When country star Blake Shelton decided to head Back to the Honky Tonk, he envisaged a neon-lit dive bar with a boisterous crowd belting out songs alongside the band. But for the platinum-selling artist’s team to achieve that small-town intimacy for an arena-sized audience, the audio system would have to be able to bring a front-seat experience to all. They settled on a Cohesion PA to deliver Shelton’s signature Southern charm on the tour, which sold out venues across the North American continent.
‘It all starts with the band,’ says Jeff ‘Pig’ Parsons, Shelton’s FOH engineer of 22 years standing. ‘They’re phenomenal players and they have great sound. If you have that coming in – and of course, Blake is a great singer – it should be great going out.’
‘Honky tonks are crowded, like Billy Bob’s or any of those down in Fort Worth,’ says Production Manager, Chris Alderman. ‘Blake wants to rock people’s faces off and make them feel like they’re in a small, intimate setting. You’re really on top of the singers. You want to feel it.’
Back to the Honky Tonk gave Shelton a 100ft thrust accompanied by a live, functional bar. VIP spectators seated along the thrust sides were treated to an up-close show, while bartenders took orders for brews, cocktails and occasionally a shot of tequila with Shelton himself.
Clair Global deployed the PA, with a left-right main hang of 16 Cohesion CO12 flanked by side hangs of 14 Cohesion CO10. Six Cohesion CP218 II+ were ground stacked on each side of the stage in cardioid configuration for low-end support. Two Cohesion CO8 on either side helped to cover small slices of seating in the lower bowl, and six Cohesion CP6+ tucked near the monitors provided fill to enhance intelligibility along the lengthy main thrust.
‘I didn’t want anyone to sit there and not be able to hear Blake,’ says System Engineer Anne Butt.
Fourteen Cohesion CM14 and two CM22 served as wedges, as Shelton prefers them to IEMs. ‘Having really good wedges is super important since vocal clarity is his number one,’ says monitor engineer, Brad Baisley.
Baisley described using CM14 ‘everywhere Blake is walking because of the wider coverage’, while also noting the benefits of running CM14 on a single cable run to the far end of the thrust. Baisley chose a pair of CM22 for the downstage mix because they ‘can really deliver that kick and snare’.
Parsons notes that he first encountered Cohesion during a demonstration a decade ago and started carrying it the next season. Baisley heard the CM22 for the first time at a separate demo that year and was ‘immediately struck at how powerful, yet clear they were’.
Shelton was supported by opening acts Dustin Lynch and Emily Ann Roberts, and occasionally, a special star – Shelton’s wife and The Voice co-host, Grammy Award-winning musician Gwen Stefani – would join the stage. ‘When Gwen came out, we had audience levels at 112-115dBA and we never had an issue with the PA. Pig did a great job, no issues with that,’ Butt says.
Shelton’s team meticulously walked through all venues from the 300 level down to the VIP seating along the thrust, testing the capabilities of the system to provide even coverage in all seating areas. ‘I want every seat to sound the same,’ said Butt says, ‘and I want my FOH to have great sound every night.’
‘I’ve been all over these arenas – halfway up towards the concourse, side stage – it all sounds just like FOH,’ Parsons adds. ‘It’s going to be good every night.’
‘This is the best system we could possibly have for this show to accurately transfer to the fan what’s happening on stage with Blake,’ Alderman says. ‘If you’re on the 300 level, or if you’re in the corner, you’re going to get exactly what is happening. It’s totally seamless at the 200-level, 300-level, and over in the corner at the 220° or 240° mark. We’ve used the same set-up for years, and it’s never a repeated market. We do about 21 different markets a year.’
‘With some of the places we played this year, weight and size mattered,’ Butt says. ‘There’s a big difference between 132lb [per CO12] and 250lb – and we keep the visuals as well. It’s fast to fly, it’s easy to fly, and from a touring perspective, that’s fantastic.’
‘The Cohesion system we have, I don’t know how you top it,’ Alderman says. ‘Having a great system just puts the sound at another level.’
More: www.cohesionaudio.com
