Franz Ferdinand – Hits to the Head

Formed in 2002, Glasgow’s Franz Ferdinand quickly established themselves in the UK Indie-Rock scene. In the last 20 years the band have released five studio albums, toured globally and picked up multiple awards including two Brit awards and an NME award.

After a busy summer touring the US along with some European festival dates, in October 2022 the band embarked on a fifteen date European tour including a return to the AVO Hydro in their home city of Glasgow.

Solotech UK brand Wigwam has an established relationship with the band dating back to 2015, and were once again contracted to supply the full audio package for the latest dates.

The tour took in a mixture of venues from arenas to intimate 1000 capacity club venues, so a flexible touring package was required. Solotech Hire Manager Tom Bush specified a d&b audiotechnik KSL system with the latest generation KSL subwoofer.

Tom Bush commented, “From the outset the band’s production team were keen to keep the LF (low frequency) on stage to a minimum. The directivity of the KSL sub, with its inbuilt cardioid response meant it was the perfect choice for this tour. The KSL had the power to handle the larger venues, while keeping truck space to a minimum.”

For the AVO Hydro, System Tech Jon Brooks deployed main L-R hangs of 16 x d&b audiotechnik KSL per side with side hangs of 8 x KSL per side. 8 x d&b audiotechnik KSL Subs were ground stacked in front of the stage apron. A combination of Y7 and V7 cabinets were deployed across the stage apron for infill with the entire system powered by D80 amplifiers.

“We used the touring system throughout, there was no need to resort to a house system,” explains Jon Brooks. “The smallest venue required just 5 KSL per side. It’s testimony to the KSL box that it is so flexible to work in that configuration as well as it does in an arena. The KSL subs kicked in at around 40 HZ, which was perfect for controlling the energy in the room and well suited to Franz Ferdinand’s sound.”

Rick Dowding who has been FOH engineer for the band since 2017 opted for a DiGiCo SDTen console for his mix, while at the other end of the snake Conor Dillon was behind a DiGiCo SD12 for his monitor mix.

Rick was delighted with how the tour had gone: “The service we have received from Solotech has been excellent, the kit well prepped and fantastic crew. Jon Brooks has delivered a well-tuned system at every venue, even challenging spaces like the AVO Arena in Glasgow.”

Production Manager Chris Spiers added, “The KSL was great to have on the show and made such a difference. Usually we struggle with sub on stage but with good deployment and the boxes themselves, it has been night and day compared to most of the shows we have done this year. Many thanks to Wigwam’s team of Brooksy, Binny and George.”

Tom Bush summed up, “The KSL system has once again proven to be a great choice for tours that take in a variety of size venues and the KSL sub has performed exactly as we expected. It has been great to work with the Franz Ferdinand production team on this project and we look forward to whatever comes next for the band.”

Audio Crew

Rick Dowding – FOH Engineer
Conor Dillon – Monitor Engineer

Jon Brookes (Brooksy) – System Tech
Tom Orrobin (Binny) – Monitor Tech

George Mavreas – PA Tech