Early September saw London’s Twickenham Stadium eschew its usual diet of rugby in favour of a high profile benefit concert for the Help For Heroes wounded serviceman’s charity. With the much-vaunted live ‘reunion’ of Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow as its centrepiece, Sennheiser equipment and staff were there in force to help ensure this complex event went as planned.
Played to a capacity 60,000-strong crowd, the 12th September event saw Williams and Barlow joined by a high profile supporting cast, providing a day of suitably ‘something for everyone’ performances. These included The Saturdays, Pixie Lott, Alexandra Burke, Sir Tom Jones, Katherine Jenkins, Enrique Iglesias and, appropriately, the Band of the Coldstream Guards and ex-serviceman-turned-musician James Blunt.
Providing light relief were comedians Michael McIntyre, Peter Kay and Jack Dee, while VT segments telling the stories of wounded soldiers and their rehabilitation provided vivid reminders of what the day was all about.
Working closely with audio providers Brit Row and crew chief Derrick Zieba, Sennheiser UK provided a wide range of microphone and in-ear monitoring equipment for the live performers, along with technical support, to ensure that this extremely RT-heavy event went without a hitch.
“It was great to be back working in support of the Brit Row crew and Derrick on such a large scale show, especially for such a worthwhile charity,” says Sennheiser UK’s Mark Saunders. “With nearly 60 channels of radio being used during the event, it was an excellent test for us on both the equipment and support fronts.”
The Sennheiser equipment included all the presenter microphones (SKM 5200 with KK 105 heads and 3000 series receivers); headsets (HSP 2 / HSP 4 headsets with SK 5212 body packs) and IEMs (ew 300 IEM) used throughout the show, the latter supported by a Vulcan IEM launch system.
Musicians using Sennheiser microphones included Gary Barlow (SKM 5200 with MD 5235 head), Pixie Lott (SKM 500-935 G3), Alexandra Burke (personalised SKM 5200 with KK 105 head), The Saturdays and The Wanted (SKM 2000 with 935 head and em 2050 receivers).
“The show featured a lot of dancing performers, synchronised drummers and other players, so on some sections of the show we had a transmitter and 40 Sennheiser IEM packs ” says Derrick.
“My RF man Barry McCleod has worked for a long while alongside Sennheiser on things like MTV,the Brits and other shows that I do. It required a great deal of work to configure a system that would remain interference and intermodulation free, yet be able to cover the vast areas that we had to cover, But with Sennheiser’s Andy Lillywhite working closely with Barry it went incredibly well.”
As well as the main stage, a walkway and a second performance area, the show included elements where presenter Cat Deeley was out in the audience doing interviews. It all required in-ears and microphones to work flawlessly, even more so because the show was being broadcast on television.
“To be honest, I wouldn’t consider doing something like this without Sennheiser. Indeed, it’s almost fair to say it couldn’t actually happen without their involvement, because their support is exemplary,” Derrick continues.
“For example, Katherine Jenkins did a piece in a harness where she was flying and tumbling. It was agreed in advance that she would use a hand-held mic with a lanyard that we’d used before for Katy Perry on the MTV EVMA’s. I then got a call from rehearsals saying that it wasn’t working and she needed a headset mic.
“Andrew and Mark had brought spare headsets, so we were able to sort it out. It was so easy. Those sort of extra things, which otherwise might cause a major issue, are incredibly simple when Sennheiser are involved. They provide the best support – the fact that Sennheiser also manufactures by far the best kit is an added bonus!”
Stage technician Pete McGlynn agrees, saying, “Sennheiser gear is top quality. It always works and the staff that come with it – Mark, Andy, Phil Cummings, etc – always help out far beyond the call of duty. I honestly think lot of these multi-band shows could not have happened if it hadn’t been for the support from Mark and co.”
Photo Copyright: AT1 – TIMMS/XPOSUREPHOTOS.COM
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