It can now be revealed that L-Acoustics L Series loudspeakers provided the audio infrastructure for Radiohead’s 2025 European arena tour, with L-Acoustics certified partner Britannia Row Productions deploying a comprehensive system designed to deliver consistent coverage to audiences surrounding a central circular stage.
The in-the-round configuration – combined with a dynamic LED screen floating above the stage that could change shape and rotate – presented considerable design challenges for FOH engineer Simon Hodge. His final design consisted of eight hangs of three L2 and one L2D cabinets, positioned at the corners of a square enclosing the circular stage.
Front-fill coverage was handled by 12 A10 Wide units, while low-frequency duties fell to 32 KS28 subwoofers flown centrally on a custom rigging cart, supplemented by 24 ground-stacked KS21 subwoofers. The system was powered by 37 LA7.16 and 13 LA12X amplified controllers. All L2 arrays were deployed in supercardioid mode, with Panflex horizontal coverage angles adjusted for each room to minimise reflections.
L-Acoustics Soundvision software is said to have been central to the design process, allowing the team to model TM array dispersion, evaluate delay requirements, and pre-align front-fills before arriving on site. The production used Milan-AVB as its primary audio protocol, with a P1 processor handling backup and system tuning via the M1 platform.
The 20-date tour ran from November 4 at Madrid’s Movistar Arena before concluding – after two Copenhagen dates were rescheduled due to Thom Yorke’s throat infection – on December 16 at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen.
At London’s O2 Arena, where the band played four sold-out shows in November, the production is reported to have broken the venue’s attendance record on consecutive nights, with the final show drawing 22,355 people.
Simon Hodge, FOH engineer, said: “I was struck by the directionality of L2 and how controlled the low mid is due to the continuous baffle. But equally important was efficiency – it’s a relatively small number of lightweight boxes, which makes it incredibly efficient in terms of production resources and easy to load in and out.”
Hodge added: “Despite all the challenges involved in an in-the-round gig, we were able to achieve stunning sound all the way to the very last row. Both the artist and monitor engineer were astonished by how quiet the stage was.”
