It was a summers-end extravaganza like no other when Les Insus, France’s favourite
home-grown rock band, filled the vast Stade de France stadium in suburban Paris for
back-to-back, sold-out shows. To carry the full impact of the hard-rocking foursome —
formed by founding members of the legendary group Telephone — to assembled
throngs of 60,000-plus, principal audio provider DUSHOW deployed the largest system
ever configured using Meyer Sound’s LEO® Family line arrays exclusively. Comprising
a total of 312 loudspeakers, the meticulously tuned system delivered a level of power
and musical transparency that, according to many professionals, raised the bar for
sound quality in the acoustically difficult venue.

The extraordinary sonic performance of the system was readily apparent to the band’s
FOH engineer, Bob Coke, an industry veteran also known for his long association with
The Black Crowes. “I have no doubt we set a new benchmark for Stade de France,”
states Coke. “For me, the system dialled in very quickly so I could get on with mixing
the show. After the first two songs, I started bypassing channel EQs, compressors and
gates because it sounded so good uncorrected. The sound was transparent with
incredible restitution of the on-stage sources.” Coke reports his evaluation was
supported by others. “I was assailed by positive feedback after the first show,
including from musicians I had worked with, touring agents, the opening acts and
production director. All agreed it was the best sound they had ever heard in the
venue.”

The uniform, linear response characteristic inherent in the LEO Family, was
foundational to the system’s success, according to Coke. “LEO, LYON and LEOPARD
loudspeakers have near-perfect sonic compatibility, and the system design minimised
reverberance by shooting sound only to parts of the stadium where the audience was
seated. The coherent result assured me that what I’m hearing while mixing is exactly
what everyone else is hearing. The LEO Family is also powerful but easy on the ears.
It delivers a generous, in-your-face sound at lower SPL levels than any other system
I’ve ever worked on.”

Coke also gives full credit to the work of others on the sound team, notably system
designer Aymeric Sorriaux and systems tech Wilfried Mautret. “Their integrity,
knowledge and competence are above reproach, and the many compliments I
received about the sound I gratefully share with them.” Sorriaux’s “zero
compromises” design incorporated four main stage arrays plus ground tower delay
arrays (including delayed subwoofers) and a 270-degree arc of delay arrays flown
from the roof to assure consistent, high-impact coverage in the upper seating areas.

Broken down, the total LEO Family loudspeaker count of 312 comprised 156 LEO-M
and 18 LYON™-M linear line array loudspeakers, 32 LYON-W wide-coverage line array
loudspeakers, 22 LEOPARD™ compact line array loudspeakers, and 84 1100-LFC low-
frequency control elements. Optimization and drive were provided by 24 Galileo®
Callisto™ 616 array processors. In addition, eight UPJ-1P and six UPQ-1P point-source
loudspeakers were supplied as near-field fill systems. DUSHOW supplied the majority
of system components from its own inventory, but also drew on Meyer Sound’s
network of LEO Family collaborators to source additional loudspeakers from Skynight
(Switzerland), Victory Tour Production (Denmark) and the Bright Group (Norway and
Sweden).

For system designer Aymeric Sorriaux, the complete LEO Family solution provided all
the tools needed to raise the bar for production sound at Stade de France. “Everything
was predicted with MAPP Online,” he recalls, “and that combined with our knowledge
of the LEO Family loudspeakers allowed us to optimise the system and give Bob
[Coke] exactly what he was looking for. We also used 11 RMServers for monitoring the
performance of each loudspeaker in the entire system to assure consistent results.
‘We have never heard sound like this in Stade de France’ is what I heard from many
professionals who know the venue very well.”

The concerts were certainly a high point for Eric Alvergnat, managing director and
CEO of DUSHOW, who had mixed sound for some of Telephone’s very first concerts 40
years ago. “It was an incredible job,” he says, “from an A+ team led by Bob and
Aymeric. The sound really was better than ever before in this venue, because we took
the time we needed and we had the budget, the expertise and the LEO Family
technology. We also made sure that everybody in the audience was not too far from a
loudspeaker. If you add a great audio mix to that, then WYDIWYG — what you
dreamed is what you get.”

The Stade de France shows capped Les Insus’s summer-long tour of European music
festivals. In 2016, Les Insus headlined its own European arena tour accompanied by a
LEO Family reinforcement system also supplied by DUSHOW. The legendary rock
group Telephone first formed in 1976 and was often referred to as ‘the Rolling Stones
of France.’ The group broke up in 1986 but three of the original foursome later
reformed as Les Insus, with the name change legally imposed by the departing
member.

The Stade de France system was the largest ever deployed using Meyer Sound LEO
Family line arrays exclusively throughout. Larger Meyer Sound systems have been
implemented elsewhere using LEO Family loudspeakers for the main arrays but
supplemented by arrays using M Series loudspeakers.