Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher recently completed a sold out arena tour in celebration of the 30thanniversary of the band’s legendary debut album Definitely Maybe, with L-Acoustics bringing supersonic sound to proceedings.
The tour saw Gallagher perform the iconic record in full, with the show preceding yesterday’s (August 27) huge announcement that Oasis are to reunite for a series of UK stadium shows in 2025 – their first in 16 years.
For Gallagher’s Definitely Maybe tour, Skan PA Hire, a Clair Global company, was tasked with crafting a professional sound system that could achieve consistent, powerful audio for the entire audience.
"We needed a system with serious muscle, but also finesse," explained Sam Parker, front of house engineer for the tour. "L-Acoustics was the obvious choice to meet those demands."
Rising to the challenge, systems engineer Mark Pantlin designed a comprehensive concert touring system centred around K Series line array speakers from L-Acoustics. The setup features main hangs of 16 K1 over four K2 per side, complemented by side hangs of ten K1 over six K2 per side. Low-end reinforcement is delivered through 12 flown K1-SB subs per side, while coverage to the outer seats of the 270° audience area is handled by two hangs of 12 K3 per side.
On the ground, 24 KS28 subwoofers are arranged in eight pods of three, configured in a cardioid pattern for optimised rear rejection and control. The system is rounded out with eight A10 Focus used as front-fills, six A15 Wide as out-fills, and four delay arrays of eight K2 each to ensure well defined and crystal-clear sound throughout the venue.
Pantlin highlights the system's versatility, noting, "we created a controlled stage environment with good low-end rejection by positioning the K1-SB subs off-stage of the main arrays, working in conjunction with the cardioid ground sub array."
L-Acoustics Soundvision software played a crucial role in the system design process.
"Soundvision is invaluable from the very beginning of the design process right through to show day," Pantlin concluded. "It very accurately helps us see what the end result will be before the system is even installed."