The fourth annual Europe's Tribute to Elvis, which took place in Blackpool's iconic 19th century Empress Ballroom, gave aspiring Kings of Rock and Roll the chance to qualify for a trip to the Elvis Tribute Artist Contest finals in Memphis. Arranpaul Audio, which has handled lighting and audio for the event in the past, was tasked with creating the design for the 2015 edition of the contest. LD and engineer Ollie Wilkinson called on a collection of Chauvet fixtures to create something of a fresh Elvis experience for the audience during the three-day event.
"As the event is becoming one of the most popular Elvis competitions in the world, we knew that we needed to step the game up this year, and of course, our Chauvet fixtures didn't let us down," said Wilkinson.
In total, Wilkinson incorporated 16 Q-Wash 560Z-LED fixtures and eight Next NXT-1 moving LED panels from ChauvetProfessional, as well as three MotionOrbs, four Geyser RGB LED foggers and eight PiXPar 24 par-style fixtures from Chauvet DJ into his show design.
"When you see Elvis tribute shows around the world, there's usually a big upstage E.L.V.I.S sign in lights," continued Wilkinson. "I didn't want to go for that typical look, so we played about with the thought of using separate Elvis letters in gobos on the downstage truss. After some thought we had the idea to use our Chauvet NEXT NXT-1 fixtures to spell ELVIS across the truss, along with other supporting acts such as Suzi Quatro, who also graced the stage."
While the NXT-1s enabled Wilkinson to create something a little different from what one would usually expect to find at an Elvis show, another tradition was at the forefront of his lighting considerations.
"It became obvious to me when designing the rig that the world of Elvis was very black and white when it came to colour and contrast," continued Wilkinson. "It's rather difficult to keep the audience engaged with different temperatures of white, so I had to be very careful when washing the stage with primary colours and using gobos etc." As a solution, Wilkinson resorted to using a lot of pastels in the design, using both the NXTs and the 560Zs. He continued, "I could go from a primary red to a lavender wash very easily just by adding an extra bit of white into my palette."
Wilkinson positioned eight 560Z fixtures on a flown truss in the centre of the ballroom for a full band wash, as well as painting the extravagant 100-year-old chandelier clad ceiling with colour. A further eight fixtures were positioned on the upstage truss to give a back wash, and also to wash the white wall at the back of the stage. Significantly, Wilkinson married the 560Zs with the three MotionOrbs, which adorned the back wall.
"As the whole event was being filmed, I placed the MotionOrbs against the white upstage wall to give a sense of colour and depth to the stage on camera. This provided a good amount of eye candy while keeping intensity to a suitable level." He continued, "The MotionOrbs combined with the 560Zs really created a complementary look, and looked especially impacting on camera."
To add extra snippets of wash light at crucial moments during the set to illuminate various members of the band, Wilkinson added eight Chauvet PiXPar 24s to the roster of lighting fixtures.
Complementing the grandiose aura of Blackpool's Empress Ballroom, Wilkinson's final touch to the stage involved creating atmospheric effects with eight Chauvet Geyser RGBs positioned alongside the catwalk.
"It was a fantastic production to be involved with," concluded Wilkinson. "The Chauvet fixtures were essential to helping me recreate that electric atmosphere synonymous with Elvis performances."
(Jim Evans)
