Following a successful 2004 UK tour and the critical and commercial success of the band's debut album, Hopes and Fears, Keane extended its tour with a series of European and US dates throughout 2005. With extra production budget available for US shows, which were taking place in venues up to twice the capacity of the European dates, LD Paul Normandale decided to step up the production values for the US leg.
Having read about the Jands Vista lighting console's Generic Fixture Model, Normandale was keen to see if it could provide a solution to the lengthy process of re-plotting shows for varying venue sizes. After a demo from Jands' European and North American distributor A.C. Lighting, Normandale was impressed by the console's key time-saving features.
Paul and show programmer Rob Sinclair were most impressed though by the power of the Generic Fixture Model, finding that it enabled them to copy information for the entire show from one existing fixture and paste this into new fixtures. After deciding to go with the Vista, Sinclair visited A.C. for some hands-on training. After only half a day with the assistance of A.C.'s Neil Vann, he was ready to use the desk on the tour. He said: "Adding and removing lights to suit each venue was a breeze; the copy, paste and extract features alone make it worth switching to the Vista."He added: "From a practical point of view, the benefit of the built-in generic fixture modelling meant we were be able to use many of the venues' own lighting rigs without having to re-plot the entire show, and this is a big plus for the console."
Lite Alternative also supplied all production lighting for the European leg, including 10 Martin MAC 500 Profiles, two MAC 2000 Profiles, seven MAC 2000 Washes and four Atomic 3000 strobes with scrollers - the Martin fixtures chosen for both their reliability, and worldwide availability. Visuals from a High End Systems Catalyst also feature - with control from the Jands Vista.
