5SOS UK Arena Tour

Adlib continues working with one of the hottest, most popular and talented chart-topping bands of the moment – Australian rockers 5 Seconds of Summer (5SOS) – having supplied an L-Acoustics K1 sound system and crew for the recent UK arena tour … they are now playing European arenas!

Adlib first supported the 5SOS sound team of John Delf (FOH) and Ben Booker (monitors) on the road during 2015’s hugely successful arena tour and this current collaboration started in January with Adlib delivering a control package including a Soundcraft Vi7000 at FOH, a DiGiCo SD10 monitor console and an RF package which is travelling around the world with them.

A bespoke 24U monitor ‘wardrobe’ unit was built for Ben to ensure that monitor world is a clean, neat and efficient workspace with emphasis on quick set-up.

Touring extensively in Asia for the first few months of the year, band and crew headed back to the UK and Europe with Adlib adding stacks-and-racks.

Adlib’s L-Acoustics’ aficionado Tony Szabo (KSE) takes care of the system. He is joined by PA tech Jay Petch plus Dan Ungaretti and Mark Johnson, who split monitor ‘baby-sitting’ duties between them.

The L-Acoustics sound system was specified by John Delf for arena venues and is comprised of 14 x K1 a side with four Kara downs for the main hangs, and 12 deep K2 side hangs … a tried and tested system configuration that Adlib has fine-tuned and optimised for arenas.

The subs are 18 x SB28 arranged in six stacks of three along the front of the stage, with Arcs2 and Kara speakers for front fills.

All of these are powered by LA8 amplifiers and controlled / processed by an ADLIB Lake system. This tour was the first use of the updated Lake and LA8 firmware, which has impressed Tony who’s been fine tuning the system each day using a combination of his trusty Meyer SIM 3 and the new SMAART 8 running simultaneously. Tony comments that the SMAART 8 upgrade features have seriously increased functionality.

John Delf, with a background in studio recording, runs a Realtime UAD processing rack in conjunction with his Soundcraft Vi7000 to integrate a series of their own plugs-ins. He runs virtual sound checks from a Mac mini linked into the Soundcraft via Dante.

Onstage, Ben has his tidy self-contained world of 2 racks. It’s wheeled into position, the multi-pins are connected  … and it’s ready to go!

Ben runs both Sennheiser 5000 and 2000 series mics combined with 2000 series IEMs, and has a total of 60 inputs into the SD10. The band are all on in-ear monitors and a drum sub is the only speaker onstage, in this case one of Adlib’s own MP4 products.

It’s been another great tour for Adlib. The band are refreshing and enthusiastic as well as “excellent to work with! Top blokes who are properly down-to-earth and interested in what’s going on around them creatively and technically” says Tony.

It’s also been rewarding for all those involved in 5SOS production to see a fast moving career grow and expand quickly and sensibly.

As well as all the talent and good looks onstage and on the audio side, there’s a lot more … with lighting and visuals designed by Paul Normandale and directed on the road by Dave ‘Bickie’ Lee, and production manager Karen Ringland for Production North, who ensures that everything keeps flowing smoothly.

Adlib Director and account handler Phil Stoker stated, “K1 works perfectly for this band who are constantly evolving their live sound, with John Delf at FOH working flawlessly to deliver a fantastic mix above the enthusiastic screaming of the crowd. Thanks to Karen Ringland, Production North and Modest Management for all of their help over the years, it has been great to continue our relationship with 5SOS around the world.”

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