Marking the 40th anniversary of the release of Rick Wakeman’s Journey To The Centre of the Earth album, the ex-Yes man took to the road for a 14-date tour across the UK, including two dates at the Royal Albert Hall. 
Each show was a live presentation of the album, performed by Wakeman &The New World Symphony Orchestra, accompanied by The English Chamber Choir and the English Rock Ensemble.
Longtime FOH engineer, Ian Barfoot, specified an Allen & Heath iLive modular digital console system for FOH mixing, with twin iDR10 MixRacks and his preferred iLive-112 surface linked by a fibre-optic link, along with a Lenovo tablet running A&H iLive Editor control software.
‘We needed a pretty high channel count to manage so many performers and deliver the complex orchestra and rock group crossover,’ he explains. ‘I’ve been using iLive since it was introduced, and love the system’s modular and configurable architecture, which enables me to have whatever I need at my fingertips. The sonic performance is exceptional and the onboard effects are stunning.’
Based on the novel by Jules Verne – which also had its 150th anniversary in 2014 – the album is one of the landmark concept releases having sold 15 million copies.
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