One of the most eagerly-anticipated moments in rock'n'roll history finally arrived on the evening of Saturday 24 May when the familiar sound effect of a screaming jumbo jet gave way to the chunky guitar intro of 'Back In The USSR', performed live in Moscow's Red Square - once the epicentre of Soviet Communism - by its writer, Sir Paul McCartney.
Little more than a decade after the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union regime, here was Macca turning the clock back to the days of Beatlemania - a time when it would have been impossible for a rock star to perform in front of tens of thousands of fans upon the sacred ground of Red Square.
Luciano Pavarotti had previously given a sober concert for a seated audience of 12,000 in the Square, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers were here in Moscow in 1999, playing on the slope beside the site, but this was the first time Red Square had played host to a major international rock star, and ironically a member of the band who the Soviets once described as "the belch of western culture".
Despite evidence of western capitalism in the designer label paradise of the shopping mall alongside the Square, there was significant opposition from over 100 of the more nationalist members of the Russian parliament who urged the city's Mayor, Yury Luzhkov, to move McCartney's concert away from Red Square and the graves of Lenin, Stalin and Brezhnev, branding the event "blasphemous".
A spokesperson for the political Left said: "We find it absolutely senseless to hold rock concerts where prominent personalities are buried. [It] has a covert political meaning." They warned McCartney that he would find himself "in the centre of a serious political scandal".
Such opposition, however, paled in comparison to the massive goodwill and support extended to the McCartney team by President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB colonel, and the majority of the government who obviously acknowledged the enormous positive message that the event would send around the world.
Long-time McCartney promoter Barrie Marshall of Marshall Arts put the party-pooping down to timely propaganda. "I think it's called political expediency to get publicity and promotion for the forthcoming elections," he said, "but they've moved on to other topics which will give them more attention than this. This is a non-political event; it's a statement about music."
If anything, this concert was a symbol of the new Russia and for lifelong Beatles fans who had learned the English language through the lyrics of Lennon & McCartney, it was an extraordinary event, even though most ordinary Russians couldn't afford to see it. Tickets were selling for up to $500 US Dollars in a country where the average monthly wage is less than a fifth of that amount. Such statistics didn't prevent Red Square being packed to the gills on the big night.
For Production Manager Mark 'Springo' Spring, the politics surrounding the concert presented an enormous test of patience. He said: "It took us longer to make the deal and get the Kremlin officials to agree things like the seating positions on the site, than it did to set up the production aspects of the show. It's actually been simpler than it looks because this show's been touring for more than a year, so the act of installing the production was relatively easy. "Once they gave us the go-ahead, they couldn't have been more helpful and they've done a fabulous job for us. The local crew mainly consists of ex-Army people so they're used to taking orders, and we have a team of interpreters to help us. They don't have any stage technician skills and they're not the most graceful of crews, but they are well-disciplined and that's really all we're hoping for.
"There was a rule that nothing could be loaded into Red Square between certain hours, but they were very lenient with us. If you asked for something, you'd have it within 24 hours, and everything involves the Kremlin."
Unfortunately, not every wish was granted, much to Barrie Marshall's dismay. The magnificent St. Basil's Cathedral would have provided a masterful backdrop to the McCartney stage set, however, renovation work ensured that it was an eyesore, as the promoter explained: "When I originally came here a few years ago, it was with a view to doing something in Red Square with Paul, if he felt like touring again. He'd never even visited Russia before, and he was very excited at the prospect of performing in front of St. Basil's. "Of course, all these buildings need occasional renovation and there's only a certain window in which they can make repairs. I returned on several occasions over the last few months and there was one piece of scaffolding at the back of the cathedral, but I was assured that they would not be in the middle of restorations at the time of the concert. When I arrived here earlier this week, I was shocked to find the stage side of the cathedral covered in green gauze and masses of scaffolding." Marshall continued: "It's been very disappointing because part of the purpose of being here is to spread a worldwide message for us and modern Russia, in a year which marks the 40th anniversary of Beatlemania. To have such a beautiful backdrop spoiled by this unsightly mess is very disappointing. We faced some issues when we played at Rome's Coliseum but we got round them, and everyone benefited.
"So I've been spending all week in talks with the authorities to have it all removed in time for the show, trying to persuade them that this is for the good of the nation. My problem is that I don't run the country!"
Despite Marshall's gentlemanly persistence, his wishes were not met entirely. Although much of the cladding disappeared, the scaffolding remained to play an unexpected starring role in a forthcoming DVD documentary of McCartney's visit to Moscow, titled 'From Russia With Luv'. The documentary, which will be hosted by Sir David Frost, required an additional seven cameras, bringing the total to 13, not including the on-stage MiniCams.
Production
The Red Square production was essentially a duplicate of the touring show, with an Antonov AN124 cargo plane flying in six containers' worth of essential items from Hamburg, such as Paul 'Pab' Boothroyd's Midas XL4 FOH console and racks, John Roden's complete monitor system and wedges, and all the staging. However, in some departments, different equipment was in use due to many items of kit being deployed at Dublin's RDS Stadium three days later.
Edwin Shirley Staging provided the staging and roof for the concert, along with two joined towers, each with eight crow's nests, and two 25m high delay towers. John Hetherton, the ESS crew chief, said: "It took seven days to rig the stage and peripherals, but only two to de-rig."
Whilst the main audio rental company for McCartney's Back In The World tour was Showco, continuing a relationship that began with the Wings Over America tour of 1976, the Moscow show saw Luton, UK-based Concert Sound supplying the PA system in a one-off arrangement.
Whereas Clair Brothers' i-4 line array had been the system of choice elsewhere, Concert Sound fielded its EAW KF760 line array, giving the Mackie company an instant association with the biggest grossing tour of the past 12 months. However, this wasn't the first time that Concert Sound and its EAW equipment had serviced McCartney Ñ the ex-Beatle's famous return to Liverpool's Cavern Club in 1999 being another prime example. It would be unfair to compare the performances of the Clair and EAW line arrays, as I had only previously experienced this show in indoor arenas. That said, the EAW rig performed brilliantly in this outdoor environment, and would have certainly left the locals feeling spoilt rotten!
Concert Sound's main system consisted of left and right hangs of 18 EAW KF760 and a single shorter-throw KF761 for near-fill, plus 16 SB1000 sub bass cabinets per side. The centre front-fill consisted of three EAW KF750s and four KF760s, with two KF750s per side providing out-fills to the side streets.
From the FOH tower backwards at intervals there were three sets of delay towers. The delay tower immediately behind FOH (at approximately 70 metres from the stage) held eight KF853D mid-highs and eight BH853 subs; left and right towers at 150m each held six stacks of KF853Ds and BH853s, and a further pair of towers at 220m (supplied by Moscow company Live Sound) held six stacks of KF853D each, plus six SB1000 subs. However, the crew resorted to switching off two stacks per side due to reflections from the museum building at the end of the Square. Power for the system was provided by Lab.gruppen 6400, 4000 and 2000 series amplifiers, while XTA DP224 and DP226 digital processors were employed as crossovers, with two DP200s driving the subs.
Concert Sound's crew coordinator Adrian Fitzpatrick commented: "Although around 30,000 tickets have been sold, there will be thousands more people outside the arena. With this system and the way we have configured the delays and out-fills, we're able to reach everyone."
Fitzpatrick's colleague Matt Manasse explained that his company's involvement was purely a matter of logistics and in now way a slight to the "fabulous work" that Showco had done on the rest of the tour. "They simply couldn't get the PA to Moscow and then over to Dublin in time for that show," he said. "Pab has been working with Concert Sound for many years, and there have been a few tie-ups between Showco, Clair Brothers and Concert Sound in the past. It seemed like the perfect arrangement for everyone."
Arriving on site was, according to Manasse, a well-planned operation. "We had to send out all the trucks in one convoy in order to get everything over the border under one set of paperwork. This meant that the PA had to travel at the same time as ESS' staging, so the PA's been here four days longer than would have normally been necessary! The carnet was approved at the highest level, so there was never any question about the show not happening. Negotiating the black cobble stones on and around the Square has been hard work - it just extends the load-in, and kills your legs!"
Along with Fitzpatrick and Manasse, Concert Sound's crew consisted of Kerry Lewis, Paul Swan and Andy Davies. They were aided and abetted by EAW's Jamie Bamlett who was present in Moscow to advise on the system where necessary and help out with the rigging. "Waiting in line all day for a visa at the Russian Embassy nearly put me off," said Bamlett, "but I'm glad to be here now!"
When the system was first fired up in the Square, it was done using long-throw characteristics. However, it was decided to employ a zoning technique, tightening up the sound tremendously without the need for such a long projection.
Manasse explained: "We've divided the array curve into three zones through the processors, and we're controlling everything from one laptop. The zoning calculations were carried out using EAW's Wizard program which analyses the array's optimum configuration based on physical information of the venue that you input. This gave us a starting point for the angles between each cabinet, although the subtle adjustments were done manually."
Pab's colleague, system engineer Randy Wille operated his own Lake Technologies-developed Clair Brothers iO processor, which was connected to the front end of Concert Sound's processing system to give him overall control of the system EQ curve.
Video Switch
LSD Fourth Phase managed to transport its touring lighting rig, requiring just a small quantity of generic lamp bars for audience lighting, supplied locally by the Moscow firm, Lightmaster. Interestingly, LSD's John Lobel observed that Lightmaster's Par cans had been manufactured in Birmingham by his own company!
Although Nocturne had been servicing the rest of the tour, its Barco D7 LED screens were on the way to the Dublin show, and simple logistics determined that a sub-contractor was essential. Due to its large stocks of Barco product, XL Video was chosen, and owing to weightloading limitations, it was necessary to re-stylise the video wall configuration. "It's the same size that we've been using elsewhere in terms of square feet, but just a different break-up pattern," said Mark Spring.
Represented by Guido Ruysschaert and a team comprising Klaas Eecloo, Fredrique Derycnk and Brecht Moreels, XL also fielded two video trucks which Spring hired to provide delay screens for the rear audience. Spring explained: "One of the Kremlin's requirements was that all of the equipment behind the mix tower had to be removed from the site immediately after the show, so that it could return to normality. The advantage of using XL's trucks is that the screens pack away quickly and can be off-site straight away, and the furthest PA delays would just remain the responsibility of the local company."
Red Square was a convenient show for XL's team who remained in Russia for a further week, having been recruited by Andrew Zweck's Sensible Music to provide the same screen hardware for another prestigious Russian event, staged at Konstaninovsky Palace to celebrate the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg.
The screen break-up pattern wasn't the only change in video world. As Barrie Marshall explained, the footage accompanying 'Back In The USSR' required a little tweaking. "The sequence we used before relied a lot upon early 20th century images of Russia, and we felt that it needed to be more uplifting for this event. So we changed things around and added more of the Glasnost flavour so it was more in line with modern times."
The USSR may now have been consigned to the history books as Western ideals have become increasingly adopted by a liberated Russian culture, but prosperity is still as much of an elusive dream for the masses as it was when The Beatles first made global headlines.
Maybe for a brief moment on that balmy Saturday night in May in Red Square, such unreachable aspirations were cast aside as music, the great leveller, worked its magic to bring people of all classes together in front of the world's most successful living songsmith.
Special thanks to Geoff Baker, Paul 'Pab' Boothroyd, John Roden and Mark Hamilton.
Additional photographs courtesy
of James Bamlett and Paul Swan.
For an all points bulletin on the production of Paul McCartney's 2002-2003 world tour, including full crew and supplier credits, please refer to the May 2002 issue of Total Production.***