If asked which British artist had the most successful tour in terms of sold seating last year, few would have figured on Eddie Izzard — the gifted comic, actor, and verbal improviser with a rather unconventional approach to wardrobe and makeup.

As described by journalist Keith Clark in the cover story of the February 2004 issue of Live Sound International, “Izzard in the live realm is a tour de force (pardon the pun), taking the audience on a journey via and insightful running monologue constantly peppered with ad-lib riffs and free-form association, and going in new directions from night to night. Dressed in drag, a look he terms ‘executive transvestite,’ there’s immediately the sense that something is different, exciting, and challenging — an edge that further pushes the humour envelope.”

Izzard’s tour, Sexie, sold out 2,500-plus-seat theatres across North America (just 2% of total seats ended up unsold), before moving along to 21 arena dates in the UK and Ireland (serviced by Capital Sound Hire). Eddie admits to drawing most of his inspiration from rock ‘n’ roll — and aiming for more audience impact this time around there was a real need for a concert-style sound system capable of delivering the goods.

Sound designer George Glossop worked with L.A-based Delicate Productions in putting together a system to rival any concert music act in terms of output, fidelity, and flexibility.

Not surprisingly, the system was fronted by the latest iteration of Martin Audio W8LC compact line array loudspeakers, driven by Crest amplification and mixed by a Yamaha DM2000 digital console, with DPA miniature mics and Sennheiser wireless.

System tech Scott Scherban, veteran of concert acts such as Tracy Chapman, the Pretenders, and Natalie Merchant, explains, “There were a lot of options, but when George heard this one, he immediately liked it. The precision was the difference, along with the very natural signature.”

Scherban also pointed that, “The line array approach is also vital to what we’re trying to do, which is project a single voice in huge rooms. These are great tools for a situation like this. We’ve been able to attain coverage from the first rows to the corner nosebleed seats. It’s just there, consistent and where you want it.”

For the North American theatre leg of the tour, the approach included arrays of ten W8LC three-way line array modules flown per side, tapering at the bottom into a gentle “J” configuration. Scherban and a single crew member were enough to assemble and fly both arrays within 30 minutes.

Below on the deck, dual-stacked Martin W8 ‘Hybrid’ horn-loaded subwoofers reinforce the low-end with two Martin W2 two-way compact trapezoidal loud-speakers tight-positioned close together for front fill. Additional fill in the centre portion of the front audience came from low-profile Martin WTUB two-way enclosures, offering a very wide horizontal dispersion pattern.

Stage monitoring was handled from FOH as well, with feeds to single Martin LE12JB low-profile wedges positioned stage left and right.

“What we’ve got here is a tight, efficient system that meets every need we have, and could meet the needs of a full band,” Scherban summed up to Clark. “With fewer components needed, there’s fewer things that can go wrong, fewer pieces that can break, fewer complications. This rig is also financially beneficial — with less to carry, it cuts costs and
saves money on manpower and time.”