Eighties synth pop veterans, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark recently returned to the stage on a Greatest Hits Live World Tour, which saw the band play to South Africa for the first time in 12 years. Their first performance took place at Cape Town’s Greenpoint A-Track, with another following in Johannesburg two nights later.
The tour was organised by Breakout Events, with the Cape Town leg managed by Rogue Entertainment. Specialists in comprehensive AVL solutions, Ultra Events was responsible for supplying and implementing the technical solutions for this much-anticipated show, including a V-Series loudspeaker system from d&b audiotechnik.
‘The A-Track comes with challenges that need to be navigated with care when setting up a concert system,’ explains Ultra Events Audio HOD, Patrick Dudgeon. ‘Not only are set-up times restricted due to the venue being a functioning cricket club, but the A-Track is also very close to a residential area, a public hospital and a hotel. Therefore, we need to be conscious of the surroundings regarding noise levels while delivering impactful audio to the concert audience.’
With these considerations in mind, the Ultra Events team designed and deployed an audio system using two ten-element line arrays consisting of V8s at the top and V12s at the bottom flown on either side of the stage, with low frequencies taken care of by B22 subwoofers, groundstacked in cardioid mode. Four AL90 loudspeakers took care of front fills while M4 monitors provided clear playback for onstage artists. Additionally, d&b Array software allowed accurate simulation of audio coverage and the ability tweak it accordingly to the needs of the venue and its neighbours.
‘OMD’s FOH engineer commented on the consistency of the d&b solution,’ Dudgeon says. ‘As an experienced engineer who has been travelling and working with the band for years across various venues, his comments around knowing exactly what he’s working with when d&b is on the rider reinforces our belief that d&b, and specifically the V-Series, are the ideal choice for professional live event audio.’
Following set-up and soundcheck, the event itself was full of energy and nostalgia. ‘The support acts and OMD were bringing out massive hits when we were youngsters,’ Dudgeon reports. ‘Getting the opportunity to work with them on this event was quite a thrill and it was fantastic to see they haven’t lost a single bit of energy in their performance after all these years.’
