The Black Ice World Tour marks the first time that the band's lighting director Cosmo Wilson has toured with the grandMA. A main system and backup are on hand to control the extensive lighting package required for the large set and AC/DC's over-the-top performance.
"I've used a lot of different consoles, but I started using the grandMA on some one-off dates for other artists and have done a lot of corporate shows with it," he points out. "This is my first chance to tour with it. That's when you really get to learn it. I've always liked a lot of grandMA's features, and I'd been thinking I wanted to use it for AC/DC. Dave Hill, the co-lighting designer with Patrick Woodroffe, is also a grandMA fan."
"Generally, I take notes during the show and try to make it better the next day. But since I'm an on-the-fly guy, with the grandMA, it's so easy to grab things and change them in the middle of the show. Everything is at your fingertips," says Wilson.
Among the lighting instruments supplied by Upstaging Lighting & Transport and controlled by the grandMA are 48 x Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300 as well as 36 x Vari*Lite VL3000 spots. The rest of the lighting rig consists of Coemar, Lycian, Elation, Zap Technology, Martin and Color Kinetics products.
(Claire Beeson)
