The 1975

PRODUCTION PROFILE

THE 1975

The award winning art pop quartet descended on UK arenas off the back of their latest genre-spanning record, A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, taking in a hometown crowd at Manchester Arena. TPi’s Jacob Waite reports...

On-stage at the Manchester Arena, the quartet that make up The 1975, are bathed in a sea of smartphones. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the enterprise is inherently ‘meta’ with the group’s latest campaign deep diving into our social media malaise with an emotionally charged record that focusses on the sonic unambiguity of the streaming era.

With such an ambition vision the band – made up of lead vocalist and guitarist Matthew ‘Matty’ Healy, lead guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer George Daniel - required production values and a dynamic tour design that could follow suit. Step forward Production Manager, Dermot Lynch.

A familiar face in The 1975 camp, the PM was first brought in during the band’s first album cycle in late 2015. Since then, true to the band’s initial

aesthetic of straight lines and lots of symmetry, the core team of creatives have made the worthy jump from pubs, to academy sized venues and now arena sellouts. Lynch explained: “It’s the same ethos we had on the last run. The production during the cycle in 2016 was well designed and it scaled very nicely from academy spaces to very small venues. However, because this run is built for arenas, we have upscaled and increased the production tenfold.”

The reason? “Ultimately, the band is ambitious. They’ve got a clear vision of where they want to be. Matty and the band are constantly growing, picking up information and advice as they go along. As a collective, we are constantly looking at how we want to bridge forward and increase the level of production.”

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Despite the astronomic rise of the band’s popularity, the core crew has remained the same. Lynch stated: “However, because of the scale of this production, we have had to add additional faces in the rigging, lighting and video departments. Without the crew, we wouldn’t be where we are. Everybody works together harmoniously.”

For suppliers, Lynch extended his hand to companies he’s worked with before. These included Eighth Day Sound, Brilliant Stages, Fly By Nite and Sarah’s Kitchen.

Despite Lynch’s tendency to veer towards the familiar, this tour presented the PM with a company the band had not worked with before. “Christie Lites have been brilliant at supplying both grids and trackers at the very front of the stage; supplying the second half of the control and all of the lighting,” commented the PM. “On this arena tour, lighting and video tend to cross over a huge amount with little difference between the two departments. All of the LED, cameras and servers were supplied by PRG which played a significant part of this production.”

He also commended the tour’s choice of two-way radio communications vendor. Lynch said: “I’m super happy with the flexibility of the DP4600E – Radiotek presents a package that is easy to use and customised to suit the project.”

HOW TO DRAW [SHOW DESIGN] / PETRICHOR Tobias Rylander was once again employed by the band to devise the look for the tour. Speaking from his LA base, the Show Designer discussed the partnership’s origin story. “The band embarked on their first tour with stage and lighting production following the release of their debut album in 2013,” began Rylander. “The band was inspired by LeRoy Bennett’s work with Nine Inch Nails in 2013, which featured lots of silhouettes and strobes.”

He continued: “Bennett put me forward for the gig and I met with the band in Los Angeles and we clicked straight away. During the first few minutes of meeting them I knew how I wanted to depict them. Immediately, I had the vision of utilising video projection and lights. Since then, we’ve kept the same aesthetic.”

Rylander explained the pre-production process. “Everything originates from Matty’s conceptual ideas,” Rylander recalled. “We always sit down and talk about what needs to be done, along with the band, who I’ve become great friends with – we always hang out together and most of our ideas formulate from that.” He furthered by stating how his design-style very much ran parallel to that of The 1975. “I hope people look at a show and see that I’m behind the design, but I think my style works as an accurate reflection of the band and my identity which is intrinsically linked with The 1975.”

Even with with an upscaled tour on the cards, Rylander recounted the show’s modus operandi. “The 1975 have always been an arena band. They were an arena band when they played pubs because of who they are, and Matty is, within his performance. It’s been a pleasure to see them get the recognition they deserve because they deliver every night and he knows how to work the stage so well.”

The set design for A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships incorporated an eye-watering 12m LED WinVision Air 9mm video wall, complete with rectangle LED frames in all three corners of the stage – a nod to Rylander’s penchant for straight, symmetrical lines.

In addition, IMAG screens left and right of the stage framed the content, while three cuboids were hung over the head of the band on-stage. “The cuboids reflect the negative space between what we call the monoliths of the last show (three LED towers),” commented Rylander. “Each surface of the video is programmed at the lighting source via Green Hippo, so all of the hits can be programmed in the lighting console.”

While symmetry and straight lines were ubiquitous, a trademark of The 1975’s show design is its logo, a striking rectangle shape, which Rylander dubbed as the ‘box frame’ - tilted, framing the set, a reference to the neon box on the cover of the band’s 2013 self-titled debut album. “For me, the box frame is the ultimate framing to any art. I’m essentially framing the art of Matthew Healy.”

Video content programmed on each LED surface provided a litany of looks during show. “Matty started by looking at all the songs and what they

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were meant to communicate,” Rylander expressed. “We found looks and themes for each individual song, a lot of them reflect the A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships campaign artwork.” Think computerised minimalism.

The show featured a range of visually spectacular, Instagram-worthy ‘gags’. During I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful, Yet So Unaware of It, Healy stepped onto a riser as the LED wall spluttered a TV static buzz. Having touched the screen, the wall warped into a cacophony colour. Healy pushed back the screen, where he was immersed in a technological cave; framed to replicate an iPhone with the word “hello” brandished above his head in Apple-like font. Rylander explained: “Not only is breaks the fourth wall but is wholly immersed by it. The cave gag started as a joke as Matty is absorbed by his own creation. It’s a really fun element

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of the show and I never get tired of watching it!”

The tour marked Rylander’s first foray into designing an arena sized automation show. “It was quite a steep learning curve for me to learn automation and how it’s programmed because everything interacts essentially,” he explained. “The biggest challenge for me was to devise my show design in portrait because the show is really high but not very wide,” he noted. “There are slimmer sightlines compared to the last tour, which means that all production weight that we have is concentrated to a very small rigging area. All of the automation interacts with each other, I can’t put things in certain places because it’s quite crowded.”

BRILLIANT STAGING Brilliant Stages’ Adam ‘Bullet’ Bettley picked up the story. “We first dealt with The 1975 in November 2015 when they came to rehearse in Production Park’s Studio 001, since then we have had a great relationship with Dermot Lynch and have been the go-to supplier for The 1975’s stage sets.”

Having covered the band’s 2016 tour, Bullet described how The 1975’s set design has evolved. “The transition from smaller sized academy’s to arenas has also been incorporated within the show.”

Brilliant Stages deployed a 15m by 14m rolling stage along with a custom 90° video frames for stage left and right screens. “The blade frames on the original academy show are now much bigger and a newer version of the lighting product has been installed. Despite automation being introduced on this run we’ve retained the same feel with the grill drum riser and internal lighting firing up, wrapped with the video. The ground supported video towers are also now much bigger and feature automation.”

Bullet walked TPi through the set build and staging elements Brilliant Stages provided for the UK legs of the tour. Notably, the infrastructure for Matty’s Cave, a scissor lift, automated blade frames and video cubes and an 11m wide travelator – yes, you read that correctly. “The travelator and Mattys Cave gags give the show a proper wow factor. Overall, it’s an amazing looking show which breaks the boundaries of physics!”

GIVE VIDEO A TRY In the caverns of video world, TPi located Ed Lawlor of Visual Certainty, who has a longstanding relationship with The 1975. “Technically, I’m the band’s first ever video guy,” he laughed having been out on their “one bus, one truck tour” in 2014.

In the band’s formative years, Lawlor left to pursue work with One Direction before returning in 2016 to adopt the role of designated Video Crew Chief. “It’s been my life ever since because these guys tour so much,” he professed. “The production value has definitely been on the increase over the last few years with the band. Since bringing Dermot onboard, there’s been a huge step forward. Each show has a high-quality visual finish. The band and management aren’t the sort to cut corners and neither are we.”

He continued: “The portrait back wall presented challenges for the riggers to fit it into each venue. It’s 12m high at full height, which is a big statement.”

LED was made up of 407 WinVision Air 9mm full tiles and 92 half tiles, with a back end of 5 Galaxia LC2012HD LED processors. Lawlor stated: “The WinVision Air 9mm has got the best viewing angles. You don’t need high-

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Lighting Designer, Darren Purves; FOH Engineer, Jay Rigby; Head Rigger, Simon Lawrence; Video Director, James Valpy & Video Crew Chief, Ed Lawlor.

resolution if you’re not broadcasting to TV, it’s consumed through human eyeballs which are 20m away,” he declared. “Everyone loves to sell the high-resolution stuff but there’s no need for it, especially with the cuboids at such steep angles.”

An additional 288 Revolution Blade full size HD LED strips, 48 mini HD LED strips, 9 Blade Box v3, processed by Brompton Tessera M2 LED technology were deployed.

A pair of Green Hippo Hippotizer Taiga+ with 4-way SDI input cards manned server duties. “This has always been a Green Hippo show, we’re running the Hippotizer Taiga+, with a range of custom effects that Hippo have tailored for us which is working out really well.”

He continued: “The servers are run over MA-Net which gives the LD total control. He can adjust for what works best at a particular venue, rather than letting me sit back here trying to guess how it looks from the FOH.” Lawlor explained. “It also portrays a consistent image for the record as well as giving the LD full control from the FOH.”

Lawlor, under the guise of Visual Certainty, also took it upon himself to supply the communications kit specifying a Riedel Bolero Wireless System, which included 14 wireless beltpacks, 3 antennas and 2 DSP-2312 desktop keypanels. The Riedel Artist-32 mainframe with dual CPU cards and dual PSUs boasted 2 x AES67-108 G2 cards and an AIO-108 G2 card. “The new Bolero system is really good. I started working with Riedel two years ago and I’ve become familiar with their kit. The beauty of the Bolero for touring is that it’s unlicensed. It’s 1900Mhz.”

Lighting Designer Darren Purves commented: “The Riedel Bolero comms system has actually been my favourite new thing on this tour. It’s the first time I’ve used it. For me, being able to use my in-ear and a mic without having to wear a comms headset with one ear on and one ear off has been a real game changer.”

Assisting Lawlor in the video department was Video Director, James Valpy, an “ex-media guy” who turned his hand to directing. Lawlor explained: “For this run, we needed a director for the full touring cycle because there is so much content to capture. James has been the perfect

man for the job because he has both technical ability and artistic flair.” Valpy said: “This gig is a sizeable step for me. Having come from a technical background, I’m not what you call a white glove director, I prefer to get hands on,” he explained.

The Video Director went on to explain his process when cutting for the IMAG screens. “It’s not a typical directing role where you’re telling a story - the band are the story – I’m just trying to make it bigger for the audience, which I really like. It’s a fairly new way of directing for me but I love it.”

However, the task didn’t come without its challenges. Valpy commented: “We’ve had to downsize a little bit for the smaller venues which is always a challenge, but we’ve managed to overcome it and that’s primarily down to the people. The techs we have working on it this gig is super talented and that’s what makes it so enjoyable to be a part of. Every show is unique. It’s a proper rock show, a proper band with proper music. If I was going to do this for two years with the same show every night it would be exhausting.”

A range of cameras framed the content. In particular, 5 Sony HDC-1500s; 2 Canon Digisuper 95s; 2 Fuji ZA22x7.6BERDs 1, Fuji HA13x4.5BERM, 3 Panasonic AW-HE120s. Valpy explained: “Every time there are live cameras on the upstage wall, that’s where you’ll see big, impactful moments. Also, each moment where its apparent that Matty needs to be the man on the screen that’s what we do, and the fans go crazy for it!” he smiled.

Extensively, PRG’s portable production units housed a Sony MVS-3000 switcher; an Evertz Xenon 96x128 router; Evertz 5601 master clock; Evertz 7800FR with 7867VIPA24-DUO multiviewer, various DAs; 2 x Aja Ki-Pro Racks; a Tallyman TM1; 2 x Aja FS2; a Sony PVM-A170 monitors and a Leader LV5330 scope.

The video rider also boasted Lightware 16x16 and 8x8 DVI matrices; 2 x TVOne C2-6104A multiviewers; 3 x Yellobrik OBD1810 SDI fibre kits; 4 x Lightware Modex DVI fibre kits and Neutrik Opticalcon fibres. “For me, it’s less about the equipment we have and more about the talented technicians behind it. The video crew onboard this tour isn’t just great at their individual disciplines but they’re also very good camera operators - which makes it much easier for me,” Valpy assured. “Our PRG Account

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Director, Stefaan Michels has been excellent. As with everything in this industry, it’s the people that make it and PRG’s no exception. Without the people we worked with at PRG it just wouldn’t have happened.

Joining Valpy in the video departments were Luke Butler, Ben Clarkson, Conor Downey, Willow Findlay, Fionn Finnie, Jak Gambino, Graham Lambkin, Lena Wynants.

SURROUNDED BY LIGHTS AND BODIES “Matty and I grew up in Newcastle,” reminisced Lighting Designed, Darren Purves. “By a twist of fate, I became a lighting designer while the band made it and I was lucky enough to get asked to come and work for them!”

With such a LED heavy show, Purves in collaboration with Rylander, needed to light the show in a way that could compliment the content streamed on the various video surfaces. He stated: “The 1975 have such a strong aesthetic as a band and a strong idea of what they want the live show to be which, fortunately for us, is great because they enjoy pushing the boat out and we have to rise to the challenge. I also enjoy working with Tobias because he’s super creative. His approach is different and its fun to work with someone who operates unconventionally.”

An eye-watering 286 lighting fixtures were utilised to underscore the video content. “The main role of lighting on this tour is to highlight the band and make sure they’re not lost in the wall video,” Purves delineated. “The intensity of the LED is a challenge and trying to get the band to pop for the cameras when they’re stood in front of a saturated 100% intensity video wall is quite difficult. Thankfully we’ve managed to overcome it and I’m pleased with the end result.”

Lighting Crew Chief Josh Barnes divulged: “Another challenge was making sure that all department collaborated in such a small working space. The stage working width was nearly 11m wide. If we were to bring in all the lighting trusses at once we wouldn’t be moving anywhere - it’d stack over the top of everyone. It’s crucial for us to make sure that the load-in procedure is the best it can be.”

The lighting rig consisted of 38 Claypaky Sharpy Washes, 12 Martin by Harman MAC Viper AirFXs, 4 MAC Viper Performances and a Robe BMFL Blade.

“The band stipulated they wanted a really clean stage with a very small number of fixtures on the floor. We’ve hidden lights in the drum riser and focused on crosslite and sidefill lighting techniques. The rest of the fixtures are in automated trusses, flown trusses or uprights at the side if the upstage video wall.”

GLP joined the lighting quota including 99 GLP impression X4 Bar 20s and 60 GLP JDC1s. “The GLP Bars have been with us since day one, they’re the backbone of the lighting design. The X4 Bars are great because of the nice and clean, straight lines which frame the upstage wall,” described Purves. “We’ve also got a line of JDC1s on the front truss. It’s the first time I’ve used them in the full pixel mode.”

A total of 60 SGM Q-10s were also present on the rig. “The Q-10s are awesome, we’re utilised diffusion on top of them that works really well with their bright strobe and wash feature,” commented Purves. Rylander agreed: “I’m really pleased with the SGM Q-10s. The output of the fixture is spectacular and they’re super bright, which is what we need to break through the video wall. I think they work really well as a colour wash as well as a strobe and a pixelated fixture.”

For spots, the crew deployed 4 Robe BMFLs with the RoboSpot system. Purves furthered: “I’m also really impressed with the new Robe followspots that have been reliable since we set them up. They allow me to manually control the colour and intensity of the output, which is a dream come true for operators.”

In addition, 2 MDG Fog Generators were put through their paces, along with 2 fans (MDG theFAN) and 4 Hazebases’.

A pair of MA Lighting grandMA2 full size lighting consoles (a main and a backup) controlled the lights. “The grandMA2 does everything I ask. It’s the ‘jack-of-all-trades’ for me and it’s great to program on. There are a couple of organic moments, but it is mostly a timecoded show,” he explained. “There’s so many transitions between lighting and video that have to be tight and with a delay on a server there’s just no way you can achieve it manually. Using timecode makes it reliable and is the only way to get a show like this tight.”

Purves praised the lighting supplier. “It’s the second time I’ve worked with Christie Lites, having used their gear on 5SOS tour in summer and I was super impressed,” he said. “It was a relief when I found out they were our supplier for this run!”

He reflected: “Dermot has worked so hard to achieve this gig,” he confirmed. “It’s not the simplest of shows because there’s a lot of very complex moving parts and he’s done a great job of pulling it all together.”

Barnes added: “Everyone was very keen to come back. We’ve got a very high retention of crew because the department’s work very closely together like a family to make sure the show is the best it possibly can be.”

Rylander concluded: “I couldn’t do any of it without any of them. Everyone is equally important in the production.”

I LIKE AUTOMATION & RIGGING LIKES ME The demanding tour required 14 articulated lorries to transport the set, two of which are solely for rigging, hoists, automation and the mother grids. Head Rigger Simon Lawrence designed the rigging for the run. “He particularly focussed on the health and safety elements of the rig by specifying BroadWeigh wireless load monitoring system,” commented Lynch. “Fundamentally, we are not prepared to take any chances overloading the grid at any point, so we carry that, which Simon has supplied.”

In total, 17 4.75-tonne load shackles were fitted with BroadWeigh’s new TwistLinks which were used to monitor the weights of the production’s two mother grids. Lawrence said: “We have a down stage automation grid weighing in at just under 9 tonne that lifts on 9 x 2 tonne electric chain hoists. Below this is all the moving video elements of the show, so knowing the individual point loads as well as the dynamic loads is vital as we are moving.”

Lawrence explained: “While the show isn’t particularly heavy compared to many large productions, it is heavy in a very small, densely populated area in the roof. With the design, we do not have the ability to move things to reduce the loads in the arena, so knowing what is going on is vital. We own our own BroadWeigh kit, so for us it was a real ‘no-brainer’. However, we had to push hard with management to make them understand their roles and responsibilities in the eyes of the law and why, really, load monitoring is a necessity.”

Christie Lites provided all the tour trussing requirements. With 80 points to the roof and a total show weight of 39.8-tonnes, and a total motor count 120 motors (80 to roof plus another 40 on the grids), The sizeable elements were secured by 19, 2-tonne Liftket hoists, 49, 1-tonne Liftket hoists, 2, 0.5-tonne Liftket hoists and 4, 0.25-tonne hoists.

He continued: “We don’t just move in the Z axis up and down, we also have elements that track up and down stage, so our point loads are constantly changing. The upstage grid on a further 8 hoists is for the large upstage video wall which measures 10.5m wide by 12m high (another 7ft element in its own right). This means we have to be very precise with the line-up of the wall to allow us to remove and replace a section of the screen

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in the centre during the performance. To do this, we have to manipulate the truss – the load cells (which are displayed using LOG100 on a large LED monitor) allow us to ensure we do not overload any one-chain hoist. Often, people don’t realise that the slightest movement can transfer huge amounts of weight and could cause a system failure.”

The inverted hoist of the grids was manned by 6, 1-tonne Liftket; 11, 0.5-tonne Liftket, 1, 0.25-tonne Liftket hoists; 12, 1-tonne; Kinesys Liftket hoists, 10 0.5-tonne Kinesys Liftket hoists; 2 Litec DST drive tugs with slave.

Lawrence reflected: “With all the movement of trusses we had to think about cable management carefully and made a conscious decision to go with Scan-Rig chain sliders. Some 120 are installed in the rig.”

He concluded: “Load monitoring is something we all should do more of in my eyes. In an ideal world every piece of lifting equipment being used on a tour would have load cell monitoring. In time this will happen, but it will be a long slow road to get there unless a big accident occurs that makes people open their eyes to it. Near misses happen all the time – we lift heavy loads over people’s heads all the time and just because we’ve weighed it once in rehearsals, one small change on the day and we really don’t know exactly what’s going on.

“Ultimately, shows are getting bigger and heavier, but the roofs of the venues aren’t changing, and designers want the look and feel of the show to be constant. By understanding exactly what the roof is structurally capable of, we can then use that information to achieve our goal.”

The rest of Lawrence team consisted of Phil Taylor and Jimmy Johnson and Sam Jackson taking on the role of Kinesys Operator.

IT’S NOT LIVING (IF IT’S NOT WITH AUDIO) FOH Engineer Jay Rigby was brought into The 1975’s live touring fold in 2015 after being put forward by the tour’s audio supplier. “As soon as I got the gig, I brought in [Monitor Engineer] François Paré, and we’ve been working as a team together for the past 7 years as FOH and Monitor Engineers.”

For PA, the tour was carrying a d&b

audiotechnik KSL System, with all arrays ArrayProcessed on D80 amplifiers. “On main hang, we’ve got 20 KSL per side on the main hangs, 20 J8 per side on the side hangs, 16 V8 per side on the 270° hang, 8 flown J Subs per side and 18 of the new SL series subs on the ground (stacked in 9 stacks 2 high) and 8 Y10P front fills.”

Rigby lauded d&b audiotechnik’s new addition to its familial line array. “The SL Series subs have been great, it’s kind of a combination of a J sub and a J-INFRA, and so the output of one SL sub equals the output of a J sub and a J-INFRA.”

He continued: “Essentially, you get two for the price of one - the punchiness of the J sub and the real low-frequency information of the INFRA in one box. Having those subs has probably been one of the most game changing things on this tour.”

Stood on astro turf ‘flown straight in from Spain’ at FOH, Rigby waxed lyrical about the smaller sibling of d&b audiotechnik’s GSL range. “The KSL is fantastic. I always loved the J-Series, but KSL is that next step up,” he gesticulated. “There’s a lot more low-end, and a lot more punch to it compared to the J. The high-end is so smooth at the crossover range where the vocal sits. The vocal is also so much smoother than it was in the past.

“There’s nothing wrong with J but this is the next step-up. There have been comments from everyone onsite and the audience about how great it sounds. I’m very impressed,” he enthused.

Rigby mixed on a Solid State Logic L500 console. “At the beginning of last year, I covered for a buddy of mine for The War on Drugs and he had an SSL so I had to use it. It was daunting at first because the layout is different, but I got some multitracks from the Eighth Day Sound shop and played around with it for a bit until I was familiar.

“After the first show for The War on Drugs, I was totally sold on it. I also used it during the Queens of the Stone Age last year, which is virtually the same rig. Once we finished that, they put it back in the shop, and we took it back out on this. I still love mixing on an analogue console, but this SSL is the console for me which sounds like an analogue desk, with that low-mid

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kind of growl. For the 1975, we added a bunch of channels, so it’s been very appropriate for this type of show.”

When it came to the mix, Rigby adopted a hands-on approach. “I’m using some snapshots for the desk, mainly, for effect changes because the band really wanted album specific effects on the vocals. Besides that, I’m mixing in an analogue style, which is my preferred workflow.”

Rigby’s extensive FOH Outboard Rack boasted an Alan Smaart C2 compressor; a GML 8200 parametric equaliser; 2 Empirical Labs distressors (1 x Lead Vocal, 1 x Bass); 1 x XTA D2 Dynamic EQ (Bass); 1 x API 2500 compressor (Drum Group); 2 x DBX 160 into SPL Transient Designer (Kick Group & Snare Group); 1 x Yamaha SPX990 (Drum Gated Reverb) and 2 x Lake LM44 processors (System Drive). He confessed: “I don’t necessarily need most of my outboard gear because I can do most of the stuff with the desk, but I like having the tactile feeling of the gear as a backup.”

For recording purposes, 2 Apple Mac Mini running Waves Tracks Live and a DiGiGrid MGO interface sat at Rigby’s fingertips. “I have one Mac Mini for multitrack recording under Waves Track Live. The secondary Mac Mini is doing the R1, which is the controller for all the d&b audiotechnik amplifiers and the PA. I use it everyday for virtual playback for tuning rooms and whatnot, which means you can setup without having to ask the band to come onstage and sound check.

Over in monitor world, Paré talked TPi through stage sound. “Everything is almost all in ears apart from 2 d&b audiotechnik B22 subs a side, there’s no speakers at all on stage. I go between 16 to 20 channels of Shure PSM1000 depending on if we have extra background vocalists on the show. I also have 4 Shure P9HW Hardwire in ears and a butt kicker for George. I use the sub to complement the in ears to be honest. Band members like to feel it, so the subs and the butt kicker helps with that.”

For control, Paré opted for his go-to mixing console, a DiGiCo SD5. “I’m a DiGiCo guy through and through. I can use most consoles, but I always seem to go back to DiGiCo. Especially the SD7 and SD5. I love the workflow of those consoles and I feel like the design of those consoles had monitors in mind.”

When it came to outboard gear, Paré travelled light. “I have a few units that I like to have. I use a Yamaha SPX2000, a Bricasti M7 and a distressor. The rest is done in the console.”

Paré specified between 6 and 10 channels of Shure Axient digital for wireless microphones. In addition, 14 channels of Shure ULX-D wireless system for guitars and bass. “Now that the RF spectrum has been reduced to about 150 Mhz. Digital RF is now becoming indispensable. You don’t have intermods with digital, so you can fit a lot more into a small range.”

The band utilised JH Audio Roxanne IEMs. “I think the Roxanne’s are one of the most musical ears out there. They work really well with this band.” The vocal microphone package consisted of Telefunken M80 for Matty while the rest of the band are on Shure products, in particular, KSM8 for Ross and Adam, and a SM58 for Jamie and a beta56 for George.

The drums used a Shure Beta 91A and Audio D6 kick drum microphones, Shure Beta 56s on snare top and bottom, SM81s on the hi-hats, Sennheiser Evolution E904s on the toms, Shure KSM32s for the overheads and Shure KSM137s on the ride cymbals. All the guitars were on Kempers.

Paré evaluated the band’s mixing requests. “The guys prefer a mix of everything with themselves on top. Matty does like a FOH style mix so he gets that. I do a few delay throws and ride the audience mics quite a bit so I can keep the energy up while still keeping the mix as clear as possible.

“I think the production has gone a lot bigger on this album cycle. The band is very involved in every aspect of the show design. I think getting into Arenas gives them a bit more freedom to go big. Who doesn’t like going big?”

Rigby reflected: “François and I have been using Eighth Day Sound for the past seven years and all the tours we’ve ever done have been through them. They’ve got worldwide support, with offices in Cleveland, Los Angeles, London and Australia. The nice thing is, if you’re not air freighting your gear everywhere, you can show up in a different continent and they’ve got you covered.”

He continued: “They’ve got great customer support, our salesperson Meegan Holmes out of LA has been amazing. We definitely couldn’t do it without her.”

Systems Technician, Dan Bloom, joined Rigby in FOH. “At the end of the day, gear is gear – it’s the people who you’re working with – which makes it possible. So huge props go to Dan and François on-stage.”

Paré concluded: “This team is such a tight unit. We’re all friends and we all work well together. Eighth Day Sound and the whole of team audio have been excellent as usual. The support from the offices is always fantastic and our techs have added another layer to bringing a good show to our audience.”

Lynch agreed: “It makes sense to have Eighth Day Sound onboard because they’re global. The band work hard and are consistently touring with very little gaps in-between. The ability to pick up and receive audio kit across the world is a lifesaver.”

Aiding the audio due of Rigby and Paré were Monitor Tech Eoin Collins and PA Techs Jay Butler and Declan Povey.

LOGISTICS Ensuring the crew got from point A to B each day was Fly By Nite. “They been my logistics provider since ’99 and I’ve got a personal relationship with them,” commented Lynch. “The way I see it, you can hire trucks from anybody but trusting that you have the support and back up on the road is vital.”

Sarah’s Kitchen was tasked with feeding the troops and keeping the camp morale high. “You can get pots and pans anywhere but it’s the people who cook the food that you like and looking after people is terrific,” enthused Lynch. “Sarah always has great teams, it’s really important for us when we come to run a production that we look after our people and get the best out of them. As far as I’m concerned, when it comes to crew, everybody makes a life choice to be on the road but in doing so, sacrifice an awful lot. They miss important milestones so it’s important to look after them and if you don’t, they won’t look after you. It’s as simple as that.”

LOVE IT IF WE MADE IT In 2016, when TPi first crossed paths with The 1975 the band’s sights were ‘firmly set on arenas’ and at the time we were anticipating what the band could produce once they hit the bigger stages. Fast-forward three years and before our eyes, the band has evolved from academy-sized venues to arena sellouts. Rylander’s distinctive show design scaled proportionally with band’s global popularity. All facets of the show’s production elements evoke the band’s genre-spanning back catalogue. From the monochromatic theme of their debut self-titled record to the neon pink of I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It, and now, the band’s latest digital aesthetic. Clever gags and a core crew of creatives deployed across a series of UK pitstops have catapulted The 1975 to the mantle of arena tour innovators and the fans love it as they’ve made it. TPi Photos: Jordan Hughes www.the1975.com www.radiotek.co.uk www.brilliantstages.com www.prg.com www.8thdaysound.com www.christielites.com www.riggingcoltd.com www.broadweigh.com www.flybynite.co.uk www.sarahskitchentouring.com

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