Joe O'Herlihy on U2

“For my sins, I’ve been doing sound on U2 tours since September 25, 1978. A lot of people get up every day and hate what they do, so I feel blessed that every day, I get up and do what I love. The band strive to make it the best show they possibly can every night, and I do the same on my end. The nights when you get that great interaction between the band and the crowd puts your hair standing on end.
“To start with, the band give you an idea of the scope of the show, and what it’s going to be about – and we design from there. The plan was for a main stage, a ramp, and an E-stage – of course, normally that’s called the B stage, but it’s E for eXPERIENCE this time. The show takes over the entire floor of the arena, and therefore the approach to sound needs to change. Normally, you have a main stage with a PA left and right of that, and away you go. But if the focal point of the performance is on one side of the arena, you can’t have the sound coming from the far side. We ended up with a situation where they would spend equal lengths of time at each area, and I designed the system accordingly. It’s pretty unique – it hasn’t been done before – and is very specific to the band’s needs.
“There are 12 columns of speakers in the ceiling, positioned all the way around the arena. It’s not a loud show, to be honest. It looks huge, because of the numbers of speakers, but the great thing about that is that it’s a direct sound. The audience are no more than 75 feet from the source of what they’re hearing, and the quality and intelligibility are incredibly good, so the sound pressure levels don’t have to be high to maintain that coverage. If I turn it up, they could probably hear it in Carlow. I tried to get it to Cork, but I think it got lost in the Jack Lynch Tunnel (laughs)!
“It’s also omnipresent, meaning that you can’t pin down exactly where the sound is coming from. When Bono – or anyone else – walks down the ramp, it seems like the sound is coming directly from them. It’s quite innovative. Historically, we’ve been associated with firsts when it comes to technical design, and this soundsystem is continuing that. We’ve taken the technology levels of an indoor tour to a whole new level. I’m not just blowing my own trumpet here. It’s been documented across the whole tour in the States and in Europe.
“It’s pretty amazing for me, because I can mix from anywhere in the arena, as the sound is the same all around. It’s a great experience, because you’re always trying to reach the people in the audience with the perfect audio. To see them beaming from ear to ear as they leave is the thrill that makes it work for me. Of course, it all has to work in tandem with the visuals, the lighting and so on. We’re very much a team, marching to the same beat. We lost our leader back in May, when Dennis Sheehan passed away. I’d known Denis for pretty much my entire career. To bounce back from that – for the band, the crew, and everyone – was a monumental achievement. And, of course, if we didn’t do Dublin, I don’t think we’d be allowed off the plane to go home! The difficulty is in compromising to allow the production to suit 3Arena, but we had to compromise for Croke Park on the 360° tour too. What we’ve done is very special, and given that it’s the hometown, absolutely everyone is raring to go.”
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