of the Year, performed with a Shure ADX2 handheld transmitter with nickel KSM11 capsule. The honors bring Wilson’s total ACM Award count up to seven.
“We’ve been using the KSM11 on Lainey’s vocals for months now, and it’s the most studio-like tone I’ve ever heard in a live setting,” Armstead said. “The warmth and clarity are amazing. That tone, combined with the reliability of Shure wireless systems, has really taken our live show to the next level.”
Tying Wilson with four awards for the evening, HARDY was named ACM Artist-Songwriter of the Year and won for ACM Visual Media of the Year in pre-televised categories, with an additional two ACM Awards bestowed during the show for ACM Music Event of the Year, where he won both as an artist and a producer for “wait in the truck.” His total ACM Award count: five.
In honor of the ACM Awards’ return to Texas, Keith Urban opened the show with an electrifying performance of his song “Texas Time” that included him being raised into the air on a platform while shredding a guitar solo. He performed with a Shure ADX2 handheld transmitter with an SM58 capsule.
Another show highlight was Luke Combs, who gave a heartfelt performance of his current radio single, “Love You Anyway,” with a Shure ADX2 transmitter with KSM11 capsule. (Combs then returned to the stage at the invitation of Ed Sheeran, who performed “Life Goes On” from his latest album release, “-“ Subtract.)
Cole Swindell and Jo Dee Messina – both performing with Shure ADX2 transmitters and SM58 capsules – performed “She Had Me At Heads Carolina – REMIX,” and karaoke lyrics displayed throughout the Ford Center encouraging the audience to join in for a massive sing-along. Also performing with ADX2/SM58 combos: Ashley McBryde and Bailey Zimmerman.
Others relying on ADX2 wireless transmitters included Kane Brown, who sang “Bury Me In Georgia;” The War And Treaty, with a powerful, stripped-back performance of their song “Blank Page;” Miranda Lambert, who performed “Carousel;” and Cody Johnson, who performed “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys” in a tribute to Willie Nelson, who recently turned 90.
Along with the opportunity to do some FOH mixing for this year’s show, Jeff Peterson once again oversaw the audio system design. The JBL-centered system started with 140 flown VTX A12 elements and 20 flown VTX S28 subs. These worked with an arsenal of ground, fill and utility P.A. elements including (12) JBL VT4886, (8) VTX S28, (8) VRX 928LA, (8) AC26, (8) AC15, (8) PRX 710, (8) SRX 712M and (4) EV 1152/64 Xi Deltamax enclosures.
An assortment of ATK speaker elements and more JBL enclosures were deployed for stage foldback, including (24) ATK LM6-dual 12”, (68) ATK LM3-single coax 14” and (4) ATK C6-3 way trap sidefill, along with a pair of JBL VT4881-drum subs and two pairs of JBL VTX F18-drum/stage subs.
The 58th Academy of Country Music Awards was produced by Dick Clark Productions, with Raj Kapoor, Barry Adelman, and Fonda Anita serving as executive producers, Damon Whiteside serving as executive producer for ACM and Patrick Menton as co-executive producer.
The 2023 edition of the venerable awards show, which was established in 1966, made its first return to Texas since the landmark 50th ACM Awards milestone show, which set a Guinness World Record in 2015 for an awards show audience with more than 70,000 attendees at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.
For more information visit www.acmcountry.com, www.shure.com and www.jblpro.com
