Taking care of the festival house rig was head of lighting, Andy 'Fraggle' Porter, who chose Clay Paky's extremely bright, effects-rich Alpha Profile 1500s and Alpha Wash 1500s to deliver dynamic beam shaping, vibrant colour and super bright effects to the long-running event.
2013's headlining acts included: The Rolling Stones lit by Patrick Woodroffe, Arctic Monkeys lit by Andy Watson and Mumford and Sons lit by Ed Warren. Each put Fraggle's house rig through its paces and all made dramatic and creative use of the Alpha 1500 Profiles and Washes. In addition each designer specified his own additional requirements for Clay Paky fixtures.
For the main rig Neg Earth supplied 29 Alpha Profile 1500, 10 Alpha Wash 1500, 20 Sharpy and 10 Sharpy Wash 330. However Rolling Stones LD Patrick Woodroffe added more Alpha Washes and Profiles and a number of Sharpy's to the mix. Rigged at varying levels upstage, the Sharpys provided razor-sharp architectural backlight that gave depth to the stage for the audience and television cameras alike. Meanwhile the additional Alpha Washes and Sharpys were rigged onto a custom Arch Truss to deliver strong key and feature lighting effects.
Complementing the Alpha Profile was the Alpha Wash, which bought vibrant colour to the stage day and night.
As has been the case for many years 'Fraggle' was in charge of lighting at the Pyramid Stage. Working alongside Neg Earth's account director, Julian Lavender, and his team of skilled riggers and technicians, Fraggle managed a gruelling schedule of overnight turnarounds to rig, focus and programme each headlining act's bespoke rigs.
"We were aware that the headline acts use the Clay Paky Alpha Profile and Wash 1500s as part of their standard touring rig", explains Fraggle, who had also been crew chief on the Rolling Stones UK and US Shows last Christmas. "This included the Rolling Stones' LD Patrick Woodroffe. He has been using more than 100 Clay Paky fixtures, including 32 Alpha Profile 1500s, on the '50 and Counting' celebratory shows. My job is to ensure that we can offer the lighting solutions that each designer expects. They don't get much time to pre-programme their shows and they prefer to work with the fixtures that they are used to.
"We positioned the Alpha Wash 1500s in the house rig on LX1 and LX 2 to provide the powerful backlight required," continues Fraggle. "This was not just for the main acts but also for the bands playing during the daytime as they needed something that would still have an impact on the stage and pick out the performers from the backdrops."
While Patrick Woodroffe added a number of Alpha Profiles to the front truss and specially built side trusses, Andy Watson bought in a considerable number of Sharpys to provide dramatic beams to balance the Arctic Monkeys' dynamic laser show.
(Jim Evans)
