Ironman Sound Industries (ISI) of St. Louis recently supported a sold-out Sammy Hagar concert at the Maryland Heights Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre with a sound reinforcement system headed by Martin Audio W8LC line arrays.
Hagar and crew were on a five-week tour with 10 dates, including smaller venues and sheds, and only carrying stage gear and video, so ISI supplied them with racks and stacks as well as a lighting package for the date in Missouri.
“For the PA, we had our Martin Audio rig with 32 W8LCs for the main hang, 24 W8LMs for out fill, 4 W8LMDs for front fill and 24 WSX subwoofers,” explains ISI president Bob Horner, who served as production manager for the ISI team. “We’d played the venue before, so there were no major challenges besides making sure everything was hung correctly and properly EQ’d.”
The show, billed as A Journey Through the History of Rock, featured Hagar perennials from the Montrose, Van Halen and Chickenfoot eras along with Zeppelin covers such as “Good Times Bad Times,” “When the Levee Breaks,” “Whole Lotta Love” and “Rock and Roll.” Hagar was supported by Michael Anthony on bass, Jason Bonham on drums and guitarist Vic Johnson from Waboritas.
“It was one of the best shows I saw this year,” Horner notes. “St. Louis is an FM friendly town so Sammy is a pretty big deal, and he really put his heart and soul into each song. I loved the sound for the show, and Sammy’s FOH engineer, Tony Luna, who’s mixed KISS and Aerosmith among others, was super-happy with the system. Jerry Harvey of JH Audio, who used to mix Van Halen, thought the rig sounded great as well.
“We really appreciate the Martin Audio system because it’s solid, sounds great, and is really reliable,” he concludes. “It definitely helps us get a lot of work because we’re known for the Martin Audio system in St. Louis. A lot of the current stories are about MLA, which is awesome, because the impact MLA is having really helps make more people aware of Martin Audio and the W8LC system.”