NEW ORLEANS – Meyer Sound, the Official Sound Partner for Daze Between New Orleans at the historic Mahalia Jackson Theater, worked with Upscale Productions to provide a Panther system for a lineup of artists that included Umphrey’s McGee, moe., and The Allman Betts Band, among others.
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Now in its fourth year, Daze Between New Orleans has become a standout celebration of the city’s rich musical heritage—two days of genre-defying performances, once-in-a-lifetime collaborations, and high-energy tributes. This year’s festival, held April 29 and 30, found a new home at the historic Mahalia Jackson Theater, moving indoors for the first time while continuing its tradition of sonic excellence with Official Sound Partner Meyer Sound.
While the theater houses a Meyer Sound system optimized for dance and theater, Daze Between’s eclectic, funk-fueled lineup called for more powerful sonic support. The 2025 bill featured headline performances by Umphrey’s McGee, moe., and The Allman Betts Band, alongside special tributes to Led Zeppelin and The Meters. To meet the technical demands of these artists—and the expectations of their fans—Meyer Sound deployed a PANTHER™ large-format linear line array system in the venue.
Upscale Productions of Lake Charles, Louisiana provided and set up the temporary system. The configuration was based around 16 PANTHER long-throw and four PANTHER wide-coverage loudspeakers, supplemented by 12 2100‑LFC™ low-frequency control elements. Seven ULTRA-X20™ compact point source loudspeakers provided front fill support and two ULTRA-X80™ versatile point source loudspeakers provided in fill support, while 12 MJF-210™ high-power stage monitors, along with two UPQ full-size loudspeakers and two 900-LFC™ compact low-frequency control elements, delivered power and clarity onstage. Everything was controlled by a Galileo® GALAXY 816 Network Platform. Additional underbalcony coverage came courtesy of the house’s existing UPJ‑1P™ loudspeakers.
System design was led by Meyer Sound Technical Design & Support Specialist Bobby Brickman, with Upscale Productions configuring the system to suit the theater’s layout and rigging points. “The Upscale team really deserve the credit—they adapted the design to the real-world room and made it sing,” Brickman says.
For Daze Between Production Manager Sami Slovy, bringing in the PANTHER system elevated the audience and artist experience. “The Mahalia Jackson Theater is a beautiful and underutilized venue in New Orleans,” she says. “The in-house system is great for ballet and theater but not designed for concerts. With Meyer Sound and Upscale, we were able to take this venue to another level—clean, clear, powerful sound that just felt great in the room.” Even as a temporary setup, the system left a lasting impression. “This really changed how people think about the space,” she says. “It set a new standard for what’s possible in that room.”
Visiting artists and engineers took notice. “This system is world class,” says Allman Betts Band vocalist and guitarist Devon Allman. “The soundcheck was phenomenal. Standing at the lip of the stage listening to the house was incredible. It’s a game changer.”
The Allman Betts Band frequently uses Meyer Sound MJF monitors and were glad to see them onstage. “When you’re singing, you really need to feel confident that you can get what you’re looking for over the band,” says guitarist and vocalist Duane Betts. “Meyer Sound allows us to do that.” “Meyer Sound monitors are the truest translation of my voice,” adds Allman. “Other monitors just don’t have that clarity and that push.”
Christopher “Coach” Ericson, front-of-house engineer for Umphrey’s McGee, also praised the system’s coherence and adaptability. “PANTHER is incredibly clean and powerful,” he says. “It accepts EQ very well, and you can tailor it to the taste of the type of music you’re going to be pushing through it.
“Umphrey’s can play anything from straight-ahead rock music to heavy metal to dance music … and we can cover all of those genres within a few minutes,” he continues. “So having a sound system that can handle that is crucial.”
The perfect pairing of PANTHER and 2100-LFC delivered seamless response across the spectrum. “The 2100-LFC and PANTHER go together so well that you cannot tell that there is a crossover point,” says Ericson. “There is extended low end on the 2100-LFC that is astonishing. We have some material that gets down to about 22 Hz. It’s very nice to find that when we need it. But it also has the punch that can come with a driver much smaller than the 2100-LFC.”
Ericson appreciated that the system let him focus on the music, not the tools. “It really does help to have a P.A. I can ‘forget about’—to be able to sit there in the room and mix the show as it should be mixed, as opposed to thinking about what I need to correct with the P.A.”
With Meyer Sound once again providing the sonic foundation, Daze Between continues to evolve as a must-attend event on the Jazz Fest calendar. For Slovy, the system’s impact extended beyond audio—it changed the way audiences and artists experience the new space. “People who’ve seen shows in this venue didn’t expect it to sound this good,” she says. “The surprise of walking into a familiar space and hearing world-class audio really elevated the whole event.”
