Bandit chief executive, Lester Cobrin says: "Although it is the band's final tour, high production values were top of the agenda as they want it to be a memorable last tour - which is really credible."
James was offered the gig after his recent design work on the Shane Ward and Andy Abraham tours for Production North, both of which were also serviced by Bandit as the lighting contractor.
The clean looking, gently tiered set designed by Production North was also taken into account in James' design, which is based around a 40ft wide x 30ft deep box truss onstage, with a front truss. On the front are four ETC Source Fours and four 4-lite blinders, along with a motorised roll-down projection screen on its very front rail, used for G4's video intro and during the support act sets.
On the upstage e-section of the box are four Martin Professional Martin MAC 2K Spot moving lights, five MAC 2K washes and four bars of ACLs.
At the back are four cylindrical columns of white gauze - part of the set - introducing a contemporary Corinthian twist, and a structural 3D element. Each is lit internally from above and below with a MAC 600.
An LED starcloth at the back includes white gauze in front of it. There is another projection screen hanging off the back truss - these were introduced into the set by show producer Christian Storm.
On the floor, James has six MAC 2KSpots, four located on the set and two on the deck, plus four 2K Washes and four PARs. Five 6-cell ground rows at the back are utilised to up-light the white cyc (in front of the starcloth) and Pulsar ChromaBanks are used to illuminate the set fascias. Finally, completing the floor detail are three short-nosed floor PARs, used to up-light the three backing musicians.
James is running the show using a WholeHog II console, which is also triggering a Catalyst media server (supplied by XL Video) and projections onto the screens. Video playback content for the show was custom produced by Helene Spencer.
(Jim Evans)
