The act decided to take some of the lighting equipment from Bandit America, which was seamlessly incorporated with Bandit UK's power distribution and motor systems- thus allowing the current system to meet codes throughout Europe.
"Apart from making the logistics flow, it was a great opportunity to show how inter-continental co-operation offers the client ultimate continuity," says Bandit UK's Lester Cobrin, adding, "It has been a great pleasure for us here in the UK to work with Chris Gratton (production manager) and his team."
Lighting designer Greg Shipley has been working with the band since June 2007. In that time, the lighting design has undergone several metamorphoses. Each leg of the tour has presented itself with different challenges. The designs have ranged from new LED technology to traditional rock and roll lighting.
After some initial input from (lead singer) Billy Corgan, Shipley has been free to create new and interesting designs for each leg of the band's tour. After designing several plots, Shipley gets with production manager, Chris Gratton to evaluate each creation for touring reality.
Together, Shipley and Gratton present each design to the band for final approval. For the current European leg, Shipley created a more traditional rock design utilizing 13 individually hung 15ft sections of truss - each suspended on two motors - which make up six triangles, arching over the stage.
The fixtures used on this tour are a combination of Coemar, Martin, and Vari*Lite products. Moving lights include 24 Vari*Lite 3000 Spots and 30 Martin MAC 2000 Washes.
Adding to the base moving package are 10 Coemar iWash LEDs that create a layer of lighting just above the band's head, 37 Coemar Parlite LEDs, used not only as truss toners for creating varieties of colour and flash, but also as up lighting of the artists- all complemented by 36 Martin Atomic Strobe 3000s with scrollers. The console for this tour is the Compulite Vector Red, including one active and one slaved spare.
(Jim Evans)
