Double Knight of Illumination winner, Will Potts designed the visual element of the show, with assistance from lighting director Adam Power. Will said, "Designing a rig which fits into numerous venues was the main consideration for this project. I chose to leave the physical design work flexible and in Adam's hands for the shows. He knows what each fixture has to achieve, so it's up to him to use the spaces and characteristics of each venue to the design's advantage. Having such a flexible approach is the most economical way of scaling the show up and down."
Will and Adam knew exactly what they wanted to achieve with the design, and were open to discussion on which products and processes they needed to make it happen. As well as being certain about the looks they had for the show, working within a tight budget was a key factor, without needing to compromise the design. With the bigger picture decided, PRG XL Video project manager Martin Bellamy filled in the details and made sure the show had everything it needed for the budget available.
Bradley Stokes, the lighting crew chief for the tour explained the lighting products used on Dusky and the logistics behind getting them in and out of each venue: "The different variations of the touring rig consist of truss towers fitted with GLP Spot One moving lights, GLP Impression X4 LED wash lights, Solaris Flare Junior LED strobes and PixelLine 1044 LED battens.
"To save time when loading in, all the truss towers were pre-built in Longbridge so we could just carry them into the venues. This did bring an extra set of challenges as access to most of the venues was either upstairs or through tight doorways, which the truss towers were too tall for. However, with the team we had on Dusky, we always found a way of working around these access complications without them becoming a problem."
Adam said, "The Dusky show is really rewarding because each gig brings a fresh set of challenges. We've got three versions of the rig; which we use for the different size venues we've been playing. The biggest shows were the summer music festivals, but now the tour is stopping off at 1000-2000 capacity venues, we've got to be savvy in our approach to fit everything in and make the show look the same from one gig to the next."
(Jim Evans)
