Bandit's Mark Powell said: "Working with Baz is always a fantastic experience, couple that with the legendary music of Queen and a massive lighting rig and the end result is amazing. Add to that some Free and Bad company classics and it makes for a great show".
Queen was renowned for having monstrous lighting rigs in the 1980 before moving light technology really took off, so Halpin was in the position of being able to make the show look huge, with fewer fixtures and the application of some intelligent and lateral programming. "It's probably the most intensely cue-heavy show I've ever done" says Halpin, "Each Queen song is like plotting a mini opera but the end result is worth every minute."
Halpin has no shortage of visual tricks up his sleeve. His show veers from very simple, intimate stage looks for the acoustic numbers to immense 'wall of light' mayhem for the pumping power rock anthems, with no lack of the traditional imaginative drama and pomp associated with Queen.
The set is simple but high impact designed by Mark Fisher, the centrepiece is four specially fabricated upstage searchlights, their chassis scenically modelled on classic World War II units, each containing Syncrolite 3K units, complete with dousers and colour scrollers, constructed by UK-based Steel Monkey. They are manually operated and apart from moving on their own axis, are also mounted on a track and dolly system enabling them to move sideways on and off stage. They follow a series of choreographed moves throughout the show. Halpin says" Working with Mark Fisher is always a pleasure. He is a true professional and he captures the essence of Queen's grandeur and showmanship with just the right theme and style for this tour."
There's five 60ft moving trusses over-stage, split in the middle to make a 'roof' of lights. Halpin wanted an architectural structure to the rig that could change shape and redefine the nature of the stage environment as the set progressed - and this was how he achieved it. The workhorse fixtures on each of these 10 trusses are 120 Martin MAC 2Ks. There's also a 60ft rear truss that moves and a static 60ft front truss with the moving trusses made up from James Thomas 'Broadway' truss.
Halpin is using 143 MAC 2K washes, dotted all over the stage and set, at the sides on flown bars and on the floor. They are used as the 21st century equivalent of PAR cans! There's also six side-drop trusses, introduced to give some dynamic side lighting and perspective. "Much of this show is about beams, timing and power," explains Halpin. Bandit has also supplied 24 Coemar I-Flex spot moving lights for spot effects, chosen because they produce both spot and a wash effects, and because the bulbs can be tweaked between 1200W and 2K. They were one of the few spot fixtures available that can match the intensity of the MAC 2K washes says Halpin.
Thirteen 3K Syncroilites - the four in the searchlights plus five on the back truss and four on the side trusses- are a favourite Halpin lighting tool. Here they're used for specific epic moments in the show.
The antique elements of the lighting department are further buoyed with 21 bars of ACLs, ten 8-lite Molefeys and fifty-four 4-lite Moles, scattered across all the trusses. A Catalyst digital Media server, operated via the lighting desk proved a major solution in the video department. It's used sparingly in just three songs - Last Horizon. Days of Our Lives and the Queen classic, Bohemian Rhapsody, which includes montage footage of Freddie Mercury performing live
