Robe helps TAPFS light Dark Side of the Moon
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Lighting designer Tom Mumby has worked with them since 2012, initially coming onboard as the projector tech, and then moving on to LD’ing and operating lighting in 2016. The Grimsby-based lighting rental company, Stage and Light, of which he is a director, is also the lighting vendor for all the UK and European touring work, and this latest design utilised 38 x Robe LED Beam 150s and 22 x Spiider wash beams.
The current aesthetic is based on a collage of many classic Floyd lightshow elements. The look is dominated by a 5m circular truss centre stage, which, together with strategically placed drapes masks off an LED wall behind. Video still plays a central role in all the song narratives.s
The 24 x LEDBeam 150s are spread evenly around the trussing circle, and are a perfect size and proportion for the job.
“Weight was a concern,” says Tom, especially in the context of some of the older theatres they play, so this was another reason for choosing the compact and powerful LEDBeam 150. “For a fixture only weighing 5.5kg, the output and speed vs physical size is incredible.”
Nine LEDBeam 150s also provide the front key lighting. As the band are largely on their positions, Tom can dial them right down using the zoom. “Even at 11m trim, they are excellent and very capable of this task,” he states.
There are four Spiiders downstage and another four LEDBeam 150s upstage, the latter slotted neatly in between the drums and keyboards, some on tank-traps and some on the deck.
Upstage are four wing trusses - all pre-rig - flown below the rear truss either side of the circle in higher and lower positions each side, which create the primary look of the show, and each of these truss sections is loaded with three Spiiders.
The remaining six Spiiders are on three back trusses and are predominantly used for essential backlight on the band. “Again, the zoom and the output are second to none,” noted Tom. “They enable a multitude of looks, strong beamy backlight, rear key light or open white washes,” he says.
The Spiider’s Flower Effect is used a couple of times in the show to shift the dynamic of the space. Tom uses the flower as a kaleidoscopic effect pointing right into the audience during One of These Days as a bit of lighting trickery to divert their attention from the fact that Skippy, the giant kangaroo, is being inflated.
“They are definitely a multipurpose fixture with which you can make some really nice effects, and I’ve never found myself wishing I had spots as side light as Spiiders handle the task so well,” confirms Tom.
Other inflatables featured in the show include a pig that comes out at the arena shows in Run like Hell and a teacher that adds a schoolroom commotion during Another Brick in The Wall. Apart from these massive props, no self-respecting Pink Floyd tribute show would be complete without a major mirror ball moment, and that happens during Comfortably Numb.
When Stage and Light was looking at purchasing “reliable, rentable and affordable” moving lights, Robe was always a strong contender says Tom, stating that the tech support from Robe UK has always been “top notch”.
When TAPFS recently played shows in the Czech Republic, he and his crew were invited to the Robe factory and showroom after several Robe staff attended the show. “Getting such positive feedback from the team at HQ was also a great pleasure,” he states.
Tom runs the lightshow using a ChamSys MQ500M console. Working alongside him on lighting were crew chief Sudip Shrestha, dimmer tech Luca De Lauri and video tech Tom Mann, with everything co-ordinated on the road by production manager Chris Gadd.
