Lighting company Siyan supplied all the lighting for the show. Lighting designer Cate Carter, who has previously worked on successful tours for Duffy and Elbow, and her colleague video designer Paul 'Pablo' Beckett, specified two HippoCritters, conceiving one of the most creative uses of VideoMapper to date.
The design brief for the tour was to create something, dark, edgy, sinister and theatrical and as they began to understand more about the band's vision for the live shows, they settled on the concept of industrial and urban decay as a basis for the set design and visual content.
The set and video elements evolved from their desire to have a backdrop that wasn't just a two-dimensional printed image, but one that would also give depth to the stage and conceal the screens and certain elements of the lighting rig, giving the performance area an uncluttered, theatrical setting.
"The band was keen to use video as a part of their live show but did not want the stage to be dominated by a video screen - nor did they want the video content to be a literal interpretation of their songs. Originally we were going to have four square video screens hidden behind a printed gauze backdrop so that they would simply disappear behind the image when not being used. However on further consideration we felt that it would look more effective if the screens literally stood out from the backdrop - giving the image a more 3-dimensional feel. As we knew that video content was not going to be used throughout the show, we still wanted to make sure that the screens could vanish and so the 'picture frames' were born."
The 'picture frames' are four 2m x 2m aluminium frames with printed Foamex borders and fabric fronts, which both support and conceal the video screens. The screens hang inside the picture frames and are hidden behind a layer of printed gauze that repeats the section of the obscured image on the backdrop - giving a complete 3D picture behind the band.
The screens were supplied by XL Video and with their support Cate and Pablo chose to use Stealth by Element Labs as these provided a lightweight solution that had a good enough resolution to work in both small and large venues and would be easy to tour as a modular package. This choice was very much led by the design of the frames and with help from both XL Video and Siyan, they were able to run a number of tests with different types of LED screens and fabrics until the right combination was found.
The imaginative custom content was created by Pablo, based on the design and configuration of the Stealth screens and of course the songs themselves. Pablo started by producing a couple of videos which were sent to the band to try and get the ball rolling regarding the visual direction of the show. "One of the things that the band didn't want was anything too literal - they were very keen on the idea that the content should be abstract as well as having an industrial look, a somewhat mechanized style, to be almost uncomfortable at times."
Having completed the UK and European tour, Editors will return for the UK festival season. Starting with the Isle of Wight on June 13th they will also be appearing on stage at Glastonbury and V Festival among others with a re-worked lighting design by Cate and Pablo.
(Jim Evans)
