Robert Juliat on tour with Paul McCartney
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Lighting designer Roy Bennett is tasked with highlighting “a vast array of musical styles over the decades” during the course of the three-hour show. High-tech AV solutions, including layers of transparent video, LEDs and lasers, form a backdrop for the history of the former Beatle’s music but remain unobrustive to fans. “While we use many aspects of technology you never see them all at once, and they are never overpowering,” notes lighting director, Wally Lees.
Upstaging provided the tour with 12 Robert Juliat Dalis 862S footlights. Making their debut with McCartney’s show, the Dalis LED asymmetric mini-footlights are distributed exclusively in North America by A.C.T Lighting, Inc.
Dalis 862S is a new variant of Dalis 862 Footlight. At 50cm in length, Dalis 862S is a shortened version of the original 1m model, with all the qualities and functionality of the full-size version. Dalis 862S has been created at the request of lighting designers who need precise footlight coverage on curved and non-standard shaped stages where its smaller form factor can be a big advantage in delineating stage edges to perfection. The batten is inconspicuous from the audience viewpoint to ensure it does not impinge on the stage layout in any way. All controls and connections are located under the unit to maintain clean sight lines.
Both Bennett and Lees agree that the Robert Juliat Dalis 862S LED asymmetric footlight is “a brilliant little light”. “You can use them really easily thanks to the two positions: near and far,” says Lees. “Each fixture has two rows of cells: the bottom cell does the near position, the second row the far position. So they are versatile enough to capture any point on the stage.”
Bennett calls the Dalis “beauty lights that break through the video and make the artists look good. We have four on Paul to cover him in different areas and two on each of the side guitarists so we can cover them wherever they go onstage. We also have two on the piano and several on a lift, all in near mode.”
Lees also praises the fixture’s colour temperature. “It’s fantastic – it can go from daylight 5600K or more, down to 2800K or less, or mix. You don’t have to choose one or the other.”
Bennett emphasises that equipment choices are made based on “the best of what’s out there. The lamp choice, the gear choice – we want the best of the best. That’s why we’ve chosen these products for Paul’s show. It’s a complex system; there’s a lot of gear all over the stage. But everything is working great.”
(Jim Evans)
