Liverpool based Adlib supplied additional touring production and crew for the UK section of Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band's recent tour, with Morpheus & Audio Analysts as the worldwide suppliers.
Starr is best known as one the original members of possibly the first British supergroup, The Beatles (AKA The Fab Four) and like Adlib, shares the same home town. Starr is one of a long line of local stars and artists that Adlib have supported over the years.
It was the first time that Adlib has worked with Starr. Account handler Phil Kielty comments, "It was a great honour to be asked to work with one of Liverpool's best known musicians & one of the remaining Beatles, his Liverpool show in particular was amazing."
However, Adlib won the project not because of their geographical location, but because they came highly recommended to Starr's production, and because they could deliver the L-Acoustics PA specified by Starr's FOH engineer John Cooper coupled with excellent service.
L-Acoustics was chosen for its reliability, consistency and sonic character. As they were playing a wide variety of different sized venues, Adlib supplied a selection of options to facilitate both V-DOSC and Kara main speaker hangs, which could be configured according to what was most suitable for each venue - The V-DOSC for the larger spaces and the Kara for the smaller.
L-Acoustics ARCS and d-V's were used for in & out-fills, SB28 and SB18 subs completed the sonic picture from Adlib. "We were basically prepared for all eventualities" explains system tech George Puttock, who coordinated everything on the road & liaised with John Cooper.
The largest example of the system set up was at Bournemouth BIC, consisting of
8 x V-DOSC cabinets per side, with 3 d-V downs, 3 x SB28s per side for subs, together with Kara and ARCS infills.
The entire system was powered by LA8 amplifiers and processed via Lake LM26's for EQ and time alignment - which is a standard Adlib combination.
Starr's production brought their own consoles and complete monitor rig from the US.
Lighting
Lighting wise Adlib provided a rig to compliment Starr's lively show. LD Susan Rose was supported by Adlib's Neil Holloway and Charlie Rushton as the touring technicians.
Jeff Ravitz (Intensity Advisors LLC) did an amazing job as tour designer as did US lighting crew chief Todd Ricc.
Adlib supplied an array of moving lights and generics to Susan's specification including a drape truss onto which was hung a custom backdrop, along with inflatable stars surrounded by highlighting LED strips which were brought in by Susan.
A back truss consisted of 24 x Martin Professional MAC 700 washes and 4 x MAC 2000 Profile II's, two 6 way PAR bars and 3 bars of ACL's. The final fixture on the back truss was a top mounted Lycian MZ follow-spot.
The front truss had 10 x MAC 2000 profiles (6 brought in by Susan complete with custom gobos), with 4 x 6 way PAR bars and 16 x Source Four profiles with 19 degree lenses .
On the floor, Adlib supplied 2 x MAC 700 washes with 18 x individual floor cans for up-lighting the touring backdrop.
Other Liverpool associated artists for whom Adlib has worked with over the years include; The Coral, Cast, Echo & The Bunnymen and The La's. They have also supplied sound for multiple city centre stages at the Mathew Street Festival & Beatles Convention for over 10 years.
For more press info. on ADLIB, please contact Louise Stickland on +44 (0)1865 202679 or +44 (0)7831 329888, or Email ‘[email protected]', Contact ADLIB direct on +44 (0)151 486 2214 or check www.adlibsolutions.co.uk
Photo : George Puttock, ADLIB's audio systems tech for the Ringo Starr tour