LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA - Blackpink, the chart-topping K-pop stars and arguably the most famous girl group in the world right now, embarked on their stadium “Deadline World Tour” in July with stops in Seoul, Inglewood, Chicago, Toronto, New York City, Saint-Denis, Milan, Barcelona, and London. The quartet, known to fans by their mononyms Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa, performed songs from each of their respective solo works as well as their award-winning studio albums and EPs, which sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Blackpink selected Cohesion as the audio system for the first fifteen sold-out dates on this highly anticipated global tour.
Artist management agency YG Entertainment valued the expertise of longtime Blackpink FOH Engineer Young-Il Kim and System Engineer Alex Kociper, who also worked on the group’s 2023 “Born Pink World Tour.” They identified the tour’s priorities as ensuring every seat received exceptional audio and reproducing the musicality and energy of the low-end for a memorable, physical experience on “Deadline.”
The PA included 116 total Cohesion CO12: twenty on the main hangs, twenty on the side hangs, and three delay towers using a dozen CO12 each. “The CO12 is impressive at low-frequency reproduction,” Kociper said. “It’s very much a full-range solution with plenty of headroom and power, and it performs well, especially when hanging twenty a side. It’s also very adaptable to different venues, as we went from indoor stadiums to outdoor festival grounds and still had amazing results.”
“I agree that the CO12 always does the job right,” added Kim. “It also shoots the longest for its class of speakers. We’re very confident with Cohesion.”
“Having the long line length of twenty CO12 helps deliver directionality to the low-mid band while keeping the crossover between the mains and subs as smooth as possible,” said Kociper.
The two kickoff shows in Seoul featured six flown Cohesion CP218 II+ subwoofers per side, but most tour dates used 32 CP218 II+ in a center cluster horizontally stacked two-high with some steered delay arc and another half-dozen CP218 II+ per side in an end-fire configuration, per Kociper.
He added, “The biggest challenge was not having the luxury of flying subs due to production elements. We ended up using only subs on the ground, which presented a specific challenge and tradeoff, and we were also limited to where we could place them on the ground because of the unique thrust and pit designs. I opted to use the subs in the middle of the pit with an electronic delay arc to achieve great coverage throughout the audience area while maintaining impact between the mains and subs.”
“In the U.S., we couldn’t hang subs due to weight limits, so Alex came up with a left-right end-fire sub plan,” said Kim. “It worked impressively well.”
“The six CP218 II+ per side in the end-fire configuration helped widen the coverage and gave me control as to where I could steer that additional low-frequency energy with physical spacing and delay,” said Kociper.
Four stacks of two Cohesion CO10 each were placed on top of the ground-stacked CP218 II+ to provide fill in the VIP standing-room-only areas. Clair Global deployed the audio system for the tour. Kim’s live sound company, Tristar Audio, is the Cohesion Rental Partner for South Korea and provided the PA for the Seoul shows.
“The show is a mix of hip-hop, EDM, and pop music. Having a system that delivered a ‘larger than life’ impact was extremely important,” said Kociper. “We prioritized the show having great low-mid to sub band coupling. The system needed to deliver the punchy low end of the Blackpink mix to the audience.”
The crowds at each sold out stadium—upwards of 110,000 in venues like Stade de France in Saint-Denis and Wembley Stadium in London—erupted as the group weaved in hit after hit from Blackpink’s still-burgeoning musical career, which since their 2016 debut saw them accrue both traditional and streaming decorations; they’ve twice broken Spotify’s streaming record for female artists (13 billion streams in 2024) and have been awarded a Guinness World Record for most-viewed YouTube music channel (30.15 billion views) alongside seven Golden Disc Awards, fourteen Circle Chart Music Awards, and dozens more accolades.
“Everyone in the audience was entitled to a great show—with little level and tonal variance from what was mixed at FOH,” outlined Kociper. “Coverage is always king, in my opinion. We ensured the system covered the venue geometry and seating.”
Cohesion provided the coverage, tonality, and output necessary for Blackpink’s world-class performances on the biggest global stages, or, as SeoJin “Rachel” Lee, Tour Director at YG Entertainment, summarized, “Simply two thumbs up!”
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