WBD deploys Follow-Me on Last Domino dates
- Details
Roland co-designed the lighting together with Patrick Woodrofe (show director The Last Domino tour) who has also been the LD for Genesis and Phil Collins’ solo tours in the past. For Roland this was an important and challenging honour, describing himself as “the new kid on the block” with his first collaboration as co-LD for Genesis with their Last Domino tour.
The WBD team felt it important to use a remote follow-spot system as this would be far more versatile than classic follow-spots. Due to WBD’s previous positive experience with Follow-Me 3D Systems on tours such as Rammstein, it was an easy choice to make: “The system gives the possibility to integrate an unlimited number of manufacturer independent light fixtures and has been proven to be very reliable,” says Roland.
“A Genesis show is challenging by its own in a very positive way. This specific band has pushed the boundaries within our industry since the 70’s and therefore you have to keep up with this momentum and create a show which is up to those expectations and standards. Just think about their involvement in Vari*lite for example. Even though challenging for Patrick and myself it has been very rewarding to collaborate on this show and create something, that the whole team is proud of.”
The tour’s Follow-Me tech, Bianca Mastroianni adds, “A Follow-Me system is a very powerful addition to a lighting rig.”
The show was quite complex with over 160 lighting fixtures patched in the Follow-Me 3D SIX system. Some of these fixtures were on moving trusses with PSN integration, perfectly suited for control with Follow-Me 3D SIX system which enables PSN in and out.
Bianca continues, “From a setup point of view, the amount of labour, time and equipment that is saved by not touring conventional follow-spots is enormous. The Follow-Me Rack Servers are built into Neg Earth’s custom touring Follow-Me rack which rolls into place in the venue and results in the operator position setup taking only 15 minutes.
“Neg Earth’s rack and system was designed and built by Joao Magalhaes and Ciarán Markey. We usually set up the operator position in either a backstage dressing room or venue wing. This flexibility is essential for an arena touring scenario when the size and backstage layout of the venues can vary dramatically.”
For this tour the cameras (one live, one redundancy) hang on an easily accessible truss just of the front of the stage. The low-profile of the cameras mean that they are unobtrusive and don’t interfere with any of the other flown elements of the show. The camera calibration is a fast process, for this design, using five calibration points on the April 2022 stage.
When asked if his expectations of using Follow-Me on The Last Domino tour were met, Roland simply stated “Absolutely”.
You can read a full production report in the May issue of LSi.
