The diverse selection of 'other' shows include a tribute to Ronnie Lane, an Islamic Relief event and shows for Classic FM and 19 Management as well as a gala dinner. The Cliff Richard run continues Summit MD Jon Bray's long standing association with the artist, and his production team, which stretches back over 20 years to 1982, and includes the galvanising Cliff 40th Anniversary Tour, staged in-the-round at the same venue in 1998.
This year sees him renew his acquaintance again with other long-term Cliff personnel, including production manager Roger Searle and FOH sound engineer Mike 'Bunny' Warren.
Jon Bray's team at Summit worked closely for two months in advance with the RAH's show management team, in particular Mark Newell, to ensure that the logistics stacked up, and that the finer details were all ironed out well in advance.
Many of the additional shows are also utilizing Cliff's PA and lighting - as it's already installed in the venue - while others have decided to bring in their own productions from scratch. Whatever options they chose, it was vital that the rigging be versatile and adaptable for all possibilities. Bray collaborated with Cliff's lighting designer Derek Jones to produce an effective cable management system. This allows some of the house trusses used for this purpose to be freed up for use on the other shows.
The cable management system utilizes trusses from the gallery, and the venue trusses to feed all cables to Cliff's production trusses and PA system. On dark days, these cables are disconnected and stowed on top of the house trusses, allowing the permanent in-house acoustic canopies to be flown in unhindered for orchestral shows. The cables are easily reconnected for Cliff show days when the trusses and PA are flown back in.
Summit constructed and flew a 'mother' grid at 26m high allowing the PA to be lifted stack-by-stack out-of-view. The grid is a combination of one of the house trusses with an additional 16m section added to the downstage face. It's lifted on 12 house motors, with Summit's motors for the Cliff production sound and lighting sub-hung below.
The PA, supplied by Britannia Row, involves three hangs of V-Dosc, two of bass and two infills per side. The production lighting rig comes from Lite Alternative, with four 16m trusses, supplied by Summit Steel.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
