It kicked off in Cape Town at the CTICC before moving to Durban for an 'unhooked' show which did not have the full lighting and video rig. This gave the crew at CTICC a day and a half to strike the kit, transport it up to the Johannesburg venue, Wild Waters H2O, and get it rigged it time for the final show.
Gearhouse took care of gear whilst Dillon Jearey, MD of Kilowatt AV, took care of all logistics, planning and production for tech for the entire tour. LEDVision, the screen division of Gearhouse supplied the back screen. With the majority of the kit specified and sourced locally, Gearhouse SA pulled out all the stops in a busy December period. They supplied all the Martin MACs in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban and MGG Productions supplied the Martin LC2140 panels.
A huge stage setup with large amounts of LED screen and intelligent lighting created an "electrifying atmosphere".
The backdrop was a R16 Lighthouse LED screen with a low resolution Martin LC 2140 Semi-Transparent LED screen directly in front of it, allowing a mix of higher resolution and lower resolution footage to be displayed on each screen to create incredible visuals that appeared to be 3D. An X-Truss was lined with 1m LED bars and hung with Martin MAC250 Entours and MAC2000s and hung in front of the screens. The custom cube DJ box was covered in PixLED F11 LED tiles with MAC101s dotted around it and Martin Atomic strobes completing the setup. Downstage were more PixLED F11 cubes, hung to appear as though floating in the air. All video content was run off Catalyst media-servers and a Road HOG Full Boar Console with backup.
The tour was a huge success, with Deadmau5 commenting: "Now that's what I call a tour! Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg totally melted my face! You couldn't have convinced me anymore - 100% coming back again next year! I'll be taking the SA pride home with me to share with the rest of the world."
(Claire Beeson)
