“Playin’ Possum! The Final No Show – A Tribute to George Jones” was recently held at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena and featured a “who’s who” of country music luminaries including Alabama, Alan Jackson, Dierks Bentley, Kid Rock, Miranda Lambert, Travis Tritt and many more—122 artists in total.
Jones, considered by many to be the greatest country singer who ever lived, was honored in a four-hour concert attended by thousands of people, with live sound provided by Rockford, Illinois-based Creative Audio and a Harman JBL audio system that included more than 100 VTX and VerTec line array loudspeakers.
The 4-hour concert included over 40 performances powered by 56 JBL VTX V25 and 48 VT4888 line array loudspeakers.
The stage, located at one end of the arena, featured an in-the-round system consisting of two hangs of 16 V25 line array elements for mains, two hangs of 12 V25 for side fill, plus four hangs of 12 VerTec VT4888 midsize line array elements for rear fill.
“The VTX Series has established itself as the new standard in tour sound,” stated Chris Mentzel, owner of Creative Audio. “We were confident this system would be the best choice for the many different acts throughout the concert and we were right.
“The output of the VTX is simply amazing, especially in the high-end, there is absolutely no distortion. No other option out there really compares to the sonic capabilities the VTX offers.”
In addition, the system was backed by 18 cardioid-arrayed VTX G28 subwoofers ground-stacked in clusters of nine per side.
“The extended low-frequency of the G28’s is quite incredible. The sheer power the G28 offers meant we didn’t need to fly any subs,” explained Mentzel.
Crown Audio I-Tech HD 12000 amplifiers powered the mains, sides and subwoofers. Additionally, Crown I-Tech 4×3500 HD amplifiers powered the upstage, rear-fill and front-fill loudspeaker elements with a pair of dbx DriveRack 4800’s for global EQ and routing. All amps in the system were programmed with VTX and V5 Presets and controlled via JBL’s HiQnet Performance Manager.
“Overall, the venue indicated this was their first show with an in-the-round system that did not receive audio complaints,” commented Mentzel. “I could not have imagined the success of a show with this many acts performing over a 4-hour period without JBL. They continue to put out the absolute best in tour sound equipment and the VTX is no exception.”
