On February 21st 2022 Pisgah AVL headed to Johnson City TN’s Freedom hall to provide a PA system and flown lighting for 70’s rockers and undisputed kings of the power-balad; REO Speed Wagon. Freedom hall is a special venue for many Johnson City locals; “See that seat there, in 1988 I saw my very first show here, it changed me forever” reminisced one of the local crew. Of course a lot has changed since 1988 then but a surprising number of acts from the era are still touring hard; REO are no exception with over 80 dates planned for 2022 and electrifying audiences in over three countries.
“…it’s growing increasingly common for tours to lean on in-house audio and lighting systems or local providers for flown sound and lighting packages for dates where it’s not practical to bring complete production.”
An emerging trend in touring is for productions to run fast and light eschewing the convoy of tractor-trailers in the past; it’s growing increasingly common for tours to lean on in-house audio and lighting systems or local providers for flown sound and lighting packages for dates where it’s not practical to bring complete production. For REO’s Johnson City show Pisgah provided the flown lighting system, power distribution and PA system system.
Having working in Freedom Hall in the past we knew that a combination of 24 d&b Y8 and Y12 speakers would provide the perfect level of coverage for the main PA hangs while 16 T10’s covered the areas to the side of the stage. Four E12s ensured coverage at the very front of the stage while bass duties were fulfilled by six B22 subwoofers configured in a cardioid pattern. Complete stage production and front of house engineering were seamlessly handled by the band’s touring crew.
“I usually like to have a conversation with the front of house engineer about how they like things to sound, at the end of the day sound is subjective and my job is to make sure that the band’s engineer is happy”
Tyler Walters
With the system design already configured in d&b’s design software Array Calc the main goal once it’s in the air is to verify that all boxes are working before applying any correction to the rooms acoustics. System engineer Tyler Walters explained “I usually like to have a conversation with the front of house engineer about how they like things to sound, at the end of the day sound is subjective and my job is to make sure that the band’s engineer is happy”. In situations like this d&b Audiotechnik really shines; the deployment tools such as Array Calc and consistency across systems is unrivaled, customers using a provider within the d&b network know that a system is going to perform consistently around the globe. Our job is to get the system up and running so the band and their crew can get on with their hard work.
Lighting takes a very similar approach with Pisgah AVL providing all the flown elements while the ground stacked lighting and set pieces travel with the band. Pisgah provided 14 Elation Platinum HFX luminaire fixtures, 14 Proteus Rayzor 760’s and 12 Chauvet Professional Rogue R2x’s . These were pre-addressed allowing tour lighting tech’s to patch in seamlessly. Strobing was provided by 4 Elation Protrons and blinder duty was fulfilled by the extremely versatile DTW350 from Elation. Our lighting tech B.K was on hand to offer service support to get the system up and running.
REO didn’t disappoint; after nearly fifty years of touring they were better than ever performing their classic hits and finishing the night to a rapturous standing ovation; a notable mention also should be made for Levon; the Nashville based four piece that kicked of the show with their seductive grooves and soaring harmonies. Pisgah AVL were very happy to be involved with this show we wish REO every success with the rest of their tour dates. To find our where REO are playing next check out their website here: http://reospeedwagon.com/