Bushell, who was also co-designer of the tour's stage set, specified the nine-lamp Svoboda as part of a three-truss rig that surmounted a stage framed with a combination cabaret/theatre set with 2D cartoon-style set pieces silhouetted against the band's 19th century-style wallpaper backdrop.
He explains: "The band's performance is very visual, an excellent live act. They're always researching magic tricks coming up with new visual gags and buying new costumes. So I wanted to reflect this energy and excitement with quite a powerful light show, but with a design that was versatile enough to be dark and moody where needed.
"The whole look has a dark twist to it thanks to the band's distinct artwork. The two giant trees that frame the stage have claws coming out of them, the bushes upstage have dark faces curved out of them and I put steel cut-outs of evil eyes in the gel frames of 10 of the scattered 2-light Molefay lamps."
He continues: "I used a line of ADB Svoboda 9-lamp light batten units, arranged with a slight gap between each to create a streaky effect. I hadn't used them before in anger, and I wanted plenty of things to stab and bump with for this tour. I take great pride in hitting every big drum fill, guitar stab, every shout etc, so I used the Svobda instead of the usual array of ACL bars. They have a great look, very distinctive and powerful, and they proved extremely tourable and reliable."
(Jim Evans)
