Robe goes Sunshine for The Kooks
- Details
Jordon Cooper of Moth Lights is their lighting designer and lighting equipment for this latest tour was supplied by LCR including 69 x Robe LEDBeam 150s and 32 x Spiider LED wash beam as the moving lights, plus a pair of BMFL WashBeams being controlled by a RoboSpot remote follow spotting system.
Jordon has worked with the band since the album launch last year. He was recommended by their stage manager Will Matthews with whom he’d previously worked on Band of Skulls, and when he and The Kooks production manager Dave Skelton saw Jordon’s design for Skindred at Brixton Academy, it confirmed his credentials as well as his talents as a designer and he was offered The Kooks.
He met the band and their initial ideas were generated - some of which they thought about for some time - and collectively arrived on the same page for the overall look and feel of the show which had elements of a classic music TV production with some modern elements.
Lead singer Luke Pritchard wanted a riser layout that allowed him to move around and explore the stage, and once they had agreed on its basic architecture, the other segments of the design evolved quickly.
They made use of a pink satin drape that had originated as part of a festival scenic design by Cassius Creative utilised earlier in 2018 before Jordon was onboard.
Over the stage there were three straight 15m trusses, with another in the advanced position.
Trusses two and four were each loaded with 24 x LEDBeam 150s and on truss three there were 21 of the same fixtures. Also on the front truss were five profile moving lights for keys and eight LED strobe / floods used as for crowd effects, and sixteen more profiles spread between trusses two, three and four.
Jordon made the most of both the beam and the wash features of the LEDBeam 150s together with their incredible punch and versatility for such a tiny fixture.
In specific songs he capitalised on their speed - impressive due to the small size and light weight - and this was one of the reasons for his choice. Positioned as they were, spread over all three trusses, added more general depth to the picture.
A cluster of three LEDBeam 150s on truss three were used to highlight Luke and other clusters on trusses two and four were used to cover other band members. The Spiiders were all on the floor.
The BMFL WashBeams were both on the front truss and controlled by the LCR crew operating the BaseStation positioned in dimmer world. They were used to follow Luke around the stage, with Jordon maintaining control of all the attributes through his grandMA2 console apart from the pan and tilt.
The Kooks tour was project managed for LCR by Steve Bliss. His crew from LCR were Harrison Cooke (chief) who was joined by Aiden Cartmell and Ben Hodgkins, and the tour rigger was Rik Foreman.
(Jim Evans)
