Europe - Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres world tour has received widespread acclaim since launching in 2022, not only for the band’s celebrated music and engaging onstage presence, but also for their efforts in ushering in a new era of sustainable touring. Award-winning lighting designer Sooner Routhier has been working with Coldplay since 2019 and, keeping with the environmental ethic, she chose to light the shows using greener, more eco-friendly fixtures. The lighting vendor for the tour is a long-time partner, Upstaging.
Routhier’s original tour design launched in 2022 in support of the Music of the Spheres album, and the band is continuing the current stadium tour with the same design. For this summer’s European leg, which launched on 8 June at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, she was looking for the most effective way to add a searchlight-type effect to the show without using a heavy, power-consuming fixture. “We wanted to add lighting to the seats to expand the overall image of the rig without adding a ton of structure,” she said.
Consequently, Elation’s John Dunn and Chuck Dillingham from Freed Sales brought Elation’s new Proteus Atlas to Clear All Visuals in Nashville for Routhier to look at. “It was actually an amazing and fun experience,” she said. “We had the fixture on the rooftop deck of the office and pointed it in the direction of a rooftop bar down the street. We were able to see the beam shooting across the night sky from over two blocks away.”
The designer found what she sought in the powerful IP66-rated Proteus Atlas beam FX moving head, which debuted on the Coldplay tour. “We placed them in the seats behind the stage to add some extra firepower to the rig,” she stated. “Music of the Spheres is a hazeless show, yet even without haze, the fixtures are able to provide amazing beam effects without the use of unnatural atmospherics.”
The Proteus projects a powerful and razor-thin 0.6° beam comparable to 7K Xenon searchlights yet offers various design features and operates at a fraction of the power. Compact enough to be incorporated into virtually any lighting setup, the beam projects from a mammoth 320mm (12.5") front lens. Routhier’s design includes 48 units lined above and behind the stage in groups of four, all exposed to the elements.
Tour lighting director and programmer Shaheem Litchmore has been with Coldplay for three and a half years and manages the day-to-day handling of the fixtures on the road. “They allow the show to feel massive at moments,” he says, “and because they sit around the stage, they create an intimate, immersive experience. It’s like they give the room a hug that brings it all together.” Referencing the unit’s massive column of light, he says they “feel big but not disconnected. It’s massive but you also feel like you can reach out and touch it.
“We love the look of the beams punching through the stadium and touching the clouds; however, it's also cool to have a softer look from such a powerful fixture,” Litchmore remarked. “They expand the depth of our show and push our creativity.” He adds that they look forward to exploring more of the effects package as the tour continues, especially the continuous pan movement.
One of the highlight moments in the show, according to Litchmore, is in the song Clocks with no front light and the band silhouetted. “There is a big laser moment in that number, and the Atlas add a lot of beams on top of it all. It’s an impactful moment in the show and they punch right through,” he said, adding that “the reaction from the crowd during those moments is why we do this.”
One of the highest-attended and biggest-grossing tours of all time, Coldplay's environmental efforts on Music of the Spheres are considerable. Stages were developed with a team of sustainability experts and built from reusable materials, displays, lasers, lighting and PA are all low energy, and many more ecological initiatives. The Proteus aligns with the green ethos of the tour as it operates at a fraction of the power of 7000W Xenon fixtures for a much smaller footprint.
The European leg of Music of the Spheres world tour is scheduled to wrap on 2 September in Dublin.
