Following this huge success story, James Blunt embarked on a sell-out UK tour at the end of last year, extended to a full world tour in 2006. After recent European and UK legs so far this year, the tour visits North America in March, with further legs scheduled for Australasia and Japan. Lite Alternative's Paul Normandale was working on a set design for the tour and decided to make Color Web one of the main elements after being impressed by its modularity and fresh approach to providing visual effects.
He commented: "I particularly liked the fact that it's lightweight, offers the chance to light through and indeed light the actual webbing itself, all offering diversity as opposed to solid products of a similar type. Its lightweight nature also means it can hang in a range of places and it's re-configurable, which is a real advantage when faced with lower trims, widths and weight limits as the tour moves round the different world regions."
Paul's set design features two separate layers of twenty-five piece Color Web panels hung from back and mid overhead stage trusses spaced thirteen feet apart. The webbing is configured in an arc shape to allow a clear passage for video projections from a front truss onto a forty feet high white projection cyc directly below the webbing at rear of stage.Moving lights are hung directly behind the Color Web on the same trusses, so allowing them to light through the webbing for extra visual effect. Color Web content is provided by combination of custom tour images - chosen by James Blunt from sources such as the album artwork - and library images, played back from a PixelMAD media server.
Due to the product's quick and easy re-configurability, the production crew have the option of changing the webbing layouts to fit in with differing venue sizes on the upcoming North American tour. Glen Johnson, lighting director, commented: "The Color Web's very lightweight and robust, with some stunning looks via Paul's design with the moving lights hung behind the webbing. It's created a huge interest with the venues wherever we've been."
Rob Hayden, tour manager for James Blunt, commented: "I was promised a new and innovative product which would add another element to our show and I've been very pleased with the end result. It's new and fresh and has many possibilities, and it's also good value for money."
The full tour lighting rig consists of 50sq.m of Chroma-Q Color Web, PixelMAD media server, three 5k projectors, Arkos media server, Avo Art 4000 dimmer, Wholehog 3 lighting console, four Eytherlynx Artnet nodes, 40ft Black A Type, 80ft Stack truss and seven 1-tonne Lodestar motors. Fixtures include two DP2000s, 11 Martin Mac 2000E, five Mac 700, 11 Mac 250, six S4 profiles, six Omni, four 4-lites and one long throw spot.
The Chroma-Q Color Web is designed and manufactured by Artistic Licence and distributed worldwide by A.C. Lighting. Chroma-Q Color Web is licensed by Artistic Licence, Color Kinetics and Super Vision.
(Lee Baldock)
