The performances involved approximately 700 people including Ringo Starr, Dave Stewart and local upcoming indie stars The Wombats, all of which took place on eight surrounding rooftops - including the Walker Arts Gallery, St John's Beacon, the Empire Theatre, Lime Street Station - as well as on top of and in front of St George's Hall.
The site was challenging - lights had to be craned into position and rigged at all these locations, and also onto a series of scaffolding constructions around the main area.
The get-in started on the Monday for the Friday show and the HSL team, project managed by Mike Oates, battled with high winds and driving rain throughout the whole period. The hostile weather forced the cancellation of all but one night of full rehearsals before Friday night's show.
Lighting designer Stephen Page (a director of Manchester based DBN Lighting) was "extremely pleased" when HSL won the tender to supply the lighting kit. "They have been brilliant" he says, "The crew have all worked very hard in difficult conditions on a complex site to deliver what I needed."
Page was involved in the creative process that has evolved into The People's Show from an early stage, working closely with producer John Wassell, co-directors Nigel Jamieson, Jayne Casey and Mark Murphy along with production designer Dan Potra. The event was production managed by Simon Barrington.
Page lit the Hall with a combination of Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 1200E AT and Studio Due CityColor fixtures. 40 CityColors provided the basic wash along the 170m (558ft) front and the south façade of the building, while the 18m (59ft) pillars were highlighted with 30 Robe ColorSpot and 40 ColorWash 1200s.
On top of St George's Hall and on all the surrounding rooftops, HSL provided approximately 40 Robe ColorSpot 2500E ATs, chosen for their high power and brightness and their ability to produce searchlight type effects. About 100 JTE PixelPAR 90s were also used on the various rooftops for general illumination of the performers.
Over 70 Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 700 Series fixtures were dotted around the main stage and on the site lighting structures, used for lower level coverage and short throw applications. Seven sets of Studio Due CS4s on scissor lifts were placed in between the main run of St George's pillars, rising up and down during the show.
A selection of PARs, profiles. blinders and 40 Fuzz Lights were positioned around the stage on St George's Plateau and on the scaff structures, providing stage and general area washes and coverage plus audience illumination. HSL also supplied six follow spots, four on scissor lifts in front of the building, one on top of the Empire Theatre and one on the concourse in front of the site.
Mike Oates comments: "We certainly had to think on our feet on this one, and together with Star Events (structures), UK Rigging (production rigging/rooftop safety) and the Event Safety Shop (production H&S management), come up with a series of creative scaffolding solutions for lighting in all locations. Some of this was done in advance, but much had to be improvised on site."
The light-show was operated by Page from his own Jands Vista console. HSL ran two Luminex radio DMX links - from the main site at St George's Plateau to the St John's Beacon car park, and another from there to the top of the tower. All other links were wired. All lighting kit was powered from generators supplied by Buffalo.
HSL also supplied lighting equipment, LD Rob Sinclair and crew to US broadcaster CBS for their Good Morning America programme. This was beamed live from St George's Hall's famous Concert Hall and i
