Alongside the release of their eighth and final album Heaven :x:Hell in March 2024, pop-punk icons Sum 41 announced “Tour of the Setting Sum,” an ambitious multi-continent arena tour that served as a fitting farewell to a thirty-year career. Throughout Asia, North America, and Europe, the Canadian rockers played more than a hundred shows for millions of passionate fans eager to see them one last time. For the 24-venue run in Europe, culminating in a sold-out performance in Nanterre, France, Production Manager Ivan Copelan said they considered several audio systems, ultimately selecting Cohesion for “the simple reason—the sound of it.”
Sixteen Cohesion CO12 per side comprised the main hangs, and an additional twelve CO12 were hung on either side. “The CO12 go so low—the subs are there for lifting,” said FOH Engineer Bryan Campbell, who has also mixed for Papa Roach, Breaking Benjamin, and Of Mice and Men. “I’m mixing punk rock, so I want that kick drum at 60–70 Hz, and I want that bass to have that dog-snarling midrange tone. I’m not looking for oomph, I’m looking for coverage.”
“On the whole, the low end of the PA is powerful, said Valdrian Sulejmani, System Engineer for the European tour. “We can be a bit more equal by not having to push the subs much. It sounds absolutely phenomenal.”
Six Cohesion CP218 II+ were hung per side. “Flying the subs kept the low end up and provided even coverage,” said Campbell. Twelve additional CP218 II+ were deployed on the ground, and a Cohesion CP118+ was used as a drum subwoofer.
“The CP218 is the most musical, most powerful sub,” said Sulejmani. “I have never run out of headroom with it. I think it’s the best sub out there.”
The team opted for eight Cohesion CO10 as front fill to provide “a much fuller signal for guitar and bass—it helps it sound truer to the mix,” said Campbell.
The tour carried a dozen Cohesion CM14 for supporting artists Dynamite Shakers and Neck Deep to use as stage monitors. AudioRent Clair, a Clair Global brand, deployed the audio system each night.
The performance in France required additional PA to allow 40,000+ fans to best experience Sum 41’s final European show. The side hangs were increased to 16 CO12, and additional rear hangs of eight CO12 were flown. Six more CP218 II+ were added on the ground, and all subwoofers, flown and on the ground, were deployed front-facing. Four delay towers of twelve CO12 each were deployed—a necessity for full coverage in Nanterre’s Paris La Défense Arena, Europe’s largest arena.
“In the past, they might have said, ‘We can get by,’ but now? ‘Let’s spend the money, let’s go.’ It’s the final run. This is it,” said Copelan. “We didn’t max out the budget using Cohesion; we actually saved money. The most important thing at the end was the sound quality and consistency for [Sum 41 lead singer] Deryck [Whibley]. That France show was fun, intense.”
The musicality and clarity of the PA held up to Whibley’s scrutiny, who “came to FOH every day to listen to the mix with Bryan and get what he wanted on stage,” said Sulejmani. “That was important to him.”
“Val and I walked around and sat in different seats to make sure it sounded great,” Campbell said. “He’d say, ‘I want to time-align these subs differently,’ and we’d all hear the difference. Even coverage is what we strived for in every spot.”
“Coverage is always number-one,” said Sulejmani. “Bryan was mixing like a studio track. He wanted the PA to translate the mix to real life. Normally a rock band’s priority is the midrange, but the whole spectrum was important. We needed an even and equal low end through every venue as well. This PA, especially in the midrange, is so consistent no matter where you are in the venue. You can get to those upper levels, and you don’t have to overshoot.”
“We had two concepts for this tour, but we pushed toward a Paul David Hager design that flew six subs in omni,” explained Campbell. “I fell in love with this setup.”
“The subs moved behind in an angle between the mains and sides, with the sides two feet shorter than the subs to the main,” said Sulejmani. “It’s just a bit easier to translate the low end.”
“How low the main goes—you could turn off the subs, and I might not notice right away!” laughed Campbell. “I don’t mix super loud, around 100 dB, and I want to keep all that high end. Cohesion is like a top sports car. If you’re not afraid of mixing with high end, and you’re doing it properly, the high end from Cohesion translates better than any other system I’ve been on. I keep that detail in my mix for a reason. It’s a much more detailed and accurate representation of my mix.”
“I’ve worked with a lot, and Cohesion is my favorite PA,” said Sulejmani, who has also worked with Alice Cooper, Greta Van Fleet, and Sabaton on their European tours.
“Setting Sum” traveled from Netherlands to Nanterre and more than twenty stops in between, so the audio system needed to meet the demands of the production team. “The size of Cohesion worked for us. We had the PA in one truck through Europe,” confirmed Copelan, who previously managed tours for Wiz Khalifa, Megadeth, Incubus, and Dogstar. “It was compact and quick to get up, and it packed a punch. It sounded amazing.”
“Similar PA from others would be a truck and a half,” added Campbell. “Cohesion was so friendly.”
Sum 41’s tour—and career—wrapped in January at an emotional hometown show at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. They will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame on March 30.
“Their fans have been insane. We started in Asia, and then we’d see the same faces flying into Europe, just to see one more show,” said Campbell. “It was electric every night.”
“We did five or six shows a week, but this band played consistently every night. It made my work and Bryan’s work easier,” said Sulejmani.
“It set in when the band was done for the night, and they took a bow,” said Campbell. “You can tell they were emotional, thinking, ‘This might be the last time we ever play Germany, or Paris, or anywhere.’ It was electric every night. It was magical.”
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