JBL SRX900 System Powers All-American Rejects' House Party Tour

	"The pole-mount plates for the 906s allowed us to aim the top box up to the top level to ensure the people in VIP heard everything just as well," says Goers.

For The All-American Rejects' House Party Tour, production manager and front-of-house engineer Brendan Goers knew the traditional big-rig approach wouldn't cut it. With pop-up shows in backyards, skating rinks, and compact event spaces, including a standout performance at a skating rink in Arkansas, the band needed gear that was compact, powerful, and flexible enough to adapt to whatever space they landed in.

"We've had to fit where we fit," Goers says. "Some of these shows have been in literal backyards. It's been a lesson in rolling with the punches and putting the motto 'the show must go on' into practice."

Goers relies on a JBL Professional system comprising of JBL SRX906 loudspeakers, SRX918 subwoofers, and PRX912 wedges, products he hadn't used before the tour but quickly came to trust. "I had never heard the SRX boxes before this run of 'house' shows, but our entire team was very impressed with them right out of the box," he says. "We used another brand for the first few shows, and plain and simple, they just didn't cut it. We ended up blowing multiple speakers. But once we got the JBL SRX rig up and running, it was a night and day difference."

According to Goers, even The All-American Rejects frontman Tyson Ritter took notice. "He came down from the green room to mention the difference he noticed just while I was tuning the PA before soundcheck," he adds.

In addition to delivering sound quality, the system provided much-needed versatility. For example, the team pole-mounted the SRX906s during a pop-up show in Tulsa, aiming them to cover a second-floor VIP area. "It was exactly what we needed," Goers says. "The pole-mount plates for the 906s allowed us to aim the top box up to the top level to ensure the people in VIP heard everything just as well."

The JBL PRX912 wedges, not used by the band itself (which runs on IEMs), were well-suited to give [the support arcs] a few mixes on stage, and then we flip the front two around and used them as 'front fill/Tyson Ritter barrier,'" Goers explains. "It keeps the audience from encroaching on his space and allowed them to hear a full mix while being so close to the band and out of the main PA pattern."

One of the most unexpected challenges Goers faces is power. "All of these pop-up shows have been a power nightmare," he says. "At our most recent show in Tulsa, we were told all outlets were dedicated circuits. We later found out they were all on one circuit. The entire PA and backline power was on a single 20A circuit."

The system performed so efficiently that it managed to keep the show going, even after the breaker tripped mid-song. "Although that led to an incredibly moving moment with the crowd singing along on their own, I panicked," Goers admits. "We got the breaker reset and continued on...on one circuit. If that's not a show of how efficient the power of these speakers is, I don't know what is!"

The audience and crew reactions reflected the quality of the gear. "Almost any video you see online of these shows has comments that mention how good the band sounds," says Goers. "Many factors there, but it certainly couldn't have been done without the JBL PA we had."

Having previously used JBL A12 and A8 systems on past shows, Goers sees a consistent through line in the brand's reliability and sound. "What holds true across all of them is that they're just easy. Sounds great out of the box. Didn't take much to get them to sound the way I needed them to."