During the pre-planning stage the tour's production rigger Jim Allison, Jon Bray and PRG Lighting's crew chief Ben Holdsworth collaborated closely in planning the hoist control and cable routing alongside lighting.
The majority of the rig has to be linked by cable runs, which then requires a simultaneous lift of 37 hoists over a wide area. The Summit Steel six-way rack mounted controllers were specified for this task. The complete control system is housed in a single dolly combining several control units and power distribution. This is forked off the truck each day and positioned stage right, saving much set up time.
The show features an impressive count of 79 active points above an area measuring 30.8m wide by 32 deep, rigged each day by Allison.
The Meyer Milo PA supplied by Capital Sound is self powered and configured as three hangs a side and a centre cluster, accounting for 26 points. Again careful advance planning by PA crew chief Al Woods and Jon Bray ensures a neat and quick-to-rig system.
Tour video is being supplied by XL Video UK. The set up includes a 70ft (21m) wide upstage projection screen with a set of tabs downstage, enabling the size and shape of the surface area to be altered.
The rigging package also supports two front-of-house projection trusses and five roll drop projection screens. These all cable via the main lighting trusses and form part of the complex lift.
Bryan Leitch and Nick Whitehouse's lighting design includes an almost heart shaped 'necklace' ring of trussing sections that wrap around the whole performance area including the B stage, which are used for lighting positions, together with seven finger trusses onstage. There are approximately 100 moving lights on the rig which is being operated by Dom Smith.
The show's main gag - a large and spectacular scenic chandelier designed by Bryan Leitch, internally lit with i-Pix Satellite LED fixtures - flies in above the B Stage - also requires careful rigging! It's initially concealed from view by two dead hung 5.5m diameter circles with a black drape stretched between them. The chandelier is lowered by two Prostar motors for the reveal.
Summit's Jon Bray says, "Planning and inter-company and department communication are the crucial factors in helping make this tour work so smoothly. It's also a great tribute to Jim's skills and experience that one person can have that many points rigged in three and a half hours."
Il Divo tours in Europe until the end of April before embarking on a major North American tour currently scheduled to run until the end of July, followed by Japan, Australia, New Zealand and south east Asia.
(Jim Evans)
