If you’re into eighties music, then a line up that includes T’pau, Go West and Kim Wilde will be right up your street. The ‘Here and Now’ tour is lit by Simon Tutchener and is very much in the style of the era featuring a front and back truss with a large V truss between sports over 120 Pars, plus Mac 500s and Studio Colors.
Status Quo go out with Pat Marks at the helm of a suitably long-haired and be’denimed lighting rig. A variety of truss shapes (depending on venue type) support a 100+ Pars and dozen each of Martin Mac 500s and High End Studio Colors. UB40 have a new designer in the frame, fresh from a lengthy stint with Moby. Dan Hardiman has produced both set and lighting concepts for the band’s latest outing. Using the stone ‘heads’ of Easter Island as his main motif, Hardiman has produced a set of many surprises. Lighting is mainly High End X.Spots and Studio Colors, with Coemar 2.4kW Super Cycs, but there are some Martin Mac 2000s in there for a very special use on custom-built mirror-balls.
Destiny’s Child kick-off their European tour in just over week: lighting design is by Peter Morse with Eric Wade operating a rig composed of over 120 moving lights, all High End Systems. Likewise, Oasis jump out of the box this week for a three-venue, six-gig sprint up the length of the UK, playing London, Manchester and Glasgow. LD Mikey Howard has chosen to light with no moving profile lights at all (following a visit to U2’s tour by Noel); for the three theatres, Howard has a simple system of S4 profiles, Pars, strobes, and has allowed himself some PC Beams.
Two major music-orientated TV Events happen this autumn: The Top of the Pops Special at Manchester Evening News Arena will feature no less than 18 bands, but further details about this closely-guarded event are scant. Tom Kenny is confirmed as LD and will be using, "a lot of movers".
