Lighting designer and video director is Willie Williams. The console was specified and programmed for the tour by Dave Sadler and is being operated on the road by chief LX Simon Sherriff. The lighting was initially programmed at Three Mills Studios, London ahead of the first UK date at the Manchester Palace Theatre by Sadler and Associate lighting designer Richard Pacholski using the new grandMA 3D visualiser.
The show utilises over 60 moving lights - a combination of Vari*Lite 500s, Martin Professional fixtures and Digital Light Curtains, plus a large generic and LED rig including Rainbow colour scrollers and Atomic strobes. The grandMA is also triggering two Hippotizer media servers running video, and additionally controlling numerous set practicals and other lighting effects embedded into some of the costumes. In total, this all amounts to six DMX universes.
The grandMA along with all the lighting kit, is being supplied by London-based White Light. The majority of the rig is rigged over the stage and on the FOH bars, with 8 x VL500s onstage and 2 x MACs on the circle front.
"I specified grandMA as it's the strongest control platform around at the moment, it's ideal for this type of show and it does everything I need - very quickly," states Sadler. During the programming he used the modulators heavily, effects which are based on the parameters of single channels or fixtures, and stored and edited similar to any other values in the channel.
(Jim Evans)
