After concerts in Palermo, Venice and Rome, Sting‘s Symphonicity Tour arrived in the northern Italian city of Brescia.

This extraordinary world tour saw the singer perform his biggest hits with a symphonic slant, accompanied by the Ensemble Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sarah Hicks, plus band members Jorge Calandrelli, David Hartley, Michel Legrand, Rob Mathes, Vince Mendoza, Steven Mercurio, Bill Ross, Robert Sadin and Nicola Tescari.

An Outline loudspeaker system was installed in Brescia’s Piazza della Loggia for the concert.

Provided by Cipiesse Produzioni per lo Spettacolo, this comprised 12 Butterfly, nine Manta and four Subtech cabinets per side –flown at the request of FOH engineer, Howard Page. There were no subs on the ground, just six Outline Mantas units positioned against the stage and used as fill for the front rows.

The system was designed using Outline OpenArray 3D software, a 3D simulator able to predict the electro-acoustic results expected from a live show or a permanent installation.

‘We simulated everything with the Outline software a few days before the show and, after the installation we found the simulation reflected reality with surgical precision’, says Cipiesse Head Audio Tech, Giancarlo Paladini.

‘One of the challenges was to obtain 110dB SPL over the entire square with no spill onto the stage – above all, of low frequencies. This were the result – no delays half-way down the square, in spite of the 73m to be covered length-wise, and 110dB guaranteed with wonderful uniformity, exceeding even Sting’s technicians’ expectations. To manage this, we used two Outline VLAs, with an array made up exclusively of subs placed between them. Also, 9+9 Mantas elements (120°) were aimed at the audience to cover a distance of 30m, while for the remaining distance we had 12+12 Butterfly enclosures.

‘There was also a third array made up of subs positioned between the Mantas and the Butterfly systems. Following the sound engineer’s instructions – since a 50-piece orchestra is no joke to handle – we kept the stage clear of low frequencies, once more using OpenArray 3D so successfully that, thanks to a rather unusual cardioid sub configuration, somebody on stage even said that the subs were switched off.’

A few days earlier in Piazza della Loggia, Cipiesse used its Outline arrays for a sold-out concert by Jethro Tull.