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EVENT FOCUS<br />
IMAGINE DRAGONS CHOOSES<br />
ADAMSON & SOUND IMAGE<br />
Imagine Dragons have gone from playing basements and dive bars to filling major arenas in the<br />
space of 10 years. For their Evolve World Tour in 2017, it was an Adamson E-Series system rocking<br />
the crowds from continent to continent.<br />
“Adamson is always my first choice when it comes to Imagine Dragons,”<br />
began FOH Engineer Scott Eisenberg. “The E-Series offers a perfect blend<br />
of power and musicality and I love the overall impact we get with this<br />
system.”<br />
The tour was the band’s biggest to date in terms of scale and overall<br />
production value and featured a stage design that wrapped the audience<br />
around the band in an almost 360-degree configuration. That necessitated<br />
an equally unorthodox audio system design with a package that, like those<br />
for all of the band’s previous production-carrying tours, was supplied by<br />
Escondido, California’s Sound Image.<br />
The main hangs for the Evolve World Tour were comprised of 18<br />
Adamson E15’s per side, suspended around 30ft further upstage than<br />
usual. Using Adamson’s Blueprint AV software, Systems Engineer, Cameron<br />
Whaley, of Sound Image was easily able to avoid the potential pitfalls of that<br />
configuration.<br />
Rounding out the package were side hangs of 6 E15’s and 9 E12’s per<br />
side, and rear hangs comprised of 8 compact S10 2-way, full-range cabinets<br />
per side. Adamson’s E219 subwoofers handled the low end, with flown left<br />
and right arrays of 12 cabinets and an additional 6 per side on the ground.<br />
Speaking to the low-end distribution, Whaley said the elaborate sub<br />
design produced some very welcome results. “Having a sub array long<br />
enough to achieve some directionality, we can get a good amount of energy<br />
to the back of the room without it being overwhelming in the front,” he<br />
explained. “By playing with the timing of the ground subs to the flown subs,<br />
we can also fill in some of the holes between the power alleys on the floor.”<br />
As far as what made the E-Series the ideal choice for this trek - and every<br />
major Imagine Dragons tour before it - Eisenberg said it’s largely about<br />
power and consistency.<br />
“I really like that it’s got a lot of horsepower, especially in the mains’<br />
lower midrange,” he commented. “The highs are clear but not harsh, and<br />
when the subs kick in, there’s just some really solid energy that hits you in<br />
the best way possible.”<br />
He added that the uniformity when transitioning from the E15’s to the<br />
E12’s and S10’s in different parts of the room is seamless. “I love that the<br />
quality and performance is consistent across the board with the E-Series<br />
and S-Series,” Eisenberg said. “That’s a welcome bit of reassurance that<br />
we’re delivering great and consistent sound to every corner of any given<br />
venue.”<br />
Working together, Imagine Dragons, Sound Image, and their respective<br />
teams provided powerful live rock music for thousands of people around<br />
the globe at a time where it’s seemingly in short supply. Fortunately for the<br />
band’s ever-growing fanbase; they don’t show any signs of slowing down.<br />
<strong>TPi</strong><br />
www.imaginedragonsmusic.com<br />
www.adamsonsystems.com<br />
www.sound-image.com<br />
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