Challenge

The PA for Blackpink’s highly anticipated worldwide tour would need to provide immense low-frequency reproduction with vast amounts of headroom and power to accommodate the fully packed stadiums (upwards of 110,000 fans in certain venues). The exceptional output would also need to be highly controlled to direct the energy toward the cheering crowds and away from the performers on stage. Production requirements also demanded that, for the majority of venues, subwoofers would need to be ground-stacked, not flown.

Solution

The Cohesion CO12 system featured line lengths of twenty for each of the main and side hangs plus three delay towers of twelve more CO12 hung from each. Apart from the two opening acts in Seoul, which flew six CP218 II+ on either side, every show used subs only on the ground: 32 in a center cluster horizontally stacked with some steered delay arc and six more on each side of the stage in an end-fire configuration. On top of the ground-stacked subs were eight CO10 to provide fill for the highly desirable VIP areas in the pit.

Result

Each Blackpink show received significant impact from the CO12 arrays and nearly four dozen CP218 II+ subwoofers, which maintained consistent and visceral impact on the low end. Every audience received a show with little level and tonal variance from the FOH mix with coverage ensured by the Cohesion PA. The top-charting Korean quartet, known to fans by their mononyms Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa, performed songs from each of their respective solo works as well as their award-winning studio albums and EPs in sold-out stadiums around the world.

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