Blake Shelton’s Clair Global-powered audio team selected a Cohesion PA for the singer-songwriter’s latest Back to the Honky Tonk Tour.
For the bulk of the past decade-plus, Shelton’s tours have ranked among Pollstar’s Top 200 in North America. “It all starts with the band. They’re phenomenal players, and they have great sound,” explained Jeff ‘Pig’ Parsons, FOH Engineer. “If you have that coming in — and of course, Blake is a great singer — it should be great going out.”
“Honky tonks are crowded, like Billy Bob’s or any of those down in Fort Worth,” said Chris Alderman, Production Manager. “Blake wants to rock people’s faces off and make them feel like they’re in a small, intimate setting. You’re really on top of the singers. You want to feel it.”
Clair Global deployed the PA, with a left-right main hang of sixteen Cohesion CO12 flanked by side hangs of fourteen Cohesion CO10. Six Cohesion CP218 II+ were ground-stacked on each side of the stage in cardioid configuration for low end support. Two Cohesion CO8 on either side helped to cover small slices of seating in the lower bowl, and six Cohesion CP6+ tucked near the monitors provided fill to enhance intelligibility along the lengthy main thrust. “I didn’t want anyone to sit there and not be able to hear Blake,” said System Engineer Anne Butt.
Fourteen Cohesion CM14 and two CM22 were used as wedges, as Shelton prefers them to IEMs. “Having really good wedges is super important since vocal clarity is his number one,” explained Monitors Engineer Brad Baisley.
Baisley described using CM14 “everywhere Blake is walking because of the wider coverage,” while also noting the benefits of running CM14 on a single cable run to the far end of the thrust. Baisley ultimately chose a pair of CM22 for the downstage mix because they “can really deliver that kick and snare.”
“If there are seven people up there, Blake wants to hear all seven of them,” said Parsons. He noted that he encountered Cohesion during a demonstration a decade ago and started carrying it the next season. Baisley heard the CM22 for the first time at a separate demo that year and was “immediately struck at how powerful, yet clear they were.”
Shelton’s team meticulously walked through all venues from the 300 level down to the VIP seating along the thrust, testing the capabilities of the system to provide even coverage in all seating areas. “I want every seat to sound the same,” said Butt, “and I want my FOH to have great sound every night.”
Parsons added: “I’ve been all over these arenas — halfway up towards the concourse, side stage — it all sounds just like FOH. It’s going to be good every night.
Alderman added: “This is the best system we could possibly have for this show to accurately transfer to the fan what’s happening on stage with Blake. If you’re on the 300 level, or if you’re in the corner, you’re going to get exactly what is happening. It’s totally seamless at the 200-level, 300-level, and over in the corner at the 220° or 240° mark. We’ve used the same setup for years, and it’s never a repeated market. We do about 21 different markets a year.”
Butt said: “With some of the places we played this year, weight and size mattered. There’s a big difference between 132 pounds [per CO12] or 250 pounds—and we keep the visuals as well. It’s fast to fly, it’s easy to fly, and from a touring perspective, that’s fantastic.”
Alderman concluded: “The Cohesion system we have, I don’t know how you top it. Having a great system just puts the sound at another level.”
