Following the successful Las Vegas production Weekends with Adele, the British singer took up a month-long residency in a Live Nation-backed, purpose-built, 80,000-capacity open-air arena in Munich, Germany. The ambitious concert series was led by Production Manager Paul English and sought technical expertise from a variety of disciplines within the Clair Global organisation, overseen by Account Executive Andy Walker.

‘A great thing that Andy did was get the IT team onboard, supplying fantastic internet across the site, English says. ‘It made our lives easy throughout the entire backstage area, which is over 600m long. This was linked to the Comms system, which meant we could go everywhere with a [Riedel] Bolero pack, and it worked perfectly.

‘When it came to audio, the shows in Munich sounded phenomenal; in the stadium, it was absolutely amazing from one side to the other, front to back. It’s a pleasure to work with Adele’s audio team and have Clair as our supplier of choice. We use Clair for internet, comms, PA and control in Las Vegas too, and I have to say, they’re a one-stop shop when it comes to supplying multi-service such as this.’

‘This compelling project has been a lengthy undertaking of Clair’s global resources from our North America, UK and mainland Europe locations,’ says Clair Global’s Andy Walker. ‘It has enabled the production to use a singular supplier for multiple services. This included 150 Wi-Fi access points [managed by Clair IT Engineer Kevin Lehmann] and inter-departmental network for site-wide IT support and fibre distribution.’

Clair Global used a control package mirroring the Las Vegas set-up: DiGiCo Quantum 7 consoles at both front of house and monitors for long-time mix engineers Dave Bracey and Joe Campbell.

To ensure the 800,000 fans attending had sound at every seat, Systems Engineer Johnny Keirle mapped out a 36-hang, 14-delay-tower L-Acoustics K1/K2/L2 design, covering the large urban site with clarity, carefully considering amplifier positions and signal distribution.

‘The shows in Munich represent a completely different approach from a system design perspective, he says. ‘In Las Vegas, we work with an immersive L-ISA system, while in Munich used a traditional LR/dual mono system.

‘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 solutions for high trim heights at the main stage end, and finding discreet 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 neafield coverage without introducing destructive interferences or losing HF integrity in the main K1 system.’

With the stage thrust extending 100m into the audience, and a passarelle (catwalk) looping from stage RL, the team placed delays beyond the golden circle and passarelle, relying heavily on the main stage K Series. The main stage system comprised six positions: main LR, side LR, and outer LR. Two rings of L2 delay speakers pick up coverage outside the passarelle, the first ring has six positions, the second eight.

‘Outdoor shows often present noise pollution challenges, moreover, with the summer weather being unpredictable, I designed a system that could handle extreme weather changes without assuming optimal conditions for HF propagation,’ Keirle says. ‘The main goal being to achieve homogeneous coverage while maintaining consistent imagery and temporal integrity across as much of the audience area as possible.

‘In a scenario where the audience is over 200m from the artist, it’s crucial for those farthest from the stage to have an equally great sonic experience as those in the front rows. Particularly with an artist like Adele, where vocal intimacy and immediacy are key to her appeal – loudspeaker choice and placement are paramount.

‘With a show of this scale, there is considerable planning required on the back end, especially given the redundancies we need in place. Clair has been exceptional in fulfilling specific and extensive equipment requests and providing additional services that are not typically found under an audio provider’s umbrella. A prime example is the design and manufacturing of bespoke wind-bracing solutions for all of our flown PA elements.’

On a live production this large, challenges were also presented to the highly experienced monitor team. ‘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,’ comments monitor engineer, Joe Campbell. ‘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 deployed 20 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.

‘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,’ Campbell says. ‘It was quite a challenge, but it worked out exactly as planned, and the results speak for themselves.’

A vital aspect for the show’s connectivity was hidden networking, as Clair Event Support Engineer Laurie Fradley explains: ‘We had to feed all our equipment positions for PA, Comms and IT – some situated in the middle of the large audience – ensuring there were no clear cable runs. We took the decision to deploy a multistrand fibre network throughout the site for both our team and other departments that needed to service these areas. In total, we ran around 1,200 fiber cores throughout the entirety of the site.’

Navigating a Riedel Communications Artist-128 digital intercom network on AES67 audio networks was Communications System Designer, Patrick Taghavi. With reliable communication and audio signal distribution needed for 230 crew, Patrick outlined that a main reason Comms were employed was for departmental communication and to enable the show director to call cues correctly and safely.

‘A comms system such as the one we built allows for 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.’

Following ten performances in various weather conditions, Adele took to her social media channels, stating: ‘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.’

More: www.clairglobal.com