Along with the rest of the lighting equipment, the NG1 is being supplied by leading rental company Siyan. It is Coldplay's second world tour with Siyan. The last became a two-year marathon stint throughout 2003 to 2004, with Radical Lighting's RADlite media server at the core of the show.
Leitch and Whitehouse chose the NG1 this time around after their very positive experience with RADlite. "Using the latest product from Radical was a logical progression," says Whitehouse. "We also wanted to do something really big with video." Video images are beamed onto an upstage screen for approximately a third of the set - an innovative combination of live IMAG footage and assorted playback sources, the vast majority of which are abstract so as not to distract from the show, and are stored on the NG1.
All sources sent from the NG1 are high definition video. Radical Lighting specially customised the system for Coldplay to allow four SDI video inputs to be run through the NG1. They are actually running eight camera feeds into it, with Whitehouse choosing which ones to output to the centre stage screen via the Avolites Diamond 4 lighting console. The desk treats each layer of the NG1 as a fixture.
In addition to the four main IMAG cameras mixed by video director Alan Yates, Whitehouse has two additional mini cams clamped to the side of the piano, one on the drum kit and a roaming hand-held onstage. Yates controls where all the cameras actually point - and these are operated by him on stage right and output to the two side screens.
Whitehouse and Leitch originated and treated all the playback/pre-recorded footage themselves - about 30 clips in total - shooting new footage as well as utilising some standard NG1 library images.
(Jim Evans)
