L-Acoustics arrays powered British singer Adele’s ambitious one-month long residency at the purpose-built 80,000-capacity Open Air Arena, in Munich, Germany. The 10 concerts, between August 2 and August 31, played out to a total of 730,000 fans at the pop-up venue, achieving the highest attendance of a concert residency outside of Las Vegas.
While Adele is known for her live performances, the scale up in Munich was considerable from a both a PA system and monitoring/RF standpoint. To ensure the 730,000 fans attending heard 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 clarity, carefully considering amp positions and signal distribution.
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.
Meanwhile, production support company Clair Global deployed 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.
On such a large production, the monitor team faced technical challenges. Joe Campbell, monitor engineer, said: “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. We’re using RF over fibre for the first time with this artist and have opted for a Wisycom system, which has been superb.”
Clair Global 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 continued: “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.”
Johnny Keirle, systems engineer, further explained this high-pressure undertaking: “The shows in Munich represent a completely different approach from a system design perspective. In Adele’s Las Vegas concerts, we worked with an immersive L-ISA system, while in Munich used a traditional L-R/dual mono system.”
He added: “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.”
Navigating a Riedel Communications ARTIST-128 digital intercom network on AES67 audio networks was communications system designer, Patrick Taghavi. He said it was deployed for departmental communication and to enable the show director to call cues correctly and safely.
Taghavi explained: “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 utilised elevators built into the stage around the passerelle, an aspect of the show design that resulted in a bespoke cue light system being engineered by Clair Global. Conceptualised 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 rise from the stage in synergy as their instruments were played.
Following 10 performances in various weather conditions, Adele wrote on Instagram: “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.”
