Alice GustafsonThe huge rig includes eight Robe BMFL Spot and 96 CycFX 8 moving lights supplied by US rental company Upstaging, together with the rest of the lighting and rigging equipment package.
Leroy’s creative starting point was that they wanted something totally different.
With the distinctive ‘V’ of the album artwork as a base for inspiration, the trussing and set architecture – including 19 (nine each side, one centre) eye-catching cascading Plexiglass columns upstage – was evolved around the concept of conventional and inverted Vs.
Leroy’s objective was also to present a set structure that made a strong statement in its own right and that could be changed by being lit and textured with video sources, providing a dynamic and constantly changing environment for the performance.
It includes a B-stage and a connecting walkway allowing the band to perform among their fans.
The video content is rear projected onto the Plexiglass panels, which can be filled with smoke, and is abstract and provocative rather than hi def. and literal.
The panels also move to bring yet another set of variations to this innovative visual equation.
The ceiling structure comprises a giant lighting feature made of 12 jointed arms rigged with lighting fixtures, all of which move on a series of wire winches, devised by TAIT and Upstaging.
Leroy first saw Robe’s BMFL at a special preview in Australia last year, just prior to the product’s launch.
“I would never expect any company to buy a product that I or they don’t fully believe in as it’s a big financial commitment,” he explains. “But we all agreed that the BMFL was a solid investment.”
The BMFLs, CycFX 8s and other fixtures on the rig are programed and run via a grandMA 2 console which is being operated on the road by lighting director and programmer Brian Jenkins.
“They are doing a fantastic job in key lighting the band,” says Brian. “The colour-space is excellent and the lightsource is even edge-to-edge, with no hot-spots.
“We’re all struck with how bright and snappy the lights are, but they’re perfectly capable of being subtle and smooth as well,” he states.
The 96 CycFX 8s outline the L-shaped thrust running between the Main and B stages and are also positioned around the perimeter of the B-stage.
TAIT made custom brackets for the CycFX 8s, allowing the units to hang off the edges of the runway and the B stage, and once mounted in these, the units mate-up seamlessly and can be used as one integrated fixture.
Mapping the eight 15W RGBW LED pixels in each CycFX batten individually has enabled the creation of a series of fun and funky pixel bumps and chases that run throughout the show as well as their base task of defining the edges of the runway and B stage and for occasional up-lighting.
Also working on Leroy’s creative team for the V tour is lighting programmer Jason Baeri and video programmer Loren Barton.
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