Brilliant Stages were approached by production manager Rich Barr to work on the Mark Fisher design for the European leg of Pink's world tour. The company supplied two 'smart' hoists - to lower the cage to the stage - preferred for their ability to ramp up and down from a soft start to produce a smooth descent. The set pieces include two exaggerated speaker stacks mounted to an upstage raised walkway, accessed via two open-tread aluminium staircases on stage left and right.
The 64 speaker cones, constructed from fibreglass, are up to 3ft in diameter and fixed to touring flats that form a stepped 'wall of sound', the whole fascia distressed to achieve a "general muck, soot and pigeon-shit" effect.Pink hit the UK for her arena tour in early March. With LSD providing the lighting equipment (as well as all the rigging and truss for the lighting, set and video elements), XL Video supplying the video hardware via Blink TV, Audio Rent of Switzerland supplying the sound and Tait Towers and Brilliant Stages providing staging and soft goods, the tour promised to be quite a spectacle.
Video
Video plays a major part in this visual, high-energy show, directed by Jamie King. Live video director Deb Collins worked closely with assistant director and engineer Jason Harvey, creating a fast-moving, action-packed combination of IMAG and inserts. Playback material is stored on four Doremi hard drives, and includes a mix of animations, abstracts, graphics, stills and re-worked footage of the artist. Images appear across three screens - two 16ft x 12ft side screens fed by rear-projecting Barco G10s, and a centre stage 24sq.m 17mm Unitek LED screen. Collins utilizes a GVG 1200 switcher for mixing, with cameras positioned FOH, two on track and dolly in the pit and one hand-held on stage.
Lighting
LD Ethan Weber, whose credits include lighting director for The Rolling Stones 'Licks' tour and design for Marilyn Manson, Lou Reed and Bob Dylan, first worked with Pink in 2002. This time around, the rig is bigger, bolder and more rock 'n' roll than ever, with Weber commenting that he always liked the idea of having a big wall of light. The fixture count includes 34 Martin MAC 2000 profiles, 32 High End PC Beams, 10 Vari*Lite VL1000s, 23 HES Studio Colors, 10 James Thomas Pixelline LED battens and 24 Martin Atomic strobes - plus over 100 Pars.
Lighting is controlled from an Avolites Diamond 4 Vision - the largest and most powerful desk in the Avolites range and owned personally by Weber. He has always been an Avolites user and recently decided the time had come to purchase his own console. He particularly likes the timing and masking functions of the desk, plus the option of running his shows in a more improvisational style - as opposed to using a rigid cue structure.
Weber, one of a growing number of LDs who are buying their own consoles, commented: "Avolites have always looked after me very well. I'm a great believer in loyalty, but of course, the console also has to deliver on all my technical and creative needs."
Sound
Audio equipment suppliers are Showco/Clair Brothers, while for the European leg of the tour the gear was supplied by Audio Rent in Switzerland, who hold a large stock of Showco equipment. Showco's FOH engineer is Dave Moncreiffe with Dave Lagodzinski looking after monitor duties. Monitor system engineer is Simon Bauer and Showco PA system engineer is Justin Hoffmann.
The PA System comprised 16 columns of ShowCo system driven by Crown amps, while the monitor system comprises of CBA (Clair Brothers Audio) R-4 Series III side-fil
