Liam Gallagher played eight UK dates in support of live album Knebworth 22 with equipment, technical support, and personnel courtesy of Skan PA Hire.
Gallagher embarked on an intimate UK tour which included London KOKO, a venue 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,” he began.
Murphy has worked with Skan since joining the Gallagher camp five years ago, he explained: “The support Directors Chris Fitch and Abby Llewellyn offered me when I came in as Liam’s PM was amazing. You don’t get many company directors taking such an active role, but that’s just the way they work at Skan. 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. Just knowing you have the best people such as Matt Vickers, Tom Tunney, Nick Ellins-Stagg, and Alvin Russ working in the office and warehouse takes a lot of the pressure off!”
FOH Engineer Sam Parker agreed: “I’ve worked with Skan since 2011, they’ve always been a leader in innovation and have set the standard in terms of crewing, preparation and dependability.” Parker mixed on a DiGiCo SD5Q, with an SD Mini Rack for local AES and analogue I/O, and a shared SD-Rack and SD-Mini Rack on stage. He continued: “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.”
One facet of the FOH mix that makes the set sound both exciting and authentic to Liam’s roots, is Parker’s vintage TC Electronic M6000 which has four engines connected via AES. He also opts for a vintage digital delay line, in this case, a Bel BD80S. “The TC has been my go-to quality reverb for some time. 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!”
Liam 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,” Monitor Engineer, Bertie Hunter, explained. “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 are used for sidefills, powered by D80 amps to provide sound to the rest of the stage, while a Porter & Davies BC2rm amplifier and thumper are utilised for both drum kits.
“It’s a busy show; sometimes there are three guitarists and two drummers on stage. 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,” Hunter continued. “Having nodel processing available on channels per mix changes everything and keeps the in-ear mixes sounding both clean and personal to each musician.”
“I only have the capacity to focus on what’s happening on stage. Our super techs, Finlay Watt on Monitors and Tim Miller at FOH, take care of everything else, and I have 100% trust in their service.”
“The Skan crews are always amazing!” Production Manager Davey Murphy agreed. “The way the company as a whole operates means only the highest quality will do, and that extends to its freelancers and employees. I actually have a saying about this: ‘The Skandard’.”
Murphy concluded: “I’ve dropped so many last-minute requests onto Skan over the years, and at times, I knew it would be a tough ask. Yet somehow, my requests have always been well received and promptly dealt with. Now that Skan is part of the Clair Global family, their capacity will go further than ever before!”
