"During the tour, we have done special extended sets (at Radio City and Belasco in LA) featuring songs from the Deliverance and Damnation albums before the third at Wembley. The final extended set will be at the Sydney Opera House in February. These are impressive spaces that really deserve a large production; the design didn't change much, we just doubled what we would normally have in the rig."
Boyd hooked up with High Wycombe based rental company Siyan Limited to deliver his touring and Wembley show lighting requirements which is an overwhelmingly Claypaky affair, with MA control and with a surprise appearance of Ayrton Dreampanel Twins - All exclusively distributed in the UK by Ambersphere Solutions.
"Magnus was looking for a supplier who stocked Claypaky fixtures and MA control systems," opens Tom Grant, project manager. "He and I had some initial conversations by email about his requirements and ball parked some figures/specs and we went from there". Boyd's final spec comprised of K20 B-Eyes, Mythos, Sharpys, Alpha Wash 700s and Stormy CCs, along with an MA2 Lite and NPU control system.
"The current design is pretty much a complete break with previous tours," explains Boyd, "I wanted to bring in hybrid fixtures that could give me more versatility; I have used Mythos, Stormy and B-Eyes extensively with other productions and they fit the job perfectly for Opeth. The Stormy was selected for is xenon-esque look and reflector. I wanted the Atomic look without the power consumption. The colours also give a refreshing look in combination with the reflector. Tom suggested the Alpha Wash 700s as the right choice for a front truss wash and he wasn't wrong.
"Then myself and Petter Nilssen had a brainstorm and decided to try out the Ayrton DreamPanel Twins which were chosen to replace a relatively well used three-part video wall setup. Almost every song in the set included their use but as they are so versatile, we were able to change looks continuously, starting out with content relating to the songs and progressing into more abstract material that would include fixture movement."
On the control side Boyd has been a regular MA user for the last 15 years. Siyan provided a grandMA2 Light with a pair of MA NPUs. "The MA2 light gives me everything I needed for this run despite being designed/pre-programmed on an onPC Command wing and a full-size grandMA2 in Oslo."
For the Wembley show, Siyan supplied the crew in addition to the extra lighting.
(Jim Evans)
