BELGRADE, Serbia and SUNRISE, FL — Iron Maiden wrapped up the European and North American portions of the group’s “Somewhere Back in Time” tour with line arrays and other gear from JBL Professional and EAW supplied by ML Executives, Studio Berar and Brantley Sound Associates.
For the band’s final performance in Europe (pictured here), with sound for Serbia’s Belgrade Arena, Studio Berar deployed 32 VerTec VT4889 full-size line array elements for the main left and right hangs. An additional 16 VT4889s were in use for out-fill arrays (eight per side), giving a total of 48 VT4889 boxes in the system.
Additionally, Studio Berar used JBL’s new V4 DSP presets for the VerTec arrays. “We have designed control and monitoring aspects for the VERTEC line array system by using Harman’s HiQnet System Architect software,” said chief engineer Zoran Matic. “This enables us to operate the system more easily, and also save time while adjusting it.”
For the last few U.S. and Canada legs of the tour, U.K.-based touring system provider ML Executives, Iron Maiden's long-time SR provider, has shipped consoles and monitors to the States for the band, and Nashville-based Brantley Sound Associates has provided the house sound system.
Iron Maiden's flown main P.A. hang consisted of 13 EAW KF760 long-throw line array modules and three KF761 short-throw line array modules. The side hangs included seven KF760s and three KF761s. In arenas with 270-degree dispersion, the systems added two KF850e Virtual ArrayTM enclosures for extreme side fills and two more ground-stacked on either side of the stage, for a total of eight. Additionally, there were a dozen SB1000e Large-Format Subwoofers with two KF300i medium format array Loudspeakers per side, on top of the subwoofers, and four KF300i's positioned in the two cutouts in between the three stage thrusts for vocal fill.
"This is a Rock ‘n’ Roll PA system," said Brantley sound tech Joe Calabrese, who has been on the tour for the U.S. and Canadian dates. "It's powerful — the P.A. lets us convey the enormity of Iron Maiden's sound with amazing fidelity, not just to the people in the 'good seats,' but at the back of the arena as well."
For the final show of the tour, which ended in Ft. Lauderdale just days before the release of Flight 666, the band’s tour movie, the monitor system was updated with EAW SM15 and SM200iH stage monitors, a configuration the band also used on North America dates in 2008.
"The SM15 can get absurdly loud, and it's an incredibly great-sounding main monitor," said Calabrese, who noted that eight of them are used for downstage mixes. "It packs a massive punch." The compact SM200iH has a smaller footprint and was used on the ramps above the backline where space is limited. "Bruce can hear himself loud and clear and he's not worried about tripping over them," Calabrese said. "Altogether, it's a great P.A. system."
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