Lancelot rides with Iron Maiden
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This is not the first time Coleman has used Robert Juliat followspots, having also specified them for the band’s 2017 The Book of Souls world tour. “I’ve always found Robert Juliat incredibly reliable,” says Coleman who, first and foremost, takes advantage of Lancelot’s 2°-5° zoom range. “Despite Lancelot being a long-throw followspot, it can easily handle the great variety of throw distances involved in touring different venues.
“Sometimes we have outdoor shows where the FOH position can be quite close to the stage; other times we can be somewhere the size of the O2 Arena with the spots mounted on the backwall. The Lancelots hold up well in both situations. The zoom and the optics are good in either position. And obviously they are crazy bright.”
For the current Iron Maiden tour, Coleman has used the Lancelot followspots “in every configuration you can think of - FOH festival towers, the back wall of arenas, on catwalks . . . they have been everywhere.”
He specified six of the grand RJ beasts with the initial intention of carrying one as a spare, but this soon developed into allocating one Lancelot for each member of the band. “We found six was the ideal number, with one sitting on the drummer to act as a working spare should anything goes wrong,” says Coleman. “It’s useful to have an extra spot up there, always ready to go, which we can use to add extra highlights when we want them, and to handle the occasional sightline issue when the size of the stage set presents a problem in some venues.
“Some adverse angles mean we can’t always hit the lead singer with one spot at all times, so by touring six we have the capacity to double up and use two spots to avoid shadows. And, of course, that extra followspot has the important role of picking up the band’s mascot, Eddie, when he makes his big appearance!”
Lancelot’s HTI source is also a firm favourite with Coleman: “The lamp has a good colour temperature which is not too harsh on the band members. I found a nice colour combination of corrections which gives a good, fleshy skin tone that makes all the band members look vibrant, healthy, warm and human…and looks great on the IMAG too.”
The six RJ Lancelot units have been supplied for the entire tour by London-based Neg Earth Lights, which also supplied Robert Juliat for last year’s The Book of Souls world tour. “As usual, the Robert Juliat spots have been meticulously maintained to the point of perfection by Neg Earth which always helps,” says Coleman. “The thoroughness of their preparation keeps everything running perfectly.”
(Jim Evans)
