Leaning on relationships that go back decades, Britannia Row Productions (PA system) and Urban Audio (control package) have joined forces to design and deploy the live audio requirements of Oasis' historical return.
The Mancunian rock band's first live performance in 16 years was one of the most anticipated concerts in history; the Gallagher brothers soundtracked '90s and '00s British working-class culture - and simultaneously won fiercely loyal fans across the globe – to impact indie guitar music on an unprecedented level. So, when the everyman's rock & roll stars split in 2009, and Liam and Noel pursued alternative artistic endeavours, fans always hoped for are conciliation.
Like all legendary artists, Oasis has retained the ability to transcend generational constraints and remain as relevant now to fans now who weren't born at the time of disbanding, as they are to their original wave of supporters. An incredible 1.4 million tickets sold instantly for the UK & Ireland shows, followed by dates in Europe, North and South America, Australia and Asia, and reigniting the live sound associated with this legacy would be no easy feat. The task of planning, designing, engineering and mixing the perfect stadium sound has called for unfaltering teamwork, and a diligently designed L-Acoustics PA system and dual Yamaha board set up.
Operating in unison at FOH, engineers Dan Lewis and Sam Parker are at the helm of the mix. Dan, who is co-owner of Urban Audio, began his Oasis journey in 2002, even stepping into the FOH position on their last tour. He has also mixed Liam's Beady Eye, and Noel's High Flying Birds.
He begins: "When a band the size of Oasis splits, it generates its own touring entities and reintegrating that is always going to be an interesting exercise. We've integrated both camps on this tour, and in the planning phase, it became obvious that if the technology and the space is available to keep Liam and Noel in a place they're happy with, doing the tour this way, with the both of us at FOH, made perfect sense. After all this time apart, they have loyalties to their crews too, and I'm in a very fortunate position in that Noel trusts me to get on with what I need to do."
"Dan's been doing this for such a long time, he knows exactly what Noel wants, but there's few precedents for having two FOH engineers," adds Sam, who has most recently been mixing Liam’s solo tours. "I'm here to look after the vocal; Dan presents a very easy platform for me to throw him a couple of feeds; I buss Liam’s processed vocal and effects group to him, but Dan’s in charge of the overall show volume and complying with site limits wherever we go.
The pair are mixing on dual Yamaha Rivage PM5’s from Urban Audio's inventory. Dan continues: "It's been really nice having another set of FOH ears, and we've also got Callum Marinho, Noel's studio engineer, doing multi-track recordings and generating a broadcast mix for socials. We do want to keep things as simple as possible, so I try to make all my effects and processing easy to translate inside a reverberate stadium."
The band plays everything live and prefer a punchy FOH mix with total sonic clarity. "I keep hearing people ask, 'what have you done to Liam's voice?'" laughs Sam. "But I've not done anything! He's got to turn up with that voice in the first place. He's just happy to be here, he's in his element and it's clear that he's comfortable on stage and therefore singing at his best - that's what people are hearing.
“A lot of thought has been put into how the PA interacts with what goes on on-stage. Liam's not a fan of too much low end up there and we've done our best to try and steer that away from his position to a lower frequency and ensure we're not flooding the stage."
While the tour ships the control package worldwide, Production Manager Tony Gittins advocated that the sheer amount of PA needed for eager audiences, would come from Britannia Row / Clair Global for global feasibility.
"On my part, it was a very easy decision to make, because of my long-term relationship with Britannia Row," continues Dan. "I've known [Account Executive] Dave Compton and Josh Lloyd, who designed the PA, for many years. Sam used L-Acoustics products on Liam's last solo tour with Skan PA, so it all slotted into place rather quickly knowing that Britannia Row would undertake looking after the K1/K2 system.
"Working with a team we've known for a long time, and whose opinions we trust on everything - including who they bring out on the road - makes everything easier. I'd never worked with Ben Webb, our Systems Engineer before, but he's smashing it out of the park. We've got an all-star cast out here. That's been very evident during load-ins; there's no flapping, no shouting, no running. It's cool, calm and that's just one of the reasons to go with Britannia Row; you know you'll get that atmosphere.
"Plus, as Urban Audio, I don't have to worry about the PA pressure and that's where Clair Global really swings into action, we know we're both doing a good job. I've known Dave Compton for so long, that once we had the agreement in place of where the dividing line would be and what we'd need from each other for us to make this work perfectly, we’ve gotten on with it."
Britannia Row's resident system designer, Josh Lloyd, is no stranger to Oasis’s tour sound either, having been their Monitor Tech pre-split. He notes how the industry has grown up since the band’s earlier days: "On a personal level, it's so nice to be involved with Oasis again. 20 years ago, we were really pleased with what we achieved on their tours, but we just know so much more as an industry now. Audio technology has really matured and what we can design has really come a long way.
"Oasis are a pure rock & roll band, they're playing organically, with raw talent and instruments, and it wasn't until we got to the first show into Cardiff and flew the PA that we knew our design had really paid off. Being able to model everything in SoundVision, L-Acoustics' modelling software, is a huge advantage, but the reality is, we don't know how a system will perform on site with weather, venue acoustics or how it will interact in that space on the day, until we're there.
"Dan and Sam have got a great understanding of what the band are after, and it's always nice to work with FOH engineers who have a clear direction in terms of what they need out of the PA. Where it's been possible to put ring delays into venues, we have done. There was a real emphasis on the audio team being able to place the speakers as needed, and optimising the show design around the tour sound was very important. Oasis are an audio band, and that's what people come for. I think people can forget what rock & roll actually is, but there's something about Oasis that gives a live rock performance a certain exciting energy."
Josh's design, created in unison with Dan, has K1 main hangs with K1 side and delay hangs, used partly down to the SPL of the box being well-suited to large stadium format sound.
Josh continues: "We've got a lot of K1SB’s on top of the main and side K1 hangs to help extend the line length and get some pattern control into the low frequency. We’ve flown K1SB’s next to the main arrays both to get the tonality that Oasis likes as well as helping us with pattern control. The design means we can steer that low energy correctly and it enables us to get the directivity we want for both Liam and Noel. As Liam likes to hear a bit of the low end from the PA, and Noel doesn't like any, so there was a lot of effort put into making sure that Liam had the right amount of energy coming back off the PA while we created a pocket to ensure that where Noel stands, he doesn't.”
He adds: “We have loads of impact out front for fans and can keep the band happy on stage. We've got KS28's on the ground in a large sub arc / cardioid sub arc formation (physically and electronically arced), and various K2 boxes for rear hangs and down fills in the main and side hangs, K3 is being used as front fills and A15 for out fills."
The system is controlled and powered by L-Acoustics' LA12X's with dual redundant Milan audio transport throughout.
Josh continues: "It's worked out really well, having two FOH engineers, because of the busyness of certain points in their songs. On top of that, having two engineers means having two opinions to bounce off. And the results speak for themselves."
The critics also have spoken, and the music press is very aware of how good Oasis’s return to stage sounds. Billboard reported: 'With the roof closed at the Principality Stadium, the sound was ginormous, with every inch of this 74,500-capacity arena being filled completely. The audience's appetite for a good sing-along was mighty, of course, building a total wall of sound,' while Clash Magazine declared: 'This is arguably the best Oasis have ever sounded'.
The tour is playing a variety of venues; indoor, outdoor, stadium and festival sites, but all eyes were on Manchester when Oasis came home to the city’s Heaton Park location, a greenfield site in a residential area, now with a 5db lower noise limit than the last time they played there.
"The first night at Heaton Park is what I was most nervous about," confesses Dan. "It mostly comes down to system design and how you fly it, but the K1 box, I feel, suits the genre very well. With the hype surrounding this gig, there was no way that we could come out conservatively... we had to come out swinging, and the PA design is proving to be spectacular in any venue and in all conditions."
Josh further explains how the critical PA design was manipulated at Heaton Park due to the extended video walls for the huge outdoor show. "We're tailoring the PA design for every venue. On stage, a big aspect was getting even SPL coverage across the audience and maintaining the tonal balance of the system everywhere.It's important with any system design that everyone who has paid to see a band is going to be able to hear their music. If Dan pushes the music volume so that he's just above the crowd noise - because they sing along very loudly - it's going to work everywhere, across the whole site."
Manning the system day-to-day, Systems Engineer Ben Webb furthers: "A challenge was making sure the off-site noise was within the new level constraints at Heaton Park. I obtained the design of the ground with a LiDAR scan and verified the delay tower positions in response to the design, ensuring we were covering the entire audience zone. Dan and Sam are very good at what they do, and I know what they need from the PA system, but keeping consistency, especially with the FOH position being off centre at Heaton Park, there was an even bigger challenge to get it right. Saying that, Josh's design means that you can hear everything so well over the crowd, and it’s controlled offsite noise brilliantly."
The audio crew is completed by Monitor Engineers Bertie Hunter and Steven Weall, and Urban Audio's Finlay Watt (Monitor and RF Tech), Dan Speed (Monitor and Stage Tech) and Jake Roberts (FOH Tech). Britannia Row's PA system crew comprises PA Techs Victor Calle Gonzalez (SR) and Claus Köpplin Orrán (SL), Delay Tech William Smith, Ring Delay crew; Delay System Engineer, Mark Pantlin and PA Technicians Matthew Peters, Joy Isernia, Jonas Luzys & Rowan Cahill.
The Oasis camp has always been a band of brothers, on and off stage, and as the lyrics to 1995's 'Acquiesce' blasted out across a sprawling urban park, mere miles from where Oasis formed, 30 years have gone by in a flash. The lyrics, however, seem more poignant than ever: "Because we need each other / We believe in one another / And I know we're going to uncover / What's sleeping in our soul."
Oasis are back, and with the sonic expertise of Britannia Row and Urban Audio, Live 25 isn't just the sound of the year, it's somehow both the generation defining and generation defying concert tour of a lifetime.
