Hurst worked with video specialist Richard Shipman and XL's project managers Paul Wood and Des Fallon to get the video elements exactly as he wanted. From the outset, he intended using video as a lightsource blended together with the lighting cues. LED tech for the tour was Andy Tonks.
The tour's starting point was a massive show in Oslo, Norway (the band's home country) to celebrate the City's Centenary. With 120,000 attending, it was the largest show in Norway to date, and featured a 10 camera DVD shoot with lots of video onstage. Hurst wanted to continue the video theme on a scaled down version for the arena tour. He also wanted to separate the show into three distinct acts that could be "unfolded" throughout the set, and so divided the video into three physically different phases.
The set kicked off with projections from a Barco R18 projector rigged from the front truss, beaming onto a silver drape hanging off the mid-stage truss. Hurst's design incorporated four main 'media' trusses containing lighting and including a curved truss that was sub-hung with five 3m trusses.
Each of these sub-trusses were rigged with three moving lights and three panels of Unitek V9 LED screen. They were automated via an Ibex motor control system, which enabled very dynamic looks. As this happened, the fascias of each piece of truss effectively became moving 'bars' of video.
The rear truss was also curved, and rigged as far to the back wall as possible each night, greatly enhancing the sense of depth onstage. It was rigged with five evenly spaced drop-hangs, each consisting of 3 LED video panels, with a moving light filling the gaps between each one. This created a total of 30 video panels in a symmetric but broken up look.
All video content was stored and run via an ArKaos system operated by Shipman, while Hurst ran the lightshow from a WholeHog II console, with a PixelDrive for his 15 PixelLine LED battens. All video content was created by Hurst and Shipman using archive and library sources as their base material, which they then edited, manipulated and effected into footage appropriate for the show.
(Chris Henry)
