The band's stunning stage look is being created by the slick teamwork of lighting designer Dave Sherwin and visuals operator Robin Haddow. The tour is being project managed for HSL by Mike Oates.
In addition to the LED and moving lights, HSL is also supplying six vertical trussing towers, two pairs each at 10ft in the centre, 8ft and 6ft on the outside; six two cell Moles and six Atomic strobes - each of which sits on each tower, along with six of the Robe ColorSpot 1200ATs on top. The rest of the moving lights are scattered around the floor, along with an additional 20 DB4s.
HSL designed and supplied the custom scaffolding structure onto which all the LED tiles and battens are rigged, which sits upstage, and folds upwards if required, to allow for changeovers to continue once it's in place. "HSL have been really attentive to what we have specifically needed and wanted - nothing has been too much trouble" says Sherwin. HSL also supplied two crew - Andy Pollard and Jon Gallagher "who've been fantastic" says Sherwin.
Each show uses a general over-stage rig in addition to their own 'specials' - put together from the specs supplied by Snow Patrol and the various other artists appearing.
The iColor Tiles have had the diffusers removed from the front, making them look more hardcore and edgy, and less like a conventional smooth LED effect. The majority of the content running through them is abstract and soft patterning.
These combined with lots of moody 'beam technology', minimal front lighting and bold primary colour mixes makes an original show, that holds back plenty of tricks and unseen looks for the end.
Sherwin and Haddow are both based in Glasgow (as are the band) and have known one another for some time. Haddow's background is lighting; rather than video, which he reckons is one of the secrets to their very organic combined style of operation. "We use the LED like another lighting fixture to some extent," says Haddow. "At the end of the day, the people come to see the band not watch a video show, and we're very conscious of that."
Console wise, HSL is supplying a WholeHog 3 for Sherwin, being run with a USB playback wing, and a WholeHog II for Haddow, who is running a Catalyst media server for all the content. The fixture exchange facility on the Hog 3 is proving invaluable for the festival situation, allowing them to quickly and easily integrate whatever moving lights happen to be in residence that day into their show.
The video content was created using a variety of sources - some culled from the Catalyst onboard library, some from internet royalty-free image banks and some from elsewhere. They also take a live camera feed into the Catalyst system which is used extremely sparingly for maximum impact, and an audio feed is utilised at specific moments to produce random effects.
HSL's Mike Oates says: "It's great to be working with young LD's like Dave and Robin who are full of fresh ideas, and a band on the up like Snow Patrol - their combined energy and enthusiasm is infections and inspiring."
(Chris Henry)
