Press

08.08.2008 - London, United Kingdom

George Michael´s “25 Live” Tour has Faith in Sennheiser

 George Michael kicked off the six-week-long final leg of his “25 Live” tour in San Diego in mid-June, marking his first live performance in North America in seventeen years. The concerts are the third and final leg of an almost two-year tour, celebrating Michael’s 25 years in show business. The tour has seen the former Wham! singer play to 1.3 million fans at eighty shows in twelve European countries, and included two nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The entire tour, which began in 2006, features a stage full of Sennheiser and Neumann microphones, including the singer’s wireless handheld of choice, a Sennheiser SKM 5200 fitted with a Neumann KK 104 S capsule.

With over 100 million records sold worldwide, two-time Grammy award-winner George Michael recently completed his two-year “25 Live” with flawless performance from his Senn-heiser wireless SKM 5200 with the Neumann KK 104 S capsule, evolution 300 G2 IEMs and outstanding support from the Sennheiser Global Relations Team. (Images provided by George Michael 25Live Tour)   (Images provided by George Michael 25Live Tour)

As Michael’s monitor mixer and audio consultant, Andy “Baggy” Robinson, noted, before departing the tour for paternity leave, “Combining the Neumann capsule with the Sennheiser wireless system has thrust the legendary Neumann sound to the top of the wireless domain, and opened up new dimensions in sound for sophisticated live-performance engineering. For me, the Neumann KK 104 has a warm, smooth and clean response that requires virtually no EQ. Despite a loud backline, I can always place George’s vocal exactly where I want it in the mix.”             For the North American leg, Steve May took Baggy’s place, while he was looking after his newborn daughter Abbi, overseeing Michael’s personal monitor mix. Simon Hall mixes monitors for the band, which included drums, percussion, a bass player, sax/keyboard player and three guitarists on the top tier of the elaborate stage set. The two keyboard players and six backing vocalists — also on Sennheiser SKM 5200 wireless handhelds with Neumann KK 104 S capsules — join the star of the show on the bottom tier.        At front-of-house, veteran mixer Gary Bradshaw adds, “George is very happy with the vocal mic, and we’re all very happy with it as well. At Madison Square Garden, for example, we had a thrust into the audience, so he was way out in front of the PA all night, and it was fine. It was loud and it didn’t feed back — it was amazing!”              The 25 Live tour is additionally utilizing eighteen channels of evolution ew 300 G2 personal wireless monitors with multiple receiver packs. Full-range ew 572 G2 wireless guitar systems are used on two of the guitar players, and additional wireless packs are used with e 904 clip-on mics on the congas when they move downstage for parts of the show.   The complement of Neumann wired microphones includes U 87s on drum overheads, KM 184 on hi-hat, and TLM 170 Rs on saxophone. “There’s an inner stereo pair of the KM 184s and an outer stereo pair of the U 87s on percussion,” adds Bradshaw. “There’s nothing close-miked, and it works really well. The percussion player is happy with it. Coverage in his ears is really good.” Additional evolution wired microphones include an e 901 on kick drum and e 904s on toms.         Unusually, the set design rules that both monitor engineers are working backstage, and to overcome the inherent challenges of the large-scale video wall, Sennheiser’s unique Vulcan IEM launch system is utilized. Vulcan is the brainchild of Dave Hawker, Sennheiser UK’s Technical Director, and is a unique dual-amplifier configuration to enable large multi-channel IEM systems to operate faultlessly in RF-hostile live touring environments.

According to Baggy, “Working with Sennheiser on the previous eighty-plus shows on the 25 Live tour has provided us with an exceptional level of support. Where the standard of the wireless microphones, wireless monitoring and wired microphones has been of the highest level, it’s the support that really makes a huge difference. Being able to make a phone call from anywhere in the world and getting relevant advice is invaluable.”
    

Bradshaw couldn’t be happier working with Neumann and Sennheiser gear. “I’ve had this particular kit of microphones since 2006,” he says. “In between shows with George I’ve been working with Take That. Last year we did ten nights at the O2 Arena in London, all sold-out, and eleven nights in Manches-ter at MEN Arena, with this same kit of mics. We changed them from a different brand to Sennheiser microphones and ears and lead singer Gary Barlow instantly said, ‘it’s like being in the studio.’ Take That loves them!”
      

Following the final North American date on August 3 in Florida, Michael returns to the U.K. where he will play his last ever live shows at London’s Earl Court. The shows have been dubbed ‘The Final 2,’ a reference to the last Wham! gigs, which were named ‘The Final.’

The Sennheiser Group, with its headquarters in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems. The family-owned company, which was established in 1945, recorded sales of over €395 million in 2007, 83% of which were generated abroad. Sennheiser employs almost 2,000 people worldwide, around 55% of whom are in Germany. Sennheiser has manufacturing plants in Germany, Ireland and the USA and is represented worldwide by subsidiaries in France, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark (Nordic), Russia, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Japan, China, Canada, Mexico and the USA, as well as by long-term trading partners in many other countries. Also part of the Sennheiser Group are Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin (studio microphones), K + H Vertriebs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (Klein + Hummel studio monitors, installed sound) and the joint venture Senn-heiser Communications A/S (headsets for PCs, offices and call centres).

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Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG
Press & PR • Edelgard Marquardt
Am Labor 1 • 30900 Wedemark
Tel: +49 (5130) 600-329
Fax: +49 (5130) 600-295
e-Mail: edelgard.marquardt@sennheiser.com
      

Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG
Greg Beebe
Director Global Relations
Tel: +1 (860) 581-8052
e-mail: gbeebe@sennheiserusa.com