Robe is a prime Suspekt in Denmark
- Details
The band requested the LD to create “a new live visual experience” for their tour, which kicked off at a stadium at the start of the year.
In addition to the Robes – comprising 48 x Pointes, 48 x Spiiders and 8 BMFL Spots - Johnny decided on a slightly old-school look, adding over 400 PAR cans to the stadium show rig and 24 strobes.
The overriding idea was that all versions of the design – large or small-scale – should share the same aesthetic. For the autumn club tour, the LD uses 10 x Spiiders, 10 x Strobes and 16 x 8-lite audience blinders on wind-up stands. “I wanted to keep it brutally stark. It was the vibe of the music that gave me the idea for the wall of PARs for an extreme contrast in lightsources and basically very moody and slightly scary lighting,” explained Johnny talking honestly about his concept.
Being a hip hop trio, Suspekt’s music doesn’t often follow a linear rhythm, which was simultaneously challenging and liberating for the design.
The Spiiders were positioned on seven floor standing wheel bases, arranged in banks of four fixtures - ACL style - deployed at different depths around the stage, with four mounted behind five truss pods in the roof.
The Pointes were outrigged on six double-stacked pre-rigged truss towers each filled with a double row of PAR cans facing frontwards.
The eight BMFLs were on downstage side trusses, serving as the main band key-lighting, creating a darker and more sinister look rather than ‘traditionally’ located front key light.
The Pointes were used extensively in conjunction with their frost filters to subvert a standard beam look, however over the course of the set, Johnny made full use of their almost endless combinations of features and effects.
The stage set comprised a replica classic black Mercedes, customised to contain the DJ decks as well as flame effects and pyros. Upstage, a flown aluminium set piece in the shape of the band’s star logo hung behind the drum kit.
The balance of the PAR cans – those not on the vertical onstage towers onstage - were in Swoboda-style pods in the roof made up from two sections of fully loaded pre-rigged truss sections strapped together.
For Suspekt’s summer festival tour which has just finished, the ‘specials’ rig was re-scaled to contain 108 PARs, 24 x Pointes and 22 x Spiiders, all brought in ‘under’ the production rigs provided locally at each event. As a practical lighting design concept, this idea of re-engineering all worked seamlessly.
Lighting equipment for all legs of the tour was supplied by Copenhagen based rental specialist, Comtech.
Lighting for the summer tour was programmed by Johnny on a grandMA2 console and operated for Johnny by his brother Jimmy Sorensen, also a lighting designer and programmer in his own right. This kept things nicely in the family whilst Johnny was out with Carpark North, also with a floor package that featured some Robes – 28 x Pointes and eight Spiiders, again supplied by Comtech.
(Jim Evans)
