‘The shows sounded phenomenal’: Inside Adele’s Munich residency

Following her 'Weekends with Adele' Las Vegas production, the iconic UK singer recently embarked on a month-long residency in a Live Nation-backed, purpose-built, 80,000 capacity Open Air Arena in Munich, Germany.

The highly ambitious concert series was led by production manager Paul English and sought technical expertise from a variety of disciplines within the Clair Global organisation, overseen by account executive Andy Walker.

"A great thing that Andy did was get the IT team on board, supplying fantastic internet across the site. It made our lives easy throughout the entire backstage area, which is an immense space - over 600m long,” English commented.

“This was linked to the Comms system, which meant we could go everywhere with a Bolero pack, and it worked perfectly, giving us exactly what we asked for.

"When it came to audio, the shows in Munich sounded phenomenal; in the stadium, it was absolutely amazing from one side to the other, front to back. It's such a pleasure to work with Adele’s audio team and have Clair as our supplier of choice. We use Clair for Internet, Comms, PA and Control in Las Vegas too, and I have to say, they're a one stop shop when it comes to supplying multi-service such as this."

"This compelling project has been a lengthy undertaking of Clair's global resources from our North America, UK and mainland Europe locations,” Walker added. “It has enabled the production to use a singular supplier for multiple services; Audio, Comms, Radios and Production IT. This included 150 WiFi access points [managed by Clair IT Engineer Kevin Lehmann] and inter-departmental network for site-wide IT support and fiber distribution. I’m very proud of the global team’s efforts and strong knowledge of specific skillsets that allow us achieve huge feats as part of complex live events, such as this exceptional vision from Adele and her production team."

Clair Global deployed a control package mirroring the Las Vegas set up - DiGiCo Quantum 7 consoles at both front of house and monitor positions for the star’s long-time mix engineers Dave Bracey and Joe Campbell.

The Munich residency marked a considerable upscaling of Adele’s already elite production values, both from a PA system and monitoring/RF standpoint. To ensure the 800,000 attendees received optimal sound from every seat, systems engineer Johnny Keirle mapped out a sprawling 36-hang, 14-delay-tower L-Acoustics K1 / K2 / L2 design, covering the large urban site with perfect clarity, carefully considering amp positions and signal distribution.

"When the PA sounds this good, my job is easy,” said Bracey. "We’ve used the L2 which Clair purchased especially; the way they work with the rear rejection makes them the perfect delay speaker. To have a company like Clair supporting us is an important thing. It's an extremely comfortable place to find yourself. So, I'm very contented, I can't imagine being happier than I am now!"

Keirle further explains this high-pressure undertaking: "The shows in Munich represent a completely different approach from a system design perspective. In Las Vegas, we work with an immersive L-ISA system, while in Munich used a traditional L-R/dual mono system.

"This PA design was a complex process. There was a huge emphasis on creating a visual experience that was as clean as possible, with stage design central to the show. This required finding solutions for high trim heights at the main stage end, and finding discreet, tidy audio solutions within the audience areas. The main stage system was flown incredibly high to clear the video wall, with flown K1SB / K1, flown KS28, and adjacent K2 down fill hangs to achieve nearfield coverage without introducing destructive interferences or losing HF integrity in the main K1 system."

With the stage thrust extending 100m into the audience, and a passarelle (catwalk) looping from stage R-L, the team had to place delays beyond the golden circle and passarelle, relying heavily on the main stage K Series.

The main stage system comprised six positions: main L-R, side L-R, and outer L-R. Two rings of L2 delay speakers pick up coverage outside the passarelle, the first ring has six positions, the second eight.

Keirle had to consider numerous external factors to consider, as he points out: "Outdoor shows often present noise pollution challenges, moreover, with the summer weather being unpredictable, I designed a system that could handle extreme weather changes without assuming optimal conditions for HF propagation. The main goal being to achieve homogeneous coverage while maintaining consistent imagery and temporal integrity across as much of the audience area as possible.

"In a scenario where the audience is over 200m from the artist, it's crucial for those farthest from the stage to have an equally great sonic experience as those in the front rows. Particularly with an artist like Adele, where vocal intimacy and immediacy are key to her appeal - loudspeaker choice and placement are paramount.

"As always, everyone involved from Clair Global has been fantastic. The equipment is top-notch, and a huge amount of time and thought has gone into the infrastructure and packaging. With a show of this scale, there is considerable planning required on the back end, especially given the redundancies we need in place. Clair has been exceptional in fulfilling specific and extensive equipment requests and providing additional services that are not typically found under an audio provider's umbrella. A prime example is the design and manufacturing of bespoke wind-bracing solutions for all of our flown PA elements."

On a live production this large, challenges were also presented to the monitor team.

"A key difference working in this venue is the long distances over which we have to transmit and receive RF for the in-ear monitors and radio microphones," commented monitor engineer Joe Campbell. "We're using RF over fiber for the first time with this artist and have opted for a Wisycom system, which has been superb."

Clair deployed 20 x Wisycom MFL RF antennae, overseen by Monitor and RF System Designer, Thomas Chip Valentino, who worked with four RF nodes in different positions around the passarelle; one at the B stage, one central to the thrust, stage left and stage right.

Campbell continues: "We had lots of RF antennae spaced around the main and B stages, and as the artist and backing vocalists move, different antenna systems are switched on and off for uninterrupted coverage as they walk freely around the stages for audience interaction. It was quite a challenge, but it worked out exactly as planned, and the results speak for themselves."

A crucial aspect for the show’s connectivity was hidden networking. Clair Event support engineer, Laurie Fradley elaborated: "We had to feed all our equipment positions for PA, Comms and IT - some situated in the middle of the large audience - ensuring there were no clear cable runs. We took the decision to deploy a multistrand fiber network throughout the site for both our team and other departments that needed to service these areas. In total, we ran around 1,200 fiber cores throughout the entirety of the site."

Navigating a Riedel Communications ARTIST-128 digital intercom network on AES67 audio networks was communications system designer, Patrick Taghavi. With reliable communication and audio signal distribution needed for 230 crew, Patrick outlined that a main reason Comms were employed was for departmental communication and to enable the show director to call cues correctly and safely.

"A comms system such as the one we built allows for crystal clear communications in a busy live environment. We simply couldn't run a show of this size without a robust, clean system - it's critical to everyone’s safety."

The show's 42-person string section utilized elevators built into the stage around the passerelle, an element of the show design that resulted in a bespoke cue light system being engineered by Clair Global. Conceptualized and designed by Laurie Fradley and engineered and programmed by J Walton, the Comms system housed a Raspberry Pi computer and Stream Deck controller that gave a visual cue for the 42 elevators, allowing the classical musicians to effortlessly rise from the stage in synergy as their instruments were played.

Following 10 highly acclaimed performances in various weather conditions, Adele took to her social media channels to state: “It was the best vibes all round. I’ve never seen anything like these shows, it was truly spectacular, and I am beyond honoured to have been asked to do them.”

PHOTOS: Alex Waesepi