The two shows took place on 28 and 29 May, playing to 30,000 people each night. At that time of year, the concert was largely in daylight, but that didn't stop the band investing in a full production presentation. "We put in a four-camera pack and two 8mm daylight LED screens for the band's long time video director Paul Eggerton," explains Leinster. "Almost 5m wide by 7.8m tall on the wings, they flanked the stage tucked neatly between elements of Nick Grey's fantastic lighting rig. Serge Pizzorno really likes IMAG screens in portrait orientation."
Did that short lead time exert a special pressure on the work of Eggerton? "To a degree," said Eggerton afterwards, "but then I've been with the band since their first ever arena tour, so I do know all the songs well. More recently they've been using interactive video content on tour, presented on an onstage centre LED screen. It just wasn't possible in the time to put something like that together, so that did mean there was more focus on sustained IMAG to either side. For me that's all about finding the right image for the moment. As I said, that's what I've done for them for a long time."
"That's not as easy as Paul makes it sound," said Leinster, "Nick's lighting rig was very potent, we had to rack the screens up to a brightness level we've never used before and Paul worked tirelessly to fill those screens."
Eggerton saw that only in terms of advantage. "From my point of view it's the same, but for the audience, especially those that know the band, that did make a difference. The huge lighting rig that Nick designed looked spectacular so it was more of a challenge for me to show off the enormity of the rig."
(Jim Evans)
