36 l December 2012
www.psneurope.com
livereport UNITED KINGDOM
Pride of Meyer for MJ Cirque show
In October, after a long run in North America, Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson The Immortal tour arrived in the UK, with Meyer Sound’s new flagship system, LEO, in tow. Paul Watsonwas there
IMMORTAL IS quite different to what you might expect from a Cirque production. Very much music-led, it is in essence a fusion of 30 of the so-called King of Pop’s greatest hits with a powerful, acrobatic twist. The story begins outside
the gates of Jackson’s former home, Neverland, and then takes the audience on a roller- coaster of more than 20 scenes, each of which combines music, dance, fairytale, mime and magic, to represent a time in Jackson’s life. Songs from each period of the star’s glittering career are incorporated, from the Motown days of ABC, I’ll be There and Ben, to the multi-platinum era of Off the Wall, Thriller and Dangerous. Canada-based rental company Solotech has provided audio, video and lighting for this tour, which is now more than 250-shows strong. At the helm throughout has been Meyer Sound’s latest and most
powerful system to date, LEO, which is based around the LEO-M line array loudspeaker. “LEO is really our first large-
scale flagship system in about 10 years,” states Meyer Sound’s loudspeaker product manager Luke Jenks, who also came up with the system name. “We wanted to create a system that bands could really push, but that could also deliver the same tonality at a low level as it could at a high level – like driving a V8!” According to Jenks, LEO-M is
a two-way loudspeaker and has more headroom than any other Meyer Sound system and an uncoloured frequency response. It is capable of throwing in excess of 200m, though despite being a large-scale system, it has only one crossover. “It’s very different in that
respect to many of the recent PAs, which have three or four crossovers, but having just the one makes it easier to manage, with fewer complications,” he
insists. “There are new drivers and new amps, it’s very symmetrical and linear, and it provides an even response across all frequencies; although it’s essentially an extension of what we’ve done over the years in building linear systems.” Five years worth of R&D just on LEO-M’s high horn gives you some idea of just how important this system is to Meyer Sound, and it was decided almost two years ago that Immortal would be a perfect proving ground. “We put out a prototype system, and in the first few months we must have made 50 changes, but these were mainly tweaks – it was never a case of losing parts or a lack of reliability,” Jenks explains. “As a result, the system out on Immortal now is a full production system, and it’s working fantastically well.” Although Francois
Desjardins’ sound design wasn’t
all about sheer volume, the power within LEO-M was certainly a deciding factor in its deployment on the tour. “MILO would have been too
heavy [for Immortal], and although LEO-M is a heavier box, we saved 30% in weight using it, because fewer boxes were needed,” Jenks continues. “And, of course, it’s a self-powered solution, which is still one of our biggest aces in the hole.” The main arrays on the
Immortal tour have varied in size, depending on how much vertical coverage has been required at each venue. For the O2 in London, 40 LEO-M elements were deployed: 14 per side in a L/R configuration, with
MICAs as downfill; and two side hangs of six LEO-M with eight MICAs. For complete versatility, Meyer Sound ensured that LEO- M could integrate with its MICA, 700-HP and JM-1P boxes. LEO is Meyer Sound’s first
live sound product to be packaged as a turnkey system. Headlining the LEO-M line array loudspeaker, a LEO system also includes the Galileo Callisto loudspeaker management system and the 1100-LFC low- frequency control element; 24 of the latter were deployed underneath the O2’s stage. “With a rock show, things get louder as you move towards the stage, as the stage is loud and the subs are in L/R blocks,”
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