The tour incorporated a string of sold out academy and student union venues culminating at Brixton Academy as The Big London Show and was the band's first proper production tour on this scale.
Siyan's project Manager Jez Johnstone says, "This is the first time we've worked with Dan on a full tour and it's been a pleasure. He knows exactly what he wants to see and is proactive and flexible when it comes to making things work during the prep stages. In terms of the show - the design is solid, his programming is tight and his timing is spot on! I'm looking forward to the next one!"
Hill has designed The Courteeners lighting for three years, and he worked closely with lead singer Liam Fray on the overall aesthetic for the live show.
Previous designs have tended to be tungsten based and embracing a large, epic theatrical look using lots of fresnels and sumptuous swooshes of red velvet drapes, etc.
The brief for this album campaign was to modernise the onstage image whilst keeping an edge and a sense of grandness.
A neon 'ANNA' sign was built and flown upstage, and Hill integrated a number of different sized mirror balls in the design to reinforce the classic stage presentation element.
The touring package supplied by Siyan comprised three upstage trussing pods, each one made up of four Jarag fixtures, in 2x2 configuration and five Robe Robin 600 LEDWashes moving lights - three fixed above the Jarag 2x2 and two below.
These fixtures were built and travelled on bespoke brackets devised by Siyan that enabled the fixtures to be quickly and easily deployed during the get ins ... and removed for the outs.
Three additional Robin 600 LEDWashes were attached to the upstage truss above the neon sign, to light the drapage and the neon sign.
Six Robe Robin MMX Spots sat on the floor at the back pointing forwards for beam and aerial effects, on which Hill comments, "A great fixture with plenty of punch for the venues we played and some excellent gobo effects".
The rig was upscaled for the larger shows, moving to five pods and a complimentary 'in air' rig of 10 additional MMX Spots and another ten LEDWash 600s.
Hill controlled all the lighting via one of Siyan's Chamsys MagicQ 100 consoles and a playback wing, and sections of the show were pre-programmed using Martin's MSD 5 visualiser.
(Jim Evans)
