USA - The Rolling Stones took to the road in April for their Hackney Diamonds Tour, a North American run of both classics and original material that featured an energetic, modern production utilising Elation Proteus Maximus luminaires.
Creative director Patrick Woodroffe worked alongside lighting designer Terry Cook of WBD and associate lighting designer and programmer Ethan Weber, all long-time associates of the band, with lighting supply by Upstaging.
The band released Hackney Diamonds last October, their first studio album of original material in 18 years, and followed up with a much-anticipated tour announcement.
“We knew from the start that video would be a major part of the tour, so choosing the right light would be important,” Cook commented, adding that they met several times with Upstaging to discuss options. “The light I wanted had to be universal, it had to be bright, and it had to be all the same units – this was vital for the look and feel of the show.” While Woodroffe laid out fixture guidelines, Cook made specific fixture choices with support from Weber.
The 50,000-lumen Proteus Maximus is a light that Cook knows well from experience on past shows. “We knew it had the punch to cut through the video screen,” he said. “We were under the roof of the stage, but we wanted an IP-rated fixture to hopefully reduce the maintenance for the touring team. And being LED, it also helped that the source would likely not fade over the tour duration.”
Serving as the rig workhorse light, the Maximus units were located on up/down spine trusses and verticals stage left and right. To create a uniform feel, they were evenly spaced in the rig to allow for a grid of lights over and to the side of the stage. As the Stones do not play the same setlist every night and the number of variables from night to night can be substantial, the team had to be prepared. An all-purpose power luminaire with profile/beam/wash capabilities and comprehensive FX package was essential.
“We used pretty much all the light had to offer,” Cook remarked. “With the band’s performance catalogue of nearly 100 songs, we really must use what we have to the fullest. The animation wheel was great for us, but it was the zoom that allowed us to wash the stage for one song then flick to tight beams/shafts of light in the next. It’s a universal light that allowed us many different options – it is really a hybrid unit and that’s helpful.”
Cook worked closely with Ethan Weber on the project, a seasoned Stones veteran who has been lighting the band for 30 years. “Overall, I was very impressed that the Maximus’s weren't blown out by the large video wall just upstage of them,” Weber stated. “A little smoke in the air and we had both a light and video show working together.” He added that the fixture was used to create some special moments in some of rock’s most classic numbers.
“A couple of my favourites were in Paint It Black and Satisfaction, where I bumped between a gobo look and an open beam look for verse/chorus (Paint It Black) and Mick call out/audience response (Satisfaction). It's something I wouldn't generally do as it can look messy, but the Maximus gobo motors are quick enough that it was seamless and, I thought, very effective.”
The Rolling Stones opened the tour on 28 April to a sellout crowd at Houston’s NRG Stadium and played sold-out shows until the tour’s final date, 21 July at Thunder Ridge Nature Arena in Missouri.
