McFadden's musical direction has changed considerably following his move from Westlife and Ollandini's lighting brief was left wide open, apart from the fact that he was asked to make it a bit rocky and raw, to suit McFadden's gritty new style and his dynamics as a solo performer. "There's plenty of creative scope," he says. "The set really rocks out one minute, gets bluesey and ballady the next and also gets stripped right back at times to just him and his acoustic guitar."
Ollandini and lighting technician Martin Garnish are using a two truss rig. The front one features Martin MAC 2K performances to light and project gobos onto the back drape and MAC 500 profiles used to key light the band - McFadden plus 5 musicians.
The 40ft rear truss has four legs of mini-beam hung vertically downwards - for a contemporary metalwork matrix look. Attached to each leg are Pulsar ChromaBank LED strips, MAC 500 and MAC600 moving lights, and at the top of each leg are ChromaQ ColorBlocks used as truss toners. In the gap between each of the four vertical legs, hanging off the back truss, are more MAC 500s and MAC 600s.
The fixture count is completed with additional MAC 500s on the floor. Bandit is also supplying two Lycian 1200w HMI followspots. Ollandini runs the show using a WholeHog II console.
Sound for the tour is supplied by Wigwam, with Nick Warren mixing FOH and LJ on monitors. It's a d&b system with Digico D5 consoles at both ends. Tour Manager is Paul Higgins and Production Manager is David Bond.
(Jim Evans)
