grandMA2 on song with the Rolling Stones
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Lighting designer and creative director Patrick Woodroffe of Woodroffe Bassett Design (WBD) worked closely with stage architects Stufish on developing the look and feel of the No Filter tour, which used four grandMA2 full-size consoles, one MA grandMA2 light, five MA NPUs (Network Processing Units) and four MA 8Port Nodes.
Woodroffe explained: “We had very little lead time once the tour had been confirmed but worked with a great team from Neg Earth on lighting, and Solotech on video. Stufish and Jeremy Lloyd put together the scenic design and concentrated very much on the detail of rigging and mounting all the various elements to produce a composition that was both stylish and practical.”
The lighting was programmed and run by longtime Stones lighting director Ethan Weber. He said: "There were always discussions, prior to the start of any Stones' tour from the 90's through the mid 2000's, about which lighting console(s) to use. It's now a given that the show will be run on a grandMA. It's an enjoyable console to programme and run, has great reliability and availability, is powerful and looks good sitting out there and the support you get throughout the world from the MA Lighting network and other users is hugely comforting.“
“We rely on grandMA2 consoles as they’re efficient and reliable workhorses, which is key on any such a production,” added Roland Greil, screens director and media server programmer. “The idea was to create a contemporary look for the show. To get this modern look, the four monolithic towers were created. Patrick wanted a sleek design, which hides all technical components. Any Rolling Stones show is remarkably special in its own right, as there’s nothing else out there which quite compares to it.”
The lighting was programmed and run by longtime Stones lighting director Ethan Weber. Terry Cook worked as associate lighting designer, Opie Skjerseth was the production director. Nick Keiser was the video and camera director, Treatment and Sam Pattinson were responsible for producing the video content and Lizzi Pockock also worked as content producer. Ben Rader was the overall crew chief video and Andy ‘Fraggle’ Porter the lighting crew chief.
(Jim Evans)
