Billed as the 'spring leg' of the tour, Robbie's three South African shows and one in Dubai, with his 'B rig' have been and gone. L&SI met up with the brains behind the scenes, and asked what treats lie in store on the main show, and how on earth do you top KnebworthΩ
Wob Roberts, production manager "It's been difficult but it's finally coming together! The authorities have been a piece of cake but the difficult bit has been getting hold of the equipment that we need at the price we want. Just getting the suppliers together has been the biggest challenge.
"The intention is take this B show around South East Asia, etc, so when we do actually do the exotic leg, we have a production in the bag."
Lee Lodge, creative director "It was a conscious decision to make these shows part of the tour. We did a production in Berlin last October and many of those themes have extended across the year.
"Dubai has been a long haul for the crew, but the biggest challenge is expectation after Knebworth, which opened with Rob dangling by his ankles. We have another exciting piece of staging - but I can't tell you about it!
"The 2003 tour was very much driven by the race-track video screen technology; this time we have gone back to basics. Architecturally, the stage is amazing, but everything originates from the performance."
Ray Winkler, set designer (working with Mark Fisher on the main design) "This set is the result of collaboration between Lee and myself, with the brief to take the essence of Berlin and turn it into a B stage, creating a unified look with the main show. The decision not to have a roof on the main show came through the recommendation that it allows for quite a broad band of design possibilities because it offers so much freedom. The price you pay is that the man who pays the cheque will get wet when it rains."
Sherif el Barbari (a.k.a 'the Egyptian Magician'), sound system designer/engineer "This is a completely different PA system to South Africa, so it was like coming home. The venue is extremely wide with a short throw and has huge glass fascias. We decided there was no way we would point any sound at these because it would sound terrible for everybody. The good thing about this system is that you can really control where it is going to.
"We use a DiGiCo D5 desk, and switch off the vents on some FOH equipment to avoid sucking in sand, but so far everything has been well behaved."
Dave Bracey, sound designer "Sherif does the calculations so he knows how far we can afford to move the PA upstage, downstage, left, right etc, and still be able to do the job we need it to do. I ultimately say what kit I want to use.
"When we saw the specs we knew that we couldn't fire sound at the glass; we would rather let 100 people get slightly indirect sound for the benefit of 20,000 people.
"Sherif has visited every venue that we are playing on the European tour, but here we had to work from the drawings."
John James (a.k.a 'JJ'), monitor engineer "The next leg is Brit Row gear all the way, but it is the same sort of deal. I am dealing with the band but it's just meatier wedges and amplifiers. I use a D5 digital desk, and I love it; I couldn't go back to analogue. Once musicians know that you can have a different mix for every song, you just can't."
Steph Thompson, mics and radios
