United Kingdom (October 17, 2023)—How do you promote a live album recorded in front of 80,000 fans? Play a handful of festivals and exactly one low-capacity headlining gig. At least that was the answer according to Liam Gallagher, as he recently released Kenbworth 22 (Live) and spread the word by rocking popular festivals like Boardmasters and then playing London’s tastemaker venue, KoKo (Capacity: 1,410). Ensuring every fan of the former Oasis frontman could hear every drawled syllable was Skan PA Hire, a Clair Global brand, which provided equipment, technical support, and personnel for the eight-stop tour.
As it turns out, KoKo was a venue that Gallagher’s production manager, Davey Murphy, knows well: “I worked in-house between 2008 and 2014, so I have a lot of experience with the venue. I’ve seen a whole array of artists come through, so I really looked forward to this show.”
Murphy has worked with Skan since joining the Gallagher camp five years ago, and noted, “When we were prepping for two of Liam’s stadium shows in 2022, the support was unbelievable. With widespread shortages across the industry, Skan really went above and beyond to make the shows happen by devising a whole series of plans to get us enough PA and crew.”
FOH Engineer Sam Parker mixed the mini tour on a DiGiCo Quantum5 console, with an SD Mini Rack for local AES and analog I/O, and a shared SD-Rack and SD-Mini Rack on stage. Parker offered, “If you separate the mix into music and vocals, I owe it to the songs to see that the music content stays faithful and familiar to the fans. Obviously, I try to give the audience a dynamic and powerful live sound experience.”
Also on-hand at FOH mix was Parker’s vintage TC Electronic M6000, which had four engines connected via AES. He also opted for a vintage digital delay line – in this case, a Bel BD80S. “The TC has been my go-to quality reverb for some time,” he said. “I like that it has a lot of great algorithms onboard, it’s a four-engine unit, and the remote is quick to navigate. My TC isn’t really negotiable; I like the way 80s-90s digital delays deal with feedback. I like effects that add dimensionality without sounding obvious. Liam does favor a lot of delay, and so I use tempo-based delays in 60-70% of the songs.”
Liam Gallagher sings into a Shure Beta 57a and has d&b audiotechnik M2 wedges on stage, as does new band member, guitarist Barrie ‘Little Barrie’ Codogan. “Everyone else is on in-ears, Shure PSM 1000 IEMs,” said monitor engineer Bertie Hunter. “Given the immense stage volume, the d&b M2 wedges are the only wedge I know of that can produce the amount of energy and SPL without exploding!”
d&b V-Series line array speakers were used for sidefills, powered by D80 amps to provide sound to the rest of the stage, while a Porter & Davies BC2rm amplifier and thumper were utilized for both drum kits.
Recording Noel Gallagher’s Who Built the Moon
“It’s a busy show; sometimes there are three guitarists and two drummers on stage,” said Hunter. “Thankfully, we upgraded to the DiGiCo Quantum7 desk a few years ago, and it’s made so much difference to the quality of the mixes. Having nodal processing available on channels per mix changes everything and keeps the in-ear mixes sounding both clean and personal to each musician.”
He described this gig as “high pressure,” but wouldn’t have it any other way. “There’s never a dull moment! It really is one big family here. The band is hugely talented, and it’s such a joy to mix songs that span three decades.”
