"Emyr Afan, the director, and myself really didn't want to wash the stage out and lose the effect of the rock looks onstage especially as we had a great blackout in the huge kayam structure," said Routledge. "In order to achieve this I heavily backlit the whole show using the powerful Clay Paky Alpha Spot and Wash fixtures hung from "stalactite" and "stalagmites" of truss around the stage, all of which also housed atomic strobes, internal LED truss toning and criss-crossed with Thomas Pixelines. Rows of Thomas low voltage batterns were then used as key lights along the floor to uplight the bands with slight fill from Super Trouper spots front-of-house."
All of the lighting and truss equipment was supplied by Hawthorns working under Routledge's gaffer, Andy Hopkins. Rigging services were supplied by Star Events Group, led by Phil Addyman.
"I was also keen for the show not to be lost in a black-hole between the beams and that I didn't want to cluster the stage with band backdrops, so a 10m x 5m SoftLED Video star-cloth was hung at the rear of the stage for animated wallpaper and band logos throughout the show - this comes out beautifully on camera," says Routledge. "Using MA Video together with a GrandMA console gives me ability to instantly access one of thousands of video clips instantly whilst running the show lighting, audience lighting and keeping one eye on the broadcast output - there is simply no other desk out there capable of giving me the flexibility I had."
Routledge provided an Avolites Pearl for visiting LDs who were unfamiliar with the desk which was linked to the GrandMA as a remote touch board. "I kept control of colours, levels and video content whilst visiting LDs could use the Pearl for bumps, blinders and strobes. Any playback on the MA can be controlled via DMX-IN, again giving me great flexibility. A laptop running MA On-PC software also lived in the network as a full tracking backup."
April and May were also busy months for Routledge, who lit the Breathing Life Awards 2006 broadcast live from the Royal Lancaster Hotel, a number of music events at Wembley Conference Centre all supplied by Hawthorns. Routledge is also providing GrandMA technical services to a number of major tours, from supplying a console to PRG for the Take That tour as well as programming services for the Elton John tour.
(Lee Baldock)
