Johnson operated the show for the first part of the tour while Marr completed his work commitments with Die Toten Hosen, after which he took over running the Maximo tour. All lighting equipment including the grandMA2 light was supplied by Blackburn-based Lite Alternative, having just invested in two of the new grandMA2 consoles.
Johnson says, "As soon as I touched the grandMA2 I liked the feel of it. It's neat and compact and the faders are just fantastic. They far surpass any previous motorised faders and in fact, you don't even notice that they are there."
Marr's design for the band continued its characteristic hard edged rawness akin to the band's energetic performance style and music, utilising a lot of LED, white light sources and shadow-play techniques, primarily from floor-mounted fixtures on a series of stands and towers. For the newer songs, he introduced more effects and a slightly softer graphical style of lighting, primarily with effects created by a couple of moving lights positioned upstage on the deck.
Some further moving lights were rigged at head-height for laser simulation effects, joined by Martin washes distributed around the stage and on the front and back trusses, utilised for floor fills, key lights and some tasty silhouetting. 12 4-lite Moles, 12 Atomic 3000 strobes and eight floor PARs behind the band were all triggered each time lead singer Paul Smith stepped onto pressure pads concealed in a light box.
For shadow gags and effects 10 Omni Foto Floods were dotted around the performance space, and a system of 48 high definition Element Labs VersaTUBES was fed via a Catalyst media server. The grandMA2 light was run in full tracking backup with another grandMA2 light console.
(Jim Evans)
