The stage for 5 Seconds of Summer’s Everyone’s a Star! World Tour breaks away from the traditional rectangular configuration, adopting a ring shape measuring approximately 23 metres in diameter. The band performs on the upstage half in front of a curved video wall, while the downstage section forms a curved thrust extending out into the audience.
The inside of the ring serves as a VIP area, placing some audience members within the stage itself. The thrust ends at a second drum kit installed on an automated lift.
Every date on the tour uses an L-Acoustics K Series system supplied by UK Certified Provider Adlib, designed by Adlib audio systems engineer Billy Bryson and mixed at FOH by Sebastien Teti.
The tour opened on 26 March at the SSE Arena Belfast and runs through December, crossing arenas in the UK and Europe, arenas and amphitheatres in North America, followed by South America, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Venue capacities range from 8,000 to 20,000, while maintaining consistent sound quality across them all.
Teti came to the project through the band’s drummer. “Two years ago, I received a call to mix Ashton Irwin’s solo project for a show in Los Angeles”, he explains. “Since Ashton shares management with 5SOS, they asked me to take over FOH mixing duties for the band right after the first day of rehearsals”.
L-Acoustics and a systems engineer specialising in the platform
Teti’s preference for the platform is clear.
I find L-Acoustics to be the most musical-sounding speaker platform available. From a mixing perspective, I don’t feel like I’m fighting aggressive system DSP or artificial processing. There is a distinct sonic signature, but it remains natural and transparent, giving me full control over my mix, he says.
Production management asked him for his preferred system. However, Teti did not emphasise the number of boxes, but rather the person responsible for the system. “I emphasised that having a dedicated Systems Engineer who is deeply invested and detail-oriented was critical”, he explains. “Our System Engineer, Billy Bryson, has been all of that and more”.
The two aspects are connected: according to Teti, an engineer who specialises in the platform “offers a rare level of expertise, and I prefer working alongside someone who trusts the product as much as, or more than, I do”. Bryson has toured with the band since 2020.
No centre cluster and a VIP area inside the ring
The geometry of the stage determined the design requirements. Sound had to reach both the VIP area inside the ring and the curved thrust surrounding it, avoiding interference between the two areas and without using a centre cluster, which would have blocked sightlines to the video wall. The four band members trade lead vocals as they move along the thrust, with an acoustic drum kit playing at full volume behind them.
Bryson’s solution was to treat the VIP area as an independent space. “Billy solved this during the design phase by engineering coverage to give that section the high-energy feel of an intimate club”, says Teti. “It sounds fantastic. I almost wish I could mix the show from down there”.
Source Intelligence keeps all four lead vocals clear
That same design phase made the tour one of the first productions to adopt Source Intelligence, using it before the technology was publicly launched in May 2026.
Source Intelligence applies a machine learning source separation algorithm to a vocal channel in real time, removing crowd noise, instrument bleed and PA spill, and reducing everything that is not the voice by up to 40 dB. The system can run four instances simultaneously, exactly the number of lead vocals in this show.
Being one of the early adopters testing Source Intelligence was also critical, as it helped us manage the bleed from four lead vocalists moving along the thrust, alongside a powerful acoustic drum kit on the main stage. Between L-Acoustics and Adlib, being able to use this tool has been a genuine game-changer compared to workflows I’ve used in the past, explains Teti.
K1 and K2 scale from arenas to amphitheatres
Bryson designed the system to maintain its characteristics across both types of venues. The main hangs comprise up to 14 K1 and four K2 per side, with the K2 Panflex fins configured to minimise sound spill onto the thrust.
Up to eight K1-SB per side fly directly behind them. Both the box count and the electronic steering of the low-frequency pattern are reset for each venue to adapt the sub coverage to the characteristics of each space. Side hangs of up to 16 K2 per side extend coverage to the 180-degree line.
An array of four Kara II per side serves as in-fill, flown inboard of the main hangs to provide stereo coverage for the VIP area. Again, the Panflex fins are oriented to keep energy off the thrust and the main stage.
Eighteen KS28, installed on Adlib’s custom touring dollies, are deployed in an end-fire configuration around the outer edges of the circle, with four positioned in the centre to cover the VIP area. Two A15 travel on the same dollies and serve as out-fills, alongside two X12 for various utility functions.
Ten X8 provide front-fill coverage for the VIP area from the downstage lighting shelf, while a further eight X8, mounted on custom brackets, line the outer perimeter of the thrust to provide nearfield imaging during the B-stage songs.
For the small number of larger venues that require them, the delay system comprises four hangs of six K2 with a flown LARAK II. Teti works over two X8 and an SB18 powered by an LA4X.
A total of 32 LA12X drive the system, installed mainly in Adlib’s triple-wide racks positioned on either side of the stage. A further LARAK II is located under the stage to manage the VIP and thrust fills, alongside five P1 processors and the L-ISA Processor II on which Source Intelligence runs.
A K Series system was the clear choice for Seb and me, providing the precise control needed to work with the show’s design. The comprehensive tools in Soundvision allow the system to be scaled to fit venues of different sizes and tuned in detail for each space. This translates into excellent tonal consistency from day to day and has allowed us to maintain the same sonic signature as we transitioned between arenas and amphitheatres in the United States, says Bryson.
The mix translates to festival K Series systems
For two festival dates, the show moved completely away from the touring system. At Lollapalooza Chicago, 5 Seconds of Summer performed on the main stage using the festival’s own L-Acoustics system, selected by the festival rather than Adlib, as is the case for every act performing there.
“Beyond managing the thrust, we also navigated two major festival dates: one on a K2 deployment and another on a massive K1/K2/K-Sub rig on the main stage at Lollapalooza”, explains Teti. “The transition was seamless, and the mix translated effortlessly. Moving from indoor arenas to outdoor amphitheatres brings its own set of variables, but Billy and I maintain constant communication. He works to deliver daily system consistency, leaving the venue’s natural acoustic environment as the only real variable I have to account for”.
Every interaction with the L-Acoustics team has gone above and beyond our expectations. However, the feedback he highlights is not his alone. Feedback from the band, management and fans has been positive. Even in the most challenging acoustic environments we have encountered, the system has proven to be reliable, consistent and exceptionally articulate, concludes Teti.
Photo credits: Steve Sroka
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