This is the second concert tour by the Irish alternative rock band, launched in support of their third studio album, # 3. Lighting designer Jamie Thompson has taken the album name and developed that symbolism within his design concept to create an innovative and striking experience.
The first thing that strikes you about Thompson's design are the three 'fingers' of truss, each clad with a strip of Nocturne V18 LED, 1m wide by 16m long, running from upstage to over the audience. Three complementary runs of V28 are set into the stage and look as though they are a continuous part of the Nocturne V18 main screen, and in turn the main screen appears to continue through the stage.
All the Nocturne LED has been mapped together to make the graphics appear seamless as they transition from one element to the next. Feeding content through the flown fingers and also through the floor strips gave anyone in the higher tiers and extra dimension to their visual enjoyment of the show. Jamie used a contrast of live camera feed and stunning visual content throughout the set to great effect.
The main video control system that is being used on the tour is the new HD 2.5 ME Grass Valley Kayak vision mixer along with five Thompson LDK 6000 world cams. These two combined with 64 x 64 matrix makes this a very powerful video tool giving "almost limitless possibilities".
Four lighting trusses running alongside the LED truss were populated with VL3500 Wash and PRG Best Boy 4000 alternately, with band front light from VL1000TS units.
Jarag strips hung in groups of three, mounted on the ends of each of the seven truss fingers added further depth and perspective, providing an alternative approach to the molefey audience blinder.
The overall feel is open and wide, giving a sense of perspective, and the circular stage allowed the band to move about and get closer to their audience.
Also used were 18 x PRG Bad Boy Profiles, 46 x Clay Paky Sharpys, GLP Impressions, Martin Strobes and a huge 126 x Sunstrips.
(Jim Evans)
