Stepping out on her first UK solo headline tour, Little Mix singer Jade Thirlwall had the support of a control package supplied by Britannia Row, and FOH and monitor engineers Olly Nendick and Meghan MacAskill.
Brit Row Account Executive Jonathan ‘Jono’ Dunlop provided a small footprint touring system to transition from festival season into theatre-size venues, creating a comfortable stage environment for the ‘Angel of my Dreams’ singer.’s solo journey. ‘Since the start of her career, Jade had only toured in arenas, going from the X Factor and straight into huge gigs with an army of fans,’ he says.
‘We knew it could be more of a challenge for her to play in intimate venues as a solo performer with factors such as being closer to the PA and hearing audience noise close up, but she always delivers.’
Both Nendick and MacAskill chose the Allen & Heath dLive S5000 control surface to suit small working areas and in-house PA systems. ‘FOH wise, there’s not too much for me to deal with,’ Nendick says. ‘There’s some distorted effects in a couple of her songs, which can be a little bit tricky with potential feedback, but I like to use the console as it is. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible.’
Adding to the simplicity of the tour is Britannia Row’s service; Nendick hadn’t worked with Dunlop before, but says: ‘He’s looked after us really well; Britannia Row has been a great supplier. Keeping the package as uncomplicated as possible means we have got less things to go wrong, but we when did encounter an issue during production rehearsals, a new desk was delivered within two hours.’
Despite this being a small venue tour, it has some industry veterans overseeing its success in the form of Tour Director Ant Carr and Production Manager Karen Ringland. ‘They’re the nicest bunch of people to tour with, and Jade herself is lovely,’ Nendick says. ‘She’s made a varied album that we’ve all been excited by. It’s great to mix live; it’s a proper musical journey.’
The show draws on the disco-cum-80s pop of That’s Showbiz Baby, Jade’s debut album – which provided the biggest opening week of the UK’s 2025 album charts. ‘It’s mainly a track-based show but we have live drums, live guitar, live keys and a couple of saxophones. My only real challenge was that the audience knows every word of every song, and they scream them very loud.’
At the monitor station, MacAskill agrees: ‘She does have impressively loud crowds, which is picked up through her mic. We’ve used processes to eliminate that noise so that she feels comfortable on stage, but she’s had to adapt to the spaces quickly and navigate her way through a much more intimate crowd dynamic.
‘It’s been an intense tour that everyone’s worked so hard to get right. I have been so lucky to work with such an amazing team and we’re all really proud of how it has turned out. We did have some last-minute changes happen in audio, and Jono sorted it without question.’
MacAskill’s only outboard is a Bricasti Design M7 reverb, and to ensure as much familiarity as possible, Jade, who uses Shure PSM1000 IEMs, likes to hear her vocal very present in the mix, with the tracks and band underneath, and some click. ‘She likes a full mix for pitching and to cue to,’ MacAskill says. ‘We do have a lot of choreography and big theatrical moments in the show, so to achieve as much clarity as possible for the vocals and cues is one of the main goals.’
One of the big moments comes when Jade sings from within the audience and in front of the PA. ‘With the delay between the ears mix and the PA, it can be very off-putting and hard to keep in time. We always run through this moment in soundcheck as the position changes in every venue. During the show, we made up some signals so that if there’s anything she needs, she’ll just give me a sign, and I can adapt instantly without her losing concentration.’
The reassurance that any additions will be adhered to quickly has been key for the engineers. ‘Anything we’ve needed, we’ve had – and quickly,’ she continues. ‘Brit Row has such incredible experience in touring; it’s been great having our gear and all the support from them. We had to be compact for this run compared to our festival season and in talking this through with Jono and Joshua Thomas, UK Operations Manager, they came up with a plan to make it happen. Brit Row just makes touring as easy as possible.’
Following the 13-date UK run, fans in North America and mainland Europe will see the show in early 2026.
More: www.britanniarow.com