French progressive metal band Gojira has spent more than 20 years building a reputation as one of the most technically accomplished acts in the genre.
In 2025, their performance at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games —playing from the historic walls of La Conciergerie alongside opera singer Marina Viotti— catapulted them to new heights. Their subsequent summer festival tour took them to 30 countries.
In November, Gojira returned home for their first arena tour in France: a technically advanced production that reflected their elevated status. The tour featured a complex video installation and a new sound system capable of delivering the precision and power their music demands.
To meet these demanding requirements, Danish production company and longtime Gojira partner Victory Event deployed a comprehensive L-Acoustics K Series system, marking the company’s first major tour with L-Acoustics.
This arena tour represents a significant milestone: Victory Event’s first major L-Acoustics deployment after moving away from a competing manufacturer, and one of their most ambitious productions with the brand to date.
Light footprint, fast response
We have spent the past decade developing our expertise in the demanding world of metal touring. Our relationship with Gojira dates back to 2018, and our work across the heavy metal scene —including tours for acts like Ghost— has established us as a trusted partner for complex productions, says Jesper Danius Sørensen, CEO of Victory Event.
Ahead of Gojira’s extensive summer tour, Victory Event made the strategic decision to partner with L-Acoustics —a significant shift for the company. “We wanted an internationally recognised brand that could support our European tours”, explains Sørensen. “We were also aware of the need for a system that met strict size and weight constraints”.
The Gojira arena tour featured a large video wall that dominated the visual design and influenced rigging capacity and sound system placement options. Front-fill positioning became a negotiation between departments: the band wanted Kara II speakers on stage, while the lighting designer required clear sightlines.
The band’s double drum setup —with fast, complex patterns— also posed audio challenges. “Previous systems proved too muddy for this material”, says Sørensen. “As a result, Gojira’s sound team made it clear they needed a fast system with exceptional transient response capable of handling dense, rapid percussion alongside layered instrumentation. The combination of K1, K2 and K1-SB was ideal”.
Collaborative planning resolves interdepartmental demands
With competing priorities across multiple departments —each with different rigging and sightline requirements— Victory Event turned to L-Acoustics Soundvision software to resolve conflicts before arriving on site. The team built a complete venue model in Soundvision, importing architectural drawings, rigging plots and production elements, and positioned the speaker arrays to accurately predict acoustic coverage.
We were able to show the Gojira team how speaker placement would impact both sightlines and sound quality. We presented precise predictions of how the system would look and sound from different seats in every venue —critical given the scale of the video wall. This data-driven approach allowed the lighting department to review acoustic coverage maps and optimise speaker positions to preserve key sightlines. In a production where each department had different rigging points and priorities, resolving these conflicts in Soundvision before the first load-in saved us days of on-site negotiations, explains Sørensen.
The visualisation proved decisive in securing optimal speaker placement that satisfied both sonic requirements and production aesthetics.
Speed, consistency and reduced energy consumption
The final arena deployment consisted of left and right arrays of 14 K1 with three K2 per side. Behind the main arrays, 10 K1-SB delivered the low-frequency impact required for the double drum setup. On the ground, eight KS28 per side flanked a central array of two KS28, all ground-stacked. Six Kara II placed atop the subwoofers provided in-fill coverage, meeting both the band’s preferences and the lighting designer’s sightline requirements.
For venues requiring additional coverage, 12 Kara II per side were deployed as out-fill. At the Accor Arena in Paris —the most demanding venue of the tour— Victory Event added four delay positions with six K2 each, bringing the total to 24 delay enclosures.
The system ran entirely on LA12X amplified controllers, powered via Milan-AVB, with audio routed from the console to the amplifiers. This network protocol delivered two immediate benefits: sound quality and operational reliability. “Milan-AVB sounds better and is redundant, so it performs flawlessly in this deployment”, says Sørensen. “There is no need to physically move cables”.
This digital infrastructure streamlined operations throughout the tour. With just one setup day and two rehearsal days, efficiency was critical. Milan-AVB’s plug-and-play connectivity allowed the crew to preconfigure system files in advance and load them into the LA12X controllers at each venue, eliminating lengthy cabling and troubleshooting processes, reducing transport costs and ensuring identical sonic performance at every show.
On stage, a monitor system comprising 12 X15 and two KS21 provided additional reinforcement on top of in-ears without overwhelming the mix. With no electronic instruments on stage and guitar and bass sent directly via stems, the stage remained clean. “There are no high frequencies coming from the stage”, adds Sørensen. “The sound image is the same everywhere”.
FOH engineer Johan Meyer also used two X8 and one SB15 to replicate the arena system’s sonic signature, giving him a key advantage: he could fine-tune the mix backstage using the reference system while freeing up audience seating.
“The entire system was also energy efficient”, notes Sørensen. “This was important to Gojira, who are very aware of our collective environmental responsibility”.
The final deployment was a great success, and feedback from the audio team confirmed Victory Event’s decisions, ensuring Gojira’s first arena tour met the expectations of their growing fan base.
The engineers were more than satisfied. In particular, Meyer was thrilled —it sounded exactly how he wanted it to, concludes Sørensen.
Related images:
- LA_Gojira_1 © ERRICK EASTERDAY - L-Acoustics delivers precision and power for Gojira arena tour
- LA_Gojira_2 © ERRICK EASTERDAY - The tour featured a complex video installation and a new L-Acoustics sound system capable of delivering the precision and power their music demands
- LA_Gojira_3 © ERRICK EASTERDAY - L-Acoustics partner Victory Event deploys K Series for double drum setup demanding exceptional transient response
- LA_Gojira_4 © ERRICK EASTERDAY - French progressive metal band Gojira has spent over 20 years building a reputation as one of the most technically accomplished acts in the genre
