THE KILLERS

AS THE KILLERS JET INTO ABU DHABI TO PLAY THEIR FINAL SHOW OF 2019 – THE HEADLINE SLOT AT THE ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX YASALAM AFTER-RACE CONCERTS – PETER IANTORNO IS ON SITE AT THE DU ARENA TO MEET THE TEAM BEHIND ONE OF THE BIGGEST ROCK BANDS OF THE CENTURY.

With a string of five successive UK number one studio albums, a record for the longest-charting single in UK history with Mr Brightside and a slew of international award nominations and victories along the way, wherever The Killers go, success follows. Yet while the Las Vegas natives have found fame and fortune through their mastery in the studio, it’s on stage where the band’s brilliance really comes into focus, as they have brought their iconic pop rock show to some of the world’s most iconic venues, including Madison Square Garden, Wembley Stadium and Glastonbury Festival over the years.

Days after announcing a massive 2020 UK and Ireland stadium tour in support of their forthcoming album, Imploding The Mirage, the band were in Abu Dhabi for their final show of the year – the headline slot at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Yasalam 2019 After-Race Concerts by du Live. Produced by Flash Entertainment, the four-night event saw superstar acts including Marshmello, Future, Gucci Mane and Lana Del Rey, perform at the du Arena. Ahead of The Killers’ Sunday evening show, we caught up with

Production Manager, Michael Oberg, who has been working with the band full-time for the past 12 years. The PM explained how his relationship with The Killers began when the band toured Australia for the first time in 2004. “A very good friend of mine – Australian music promoter, Michael Gudinski – asked if I could take care of a young band from Las Vegas. It was my job to make sure that they had a great time, and I guess I must have done that,” he began. After working with the band on each of their subsequent tours Down Under, Oberg joined The Killers team full-time in 2007. “I thought initially that I was going to the States to do a six-week stint,” he recalled. “That was 12 years ago, and I’ve been with them ever since.”

While touring is very much the bread and butter for The Killers, Oberg explained that oneoff shows like the Yasalam After-Race Concert are equally important – and just as enjoyable. “We really like doing this kind of show,” he stated. “We’ve done a few of the Formula One After Show Concerts before and they have always gone down very well. The audiences who come to these shows often buy the ticket just as much for the music as the racing.”

PRG supplied a full service audio, lighting, video and rigging package for the entire event, and it’s safe to say that Oberg was impressed with the set-up. “We like to travel as light as we can. Of course, we aren’t carrying all of our own kit; we would be rocking up with 10 or 12 trucks for our full touring package and that doesn’t make any sense – especially when the local suppliers can provide such excellent kit. “It’s great to be able to walk into a really professional production like this and get on with our jobs,” he continued. “Everything is set up and, with PRG, you know that you’re going to get top-class equipment and highly skilled people. You’ve got the best of both worlds. You can do an extremely high-standard show with a small touring package.”

READ MY MIND

One such highly skilled person who was onsite throughout the four-day event was PRG’s Project Manager, Artur Kurowski. For him, the most challenging part of the job came in pre-production well before the show started. “We communicated with all the artists who were playing over the four nights and supplied a system that met all of their needs,” he began. “It was about finding a balance that could work for everyone. Each artist has certain expectations and we know how to deliver the kind of set-up that they want, so by the time we reach the day of the show, most of the hard work is already done.”

In addition to PRG’s audio supply, The Killers brought along their own FOH and monitor consoles, backline and mics. According to Kurowski, it “made sense” for The Killers to bring some of their own kit, due to its specialised nature. “The Killers were really self-sufficient,” he said. The production also brought custombuilt covers for their monitors, which made them easier to stand on – something lead singer Brandon Flowers is famous for. “It’s not always easy to supply something like this,” Kurowski added. “It means the artists feel comfortable, at home and can give their best performance on any stage.”

PRGdeltasound provided a full L-Acoustics K-Series PA system, which The Killers’ FOH Engineer, Kenny Kaiser, described as “a big ol’ K1 and K2 rig”. He commented: “There are 48 SB28s on the ground and two delay towers of K2s behind that. There’s a lot of horsepower.” Having been in The Killers’ FOH hot seat since the start of the Battle Born World Tour in 2012, Kaiser was very clear about the kind of mix he tries to produce for the band. “A good one!” He continued to outline the simple rules he was taught from early on in his career that guide his mix. “If you can’t hear the vocals, you’ve lost,” he explained. “Also, if you can see somebody playing something on stage but you can’t really hear it, you lost again. These are very simple rules, but they work. Then of course you start to work on tonality and fine-tuning after that, but those rules are the basis for any good mix.”

For control, there was only one choice for Kaiser – the Solid State Logic L550. “I’ve been on that thing since it came out and I absolutely love it,” he noted. “It sounds great, it’s an easy workflow for me and it’s rock solid. I haven’t had any serious issues, and for the minor issues I have had, I can pick up the phone and I get a call right back within minutes telling me what’s wrong and how to fix it. Come on, you can’t beat that!”

Kaiser went on to commend the quality of service the team has received from PRGdeltasound. “They have been awesome,” he said. “I worked with Al Woods [Director of Projects at PRGdeltasound] years ago on another tour, so it was good to work together again.”

Moving the conversation towards monitor world, Kaiser introduced TPMEA to Monitor Engineer, Marty Beath, who was sitting behind a console of his own. A big fan of the SSL L550, Beath explained why he started using it. “I love this thing. There’s a depth that no other digital consoles have,” he said of the console. The Engineer explained that he used to be on the DiGiCo SD7, but when Kaiser changed to the SSL, the tour package size became “ridiculously large”. He commented: “I needed SD racks and he needed the 32 preamps – so in order to reduce our environmental footprint, I decided to change consoles. We’re very conscious of the environmental side of things; we try to save space and weight wherever we can.”

With 16 stems of in-ears, 16 stems of wedges on stage, plus all the broadcast stems to handle, the set-up certainly tests Beath and his L550 to the max. “It’s not quite maxed out, but it’s certainly busy,” he commented. The change of console has streamlined the entire audio operation. “Now we just share the preamps,” Beath commented. “We’ve also changed all our keyboard inputs to digital inputs on a MADI stream. The noise floor of MADI is amazing – it really cleans up the sound output.” In-ear monitors were used widely on the show, with every member of the band on IEMs apart from one notable exception: “Brandon – he likes it loud!” And when Beath said “loud”, he meant it. “Everything you see here is for Brandon,” he commented as he walked us through the extensive on-stage monitor set-up, which included d&b audiotechnik V8 flown side fills, M2 wedges across the front of the stage and B22 subs each side. “It can get up to 114dB on stage,” he added. “It’s pretty cool.”

The biggest challenge for Beath is competing with low-end pollution from FOH. “It can be crazy,” he noted. “People with in-ears don’t really have to consider it anymore, but with wedges, I’m always right on the edge.” Beath explained that his main focus during the show is keeping track of Flowers, who is known for his animated performing style, which often sees him delivering big set-piece moments in the show from a position standing on top of the wedges. “My finger is always on Brandon’s vocal fader,” Beath revealed. “If Brandon leans over or comes towards the side fill, I bring it down a bit. He’s pretty lively up on stage so you’ve got to watch him like a hawk. Obviously if anyone else has any issues then I’ll fix that for them, but I always have to have an eye on what Brandon is doing.”

Communication is key for Beath and, as he explained, there’s certainly no issue in that regard. “If Brandon isn’t happy with the mix then I’ll get to know about it pretty quickly,” he laughed. “I soon get the picture.”

MR BRIGHTSIDE

Providing visual flair, as always, was Lighting Designer, Steven Douglas. Fresh from winning a 2019 KOI-USA Award for his work on Hozier’s Wasteland, Baby! Tour, the Irish LD explained the fortuitous circumstances that led him to start working with The Killers nearly 15 years ago. “I used to work at a theatre in Dublin and I was covering a night for a friend; they told me it would be some American band ‘The Killers’, who didn’t have an LD so should be an easy day,” he began. “I busked the show, they liked it and they asked if I would go on tour with them. I’ve been working with them ever since.” Having spent the previous night at the venue programming, the LD was pleased with how everything had gone. “The guys from PRG have been great,” he stated. “We loaded in the night before the show and everything was up and running quickly, which gave me plenty of time to programme throughout the night.”

Four followspots were positioned at FOH to ensure the band were clearly visible on stage. “Most of the band are fairly static, apart from Brandon, obviously,” Douglas laughed. “He’s got two spots on him at all times, then I have a second that does guitar solos stage right for Ted [Sablay], and another that does pickup between Ronnie [Vannucci Jr, drummer] and Jake [Blanton] on bass.” At one point during the show, Flowers invited a young fan up on stage to play the drums during Reasons Unknown. Since this has happened before, Douglas was prepared. “If we have a guest drummer then Ronnie will generally get down off the kit and play guitar for the song, so I just make sure that I’ve got all bases covered,” he added.

Describing himself as a “control freak”, Douglas explained why he doesn’t use any timecode for The Killers. “Everything is live,” he began. “I’ve worked on timecoded shows before and it has its place, but it doesn’t suit the band so there’s no way I’d use it for them. They like to drop in extra bars and extended guitar solos every now and again, so you’ve got to be ready to follow along.” While Douglas added that the band are “usually pretty good about making their mind up in advance”, he admitted that there are times when “they will drop something in unexpectedly”. He added: “I have lots of stuff that I can busk over the top with so I can always find something that will work.” The Lighting Designer explained that the show has a lot of variation in terms of visuals. “Some songs have five cues in them, while others have more than 400.” For some songs, Douglas described the stage as “really bright”, while in others it was “really dark and moody”.

He commented: “There’s a big variation throughout the show – it’s all about the journey.” Special effects including lasers, confetti blasts and pyro were vital to some of the key set pieces of the show. In what has become something of a tradition for the production, confetti blasts showered the pit during The Man and All These Things I’ve Done, while a pyro ‘waterfall’ poured over the stage’s rear LED screen during When You Were Young, and lasers were used extensively throughout Human and the final song of the encore, Mr Brightside. “It’s a massive part of the show,” Douglas commented. “We’ve been doing it for years and we’ve come to the point now where if you don’t do a certain gag, the fans will be disappointed. ”

SHOT AT THE NIGHT

For video, PRG supplied ROE Visual CB5 LED screens for both the central upstage wall and the left and right IMAGs. PM Kurowski commented: “We designed the video, as well as the lighting, to meet the needs of all the artists. We made small changes to the stage packages in between each night.” For example, Marshmello had a large curved screen in front of the DJ riser; Gucci Mane had some small LED screens in front of risers; Lana Del Rey had quite a lot of on-stage lighting; and The Killers had totems upstage.

While Kurowski paid tribute to the likes of Al Woods, as well as PRG’s Head of Video, Matt Holmes and Head of Lighting, Marcell Wahl, for their roles on the project, he was keen to point out that it was a collaborative effort that wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of his entire crew. “Our guys work incredibly hard,” he said. “We’re not just rock ’n’ roll – we’re working on corporate jobs and conferences from Sunday to Thursday then huge gigs at the weekend. The amount of work they do, not just on site but also in pre-production, is absolutely amazing. Everybody is working so hard as a team to make sure that we are delivering constantly. It’s great to see. Everyone has done an outstanding job.”

Making best use of the set-up provided by the PRG crew was Video Director, David Horscroft. “He always calls the show,” PM Oberg said, as we walked towards a temporary cabin backstage that housed video world. “He knows the band and the show well and, importantly, he knows when Brandon is going to throw his arms in the air, so he always gets the best shots.” A fellow Aussie, Horscroft started working with The Killers in 2017, after being introduced by Oberg. “I’ve worked with Michael for many years on shows back at home, so when The Killers had a need for more video in their shows, he was very kind in recommending me.”

From the very first show, Horscroft realised that the arrangement was going to work out. “I think they liked what we did,” he commented. Ho rscroft explained that The Killers had never had a video director before he started working on the tour. “As big and successful as they were, they were just riding the music and performance on-stage, but as technology changes, I think having a video director is an increasingly important part of touring. I got that lucky chance to be the first person in, and thankfully I haven’t stuffed it up yet!”

The Video Director explained his ethos when it comes to calling the shots. “I think the most important thing is simply putting on the screens what is being played,” he began. “Obviously, Brandon is the frontman, but musically there might be a guitar riff or a drum roll, and I want people to see what they hear. I’ve found over the years that people in the crowd say ‘oh, I never actually realised that particular instrument was doing anything at that time in the song’, so the more I can help with that, the better.”

Horscroft added that making video and lighting work together was also extremely important. “It’s something that Steven is really good at, so it makes my job easier,” he said. Th e Director went on to explain how he looks for certain “special moments” that capture “the flair of the performance”. He commented: “The combination of showing music as it’s being played and also showing the showmanship of the performance is what I focus on. Brandon is the ideal frontman for a video director to work with – his on-stage presence is just electric. I’ve done around 100 shows with the band now, and that’s more than enough for me to know roughly when the biggest, most important moments will be, and I try my best to capture them. I find them an absolutely amazing band to work with.”

Continuing the conversation was Video Media Server Technician, Dale Rehbein. Another Aussie in The Killers’ multinational crew, Rehbein brought TPMEA up to speed with how he found himself working with the band. “It was pure fluke to be honest,” he opened. “David and I were working for Big Picture and we were lucky enough to win the job for the band’s 2017 world tour. After programming that world tour, I had resigned from my position in the office at Big Picture and the opportunity presented itself to come back out on the road with these guys. Now, it’s become my regular gig.” The Technician described himself as “the integrator between lighting and video”. He quipped: “That means I have two people shouting at me throughout the show! I run a few queues in the background to take some pressure off the LD. For example, I have master control of the camera cut so he doesn’t need to worry about that.”

Rehbein walked us through the set-up for the Abu Dhabi show. “We’re currently in our festival configuration,” he said. “We’re using one main and one spare machine of disguise, where we have an adapted show file from our main arena run from the 2017 Wonderful Wonderful World Tour.” Art-Net controls come from FOH to control some of the timelines. Rehbein explained the setup: “We have also got cameras coming in and are using disguise to cover some of the things that we would normally do on the switcher, since we’re not carrying our normal video switcher for this show.” Rehbein added that he used disguise for “little things” like turning the content black and white. He commented: “The band really like that black and white look with a filmic grain. We also need to keep frame delay as minimal as possible to make sure that everyone at the front gets an enjoyable experience.”

Having made disguise a staple in his wheelhouse around five years ago, the Technician has taken great pleasure in watching the system grow over the years. “I’ve always found it to be the most stable system,” he stated. “Technology, innovation and stability within the system has always been key. The fact that I can go anywhere in the world, cross-hire rental machines and still know exactly what I’m getting on any given day is great. If anything ever goes wrong then I usually know exactly what it is. The support is absolutely phenomenal as well. If I ever need to do anything slightly out of the box, the support has always been there for me.”

INDIE ROCK ’N’ ROLL

The next and final member of The Killers’ key crew to be introduced to TPMEA was Tour Manager, Jeremy Bates. Having worked with the band since the early days, Bates recalled how we spotted The Killers’ potential from the moment he saw them play. “I h ad been tour managing for five years or so for other bands, and the first time I saw The Killers was when they supported British Sea Power at the end of 2003, then on their second tour they opened for Stellastarr. I could see quite clearly that they were better than the bands they were supporting, so I made my move. Thankfully, it worked out well.”

Bates described how the fact that the crew has grown organically with the band has helped foster a “family atmosphere”. As the band has grown and its needs have increased, the crew has grown too. “Nearly everyone who we’ve added over the years is still with us today. Most of our crew have been with us for 10 years or more,” he continued. “We know everyone’s nuances; we know what everyone likes and what everyone doesn’t like, and we know who we want to spend time with. Generally, everyone wants to be with everyone – it’s like a family.” At that juncture, as if to prove his own point, Bates called over to the band’s drummer, Ronnie Vannucci Jr, who was walking past with a few crewmembers on his way to have a ride on the world’s fastest rollercoaster, Formula Rossa, which just so happened to be conveniently located a stone’s throw away from the du Arena. “Have fun and be safe!” he shouted, before admitting that he wouldn’t want to have a go for himself. “I have more smarts than that! If something happened to me, then who is going to take care of the band?”

The Abu Dhabi show was a masterclass in indie rock ’n’ roll, with The Killers delivering a relentless set of wall-to-wall hits, to the delight of the du Arena crowd. With a new album on the way and a sold-out stadium tour to look forward to, 2020 promises to be yet another ground-breaking year for a band that has already conquered all that lay before it.

Photos: Rob Loud & TPMEA

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