Martin Audio’s WPC Wavefront Precision line arrays formed the main system for the recent Live at Chelsea concert series, held over five nights in June within the courtyard of Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, home to the Chelsea Pensioners – retired British Army veterans who live at the historic institution and are recognisable by their distinctive scarlet coats.
The event, staged in the Figure Court – a 17th-century courtyard designed by Sir Christopher Wren – attracted audiences of more than 4,000 each evening, and featured artists including Holly Johnson, Blue, Sparks, The Proclaimers and The Beach Boys.
Sound reinforcement was provided by UK rental company 22live, which deployed left and right hangs of 12 WPC cabinets per side as the main arrays, covering an audience area of approximately 75 sq m.
Four Martin Audio WPS line array elements were ground-stacked on grids as outfills, while six TORUS T1230 constant-curvature array elements provided front-fill coverage. Low-frequency reinforcement came from eight SXH218 dual 18in subwoofers, arranged in a castellated cardioid array, with five cabinets facing forwards and three facing backwards. The system was powered by Martin Audio’s iKON series amplifiers.
Paul Timmins, hire director at 22live, said: “It’s unusual because it’s an outdoor event, but the audience is entirely seated. There was tiered seating around the sides and at the rear, so it felt much more like a purpose-built theatre environment.”
Timmins added: “The audience area is bordered by large stone structures, so we wanted to minimise reflections from those surfaces. We also wanted to avoid directing unnecessary energy into the surrounding buildings wherever possible. Beyond that, the challenge was simply to achieve consistent coverage across the audience area as efficiently as possible.”
He added: “It was an interesting event because each of the five nights featured a different headline artist, with a wide range of musical styles. Most of the artists brought their own engineers, and the feedback was consistently positive. Everyone I spoke to had good things to say about the system.”
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