When performers put on an anniversary hometown show to celebrate a notable milestone, you often see them head back to a small venue in which they got their start. However, when Andrea Bocelli looked to celebrate his 30th anniversary of his career, he turned the ‘hometown show’ on its head – instead, opting to create a stunning temporary venue in the hills of Tuscany not too far from his local village. STUFISH Entertainment Architects designed the stage, debuting a large kinetic art sculpture, encapsulating the themes of time, place, and Bocelli’s personal and musical journey.
The three nights of performances also welcomed a star-studded ensemble including Shania Twain, Ed Sheeran, Brian May, Zucchero, Johnny Depp, and Russell Crowe, as well as the biggest names in classical such as Plácido Domingo and José Carreras. Alongside guests, 58 musicians from the orchestra, four house band members and a 40-piece choir featured on stage.
Responsible for handling the audio delivery for this intimating line-up was Davide Lombardi. Having last caught up with Lombardi while he was mixing for Roxy Music’s 50th-anniversary tour, this was certainly a different setting to find the engineer. The first thing we discovered was that this project was a certainly more ‘involved’ project for Lombardi.
“I was brought on in early April and asked not only to mix but to be the Audio Manager of the event. This meant creating a sound design, planning the monitoring system, interacting with the orchestra, house band, and conductor as well as being the sound representative for the broadcast recording and every guest who performed with Andrea Bocelli.”
Early in the process, Lombardi explained how there was a close collaboration with STUFISH and the show designers as they discussed the “harmonious integration” of audio within the design. “Finding this harmony was the main challenge,” commented Lombardi. “Every single detail had to be thought through in advance, doing as much as we could on DWG files as the risk of forgetting small fine points was high.”
The location of the event also created some interesting stumbling blocks due to the shape of the hill where it was taking place, which meant it was not possible to run cables underneath the stage or on the stage where dancers and performers needed a clear path.
“The backstage area had limited space for the sound equipment which was allocated into two containers,” added Lombardi. “An additional challenge was represented by the hostile environment with unfriendly dust and high degree heat dominating our days.”
The audio equipment for this testing project came courtesy of Agorá that supplied a comprehensive L-Acoustics PA. To cover the entire crowd, Lombardi designated the area into four distinctive sections. The first covered the first five rows and was handled by four KARA II on the stage with two KS28s on the floor under the catwalk. Meanwhile, the second area covered the next 40m with the first set of PA towers.
“We had weight limitation on those towers and due to their wide position – 48m apart – and the presence of the B-stage, we decided to use eight K2 and two KARA II down in a narrow setting, all on 70°,” stated Lombardi adding that on each platform there were also three KS28 in cardioid mode. The second line of PA towers, with a better ground base, was made of eight K1 and two K2 down, with eight SB18 in cardioid mode, flown behind.
This allowed coverage for 50m of the main floor area, including FOH position. The last line of towers provided coverage for the remaining floor seats and stands with the highest seat at 12m, including 10 K1 and two K2 with six KS28 in cardioid mode flown behind. Under each PA tower was a SYVA to cover the nearby areas and bring the sound image down.
“Everything was run by LA12X amplifiers and connected via AVB,” continued Lombardi. “Regarding the B-stage, we hid six 5XTs under the catwalk and two KIVA as frontfills. During performances at this location, we had specific changes applied to the first PA Tower and Kara frontfills to move the sound image and create a more intimate experience those close to the performers.” The FOH Engineer praised the work of Alessandro Cestaro, who was brought in as the System Engineer of the event and aided in the PA deployment.
With so many variables in this project, the audio team opted to replicate the usual set-up of Bocelli’s normal live concerts to bring a level of consistency. This included two DiGiCo SD7Q in mirror mode. “I received a stereo group of the orchestra mixed by a trusted and great colleague Stefano Serpagli and then I balanced it with house band, choir and vocals,” stated Lombardi.
Stage side the audio department had a pair of SD7Qs, one of which was controlled by Giuseppe Porcelli, for the orchestra and band monitoring through Allen & Heath ME500 personal small desks connected via MADI. The second SD7Q was mixed by Filippo ‘Pips’ Zecchini who was dedicated to all artists, conductor and choir. All desks were in Optocore loop with three SD Racks to allow an easy and sleek overall control of the signal paths.
Capturing the vocals of Bocelli along with six other opera singers that needed free movement, Lombardi selected the DPA 6066, omni directional mic to “maintain a high-quality audio” he said, adding: “Using them on B-stage was a risk, but we were pleased with the result.”
The whole orchestra was on DPA 6061 for strings and a mix of Schoeps MK4 and MK21 capsules for other sections and the choir. Guest artists had a dedicated radio microphone of their choice. Regarding monitoring, opera singers had a different monitoring system of L-Acoustics X8, while guest artists were all on Shure IEMs. Meanwhile, Bochelli had an opened in-ear system specially modified for the occasion. Between radio microphones and IEMs, there were close to 60 RF channels all overseen by RF Technician Ivan Omiciuolo.
This project marked the first time that Lombardi had collaborated with audio supplier Agorá. “From the beginning, owners Wolfango and Vittorio De Amicis showed the availability and flexibility to obtain excellent results,” enthused Lombardi. “The team member’s quality was a prerogative of mine favouring professional skills and capability of teamwork which I believe are always the winning keys.”
With such an epic event and with so many guest performers being welcomed to the stage, Lombardi tried to nail down his highlight of the concert run. “Andrea Bocelli’s virtual duet with Celine Dion for The Prayer was certainly a highlight. The song was written by David Foster, who for the occasion played the piano. Who Wants To Live Forever, performed by Bocelli and Brian May on the B-stage was also an epic moment. This was a memorable work opportunity,” he closed. “I have felt proud at times watching the event from birth to completion and I enjoyed the artists and the audience’s emotions which I will always treasure. All departments worked in harmony and those vibes made the overall experience very pleasant for everybody.”
Words: Stew Hume
Photos: STUFISH Entertainment Architects and Lorenzo Montanelli
