Deposing the Rolling Stones’ 87,500 attendance record at the AT&T Stadium in 1981, George Strait counted almost 105,000 fans at the final show of this his national touring career.
Onstage Systems, which has been rigging sound reinforcement for Strait’s tours since the beginning of his performing days, pulled out all the stops for the final date on the tour with an L-AcousticsS K1/K2 loudspeaker system.
‘With 105,000 seats, AT&T Stadium is the hugest of venues,’ says George Olson, Strait’s FOH engineer since 2007. ‘It’s safe to say things are bigger in Texas, and when it comes to musicians, no one here is bigger than George Strait, so we needed a room this large to fit his fans. But it’s a very difficult venue to try to work in. It has to be one of the world’s loudest places with the longest decay time I have ever mixed.
‘That’s why the K1/K2 system was ideal – its sheer horsepower and throw was perfect for the bowl seats while the K2, with its identical sound and ability to get 10° of down, was exceptional for the closer floor seats. L-Acoustics is a great partner and friend, and I could not have asked for a better system or crew.’
Like most of Strait’s shows in recent years, the stage for the final tour stop was centrally located on the stadium floor and set up in-the-round. To deliver superb coverage to audiences seated on multiple levels in a full 360 degrees, Onstage Systems deployed a total of 226 L-AcousticsS enclosures.
The primary equipment complement for the evening included 104 K1 and 48 K2 line source array enclosures flown in eight arrays around the Jumbotron, 48 SB28 and eight K1-SB subs, and 30 LA-RAK amplifier racks – for a total of 90 LA8 amplified controllers – flown with the arrays.
‘K1 is the premier stadium line array system and we’ve had tremendous success with it in large venues, indoors and out,’ says Eric Thomas, Onstage Systems’ audio department lead. ‘There really is no other system that would get the job done for a show like this and provide the sonic signature that we love. Plus, we were really excited to be using K2 for the first time as well.
The system goal with K2 was ‘having a bigger, beefier box with the same 110° horizontal pattern that never felt like you were walking into two different Pas,’ notes Thomas. It worked great.’
Olson recognises the assistance received from Thomas and L-Acoustics’ Scott Sugden in designing the system : ‘I always start with a system design in SoundVision. With this tool, I have a great idea of the response of the system before we even bring it out of the trucks, and, when tuning, I have a response curve that I try to achieve every day. When we get it right, the mix just falls into place. The use of L-AcousticsS products makes the job very easy.’
The sound was appreciated not only by the 104,793 fans, but also the guests taking the stage throughout the 41-song concert to duet with Strait. The stars included Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, Alan Jackson, Faith Hill, Vince Gill, Miranda Lambert, Sheryl Crow and Eric Church, as well as Strait’s son Bubba.
The attendance record for The Cowboy Rides Away, joins Strait’s record for the most number one country music hits – 44 top charters since 1981.
