L-Acoustics powers Japanese pop legend’s final show

Kyosuke Himuro, one of Japan’s most successful pop singers relied on an L-Acoustics K1 system with KS28 subwoofers for his final live show at the sold-out Tokyo Dome.

It was somewhat of an emotional experience for the 50,000 Japanese pop fans, being the very last time that they would see the singer/songwriter on stage.

Japanese rental companies Hibino Sound and Tokyo Sanko supplied a K1 system with the new KS28 subs for the tour, which was billed as Kyosuke Himuro Last Gigs.

“Hibino had to deliver every breath of Kyosuke Himuro’s performance perfectly, as it was an experience which none of the audience would ever have again,” said Takayuki Ozaki, managing director of L-Acoustics Japanese distributor Bestec Audio. “We wanted it to be a memory that would last a lifetime.”

Tokyo Dome is unusual in that it has an air-supported roof, with weight restrictions that can make designing PAs for such large shows a challenge.

System engineer Mitsunari ‘Saiji’ Gengoromaru proposed flying the KS28 subs, carefully balanced with complimentary ground-stacked units to control the bandwidth of the subwoofers and ensure an even pattern, which had never been done at Tokyo Dome before.

The full system for the show comprised main flown L-R arrays of 20 L-Acoustics K1 and four K2, plus another flown array of 12 KS28 and 16 ground-stacked SB28. Further flown arrays of 16 K1 and eight K2 per side covered the sides of the arena, with fills comprising six-strong flown arrays of Kara and three per side. The entire system was driven by L-Acoustics LA12X and LA8 amplified controllers.

“Flying KS28 and K1 arrays next to each other produced a very powerful, evenly-phased system,” Takayuki concluded. “Despite the audience being 50,000-strong, it delivered very clear low frequencies throughout, which had never been experienced in the Tokyo Dome before. The whole stadium experienced a true ‘rock sound’, which helped to ensure the audience was ‘as one’ with the artist throughout the show.”

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