In Part 2, we explore the monitors and miking on the biggest tour of 2022—the 41-date Kenny Chesney “Here and Now” stadium tour. Don’t pass up Part 1, which details how the tour got off the ground after years of pandemic-related delays, as well as engineer Robert Scovill’s efforts behind the FOH desk, bringing concert sound to the masses night after night
Keeping the voice of Kenny Chesney up front and sounding great was the house-mix priority throughout the tour, of course, and capturing it nightly was an sE Electronic V7 capsule on a Shure Axient Digital wireless. Caught up in the rush of entertaining 60,000 people, Chesney occasionally winds up cupping the mic, and over time, former Chesney FOH man Chris Rabold found the V7 to be the least affected by mishandling. Even when the mic is getting cupped, Scovill laughed, “Kenny sings into it and you go, ‘There’s nothing wrong with that microphone, nothing wrong with that voice; don’t touch it!’ I was grateful to Chris for doing the legwork in finding it.” sE V7 supercardioid mics were also deployed for the backing vocalists, along with an sE V Kick for the bass drum, with Scovill noting, “I can’t say enough about the performance of these microphones. The sound quality and, maybe just as importantly, the amount of isolation we’re experiencing with these mics has made them a dream to use in this environment. It makes for great control, great ear mixes and great recordings.”
Meanwhile, AEA KU5A hypercardioid ribbon mics played a key role in Scovill’s approach to mixing guitars, where he used different mics to address rhythm and solo parts. “I am so in love with this microphone,” said Scovill. “It is always a challenge when you’re mixing three guitars all happening all the time; you’ve got to take great care in the sound choices and placement in the stereo field. Luckily, Kenny Greenburg, Jon Connolly and Danny Rader are incredible musicians who intrinsically know this and have shaped their parts and tones to where you have this tapestry of guitars and can actually hear what all three players are doing at all times. How do you orchestrate the rhythm guitars versus when they’re playing solos? It looks simple; it’s actually pretty complex under the hood to try to manage, and it’s literally hundreds of moves a night on just the guitars.”
Scovill wasn’t alone at FOH, as all three opening acts had their own live sound control gear, with Dan + Shay’s S6L 32D provided by PRG, Old Dominion using an SSL desk from Spectrum Sound and Carly Pierce mixed on a DiGiCo SD9 provided by Clair Global. All four acts’ desks, plus an Avid S6L 24C redundant desk for Chesney, were routed to an Outline Newton 16+8 processor used for analog plus AES-to-DANTE conversions, providing an instantaneous choice of console to the P.A. system. Meanwhile, Lake LM44 processing was used to handle distribution and zoning.
Also at FOH was system engineer/crew chief Dave Shatto, who shadowed the mixer, learning the line check and show file in case Scovill got sidelined by COVID mid-tour. It was training that came in handy, too, because that’s exactly what happened. “Robert got hit and I mixed two amphitheater shows,” said Shatto. “I think all the techs on the tour—the lighting tech, video guy, everybody—had to step up and run the show at some point because of COVID infections of primary operators. But you know what? With Robert’s file, it’s not that big of a deal. He’s got it locked down.” Scovill begged to differ, noting, “He flew right through it with flying colors; it was really impressive.”
The assembled masses heard those house mixes through a massive Clair Gobal Cohesion P.A. “We had 16 CO-12s on the main hangs and six CP-218s as flown subs with them,” said Shatto. “Then we had 18 CO-12s as side hangs and 12 CO-10s as rear hangs. Also, there were 30 CP-218 ground subs.”
The Cohesion system had its fans in co-monitor engineers Phil “SidePhil” Robinson and Bryan “Opie” Baxley. “We’re all using in-ears onstage, except for four supplemental wedges, and that Clair P.A. is phenomenal,” said Robinson. “There’s just no volume onstage, so we can add a little bit back [into the wedges] and not affect front-of-house, but still give the band the feel that they’re not just standing on stage alone.”
The two engineers split the work, with Baxley mixing the band, while Robinson handled mixes for Chesney, techs and special guests. “When Kenny began headlining, he started having a T out in front in the crowd,” recalled Robinson. “He doesn’t have too many needs, but when he does, it’s a quick little glance and a little twitch of the finger to say, ‘I need more reverb’ or whatever. Because he was on the T, I couldn’t watch the band, too, and Opie, who was hanging P.A. at the time, was a Full Sail student and had mixed at the Alabama Theater, said, ‘Man, I think I can help you.’ He started mixing over my shoulder on that Yamaha PM5D, and he’d do the auxes, I’d have the VCAs going to Kenny; it worked out great. After a few years, we just decided to do it on two consoles.”
The tour’s monitors were mixed on Yamaha PM7 desks, sending mixes out to a passel of Shure PSM 1000 RF packs connected to JH Audio IEMs, with Roxannes worn by the band and Laylas used by Chesney. The singer prefers a well-rounded mix, though Robinson added, “I’ve tried to keep it a little bit harsh, just to cut through the cacophony of the P.A. and the crowd noise. The P.A. is three to seven milliseconds behind what he’s actually doing, so if he sings to that, he’s going to be way slow. We also use an Ableton system for our click to keep us all in time, and I feed a lot of that to Kenny to help him stay where he needs to be in the song.”
The Kenny Chesney “Here and Now” tour wrapped up in Foxborough with a pair of sold-out shows that hosted 122,000 people—an amazing finale to a journey that earned over $135 million. “People are so excited for entertainment to come back,” said Robinson, “and we’re proud to be a part of that, much less the environment that Kenny puts us in and brings us along for, which I’m so fortunate to be a part of.”
For Scovill, that first journey into Chesney’s No Shoes Nation was nothing short of a blast. “I’ll tell you—the misnomer about Kenny is that he’s a Country and Western artist,” he joked. “When you come and see this, there’s three guitars going full tilt, keys, aggressive bass guitar, masculine drums, all of it. This show comes at you like a freight train for the first 45 minutes before Kenny even says hello to the crowd. Nothing subtle about it at all—it’s an ultra-high energy show!”
