It is the second year running that XL has supplied the prestigious Endemol-produced show, which this year featured a line up of performances from Brian Wilson, Bon Jovi, James Brown and Prince among others. Highlights also included the induction of 'fifth Beatle' Sir George Martin (by chancellor Gordon Brown), who received this year's Honorary Membership in recognition of his exceptional contribution to British music.
XL's team was project managed by Paul Wood, once again working closely with production manager Paul-Ant Violet and set designer Bill Laslett.
The main 'Awards Package' screen was a traditional 6 x 4 metre BP screen, positioned stage right and fed by one of XL's new Christie Roadster S+20 20,000 lumens HD projectors. The up-stage LED screen was comprised of 80 panels of Lighthouse R16, flown in three columns.
Scenic projection was used on a silver-grey gauze in the mid-centre stage area, with XL supplying four further Christie Roadster S+20s that were double stacked and soft-edged together to form one 9m wide by 5m high image.
XL also supplied 112 Element Labs 1 metre long VersaTube LED fixtures which were used to create a hall through the set, consisting of 10 seven metre VersaTube ribs upstage and six ribs downstage. The raised performance platform stage left was also dressed with 15 VersaTubes around it's base.
For video playback on all these elements, XL supplied three dual channel Catalyst v4 digital media servers, with sources either fed through to the CTV OB truck and mixed with EVS, or straight to the screens.
XL's crew were Graham Vinal and Gareth Manicom who looked after LED, projectionist Gerry Corry, and Simon Pugsley who took care of all-things Catalyst and VersaTube, working in collaboration with Catalyst director/operator Ian Reith.
Other stars joining the night's line up included Razorlight's Johnny Borrell and Queen's drummer Roger Taylor, who paid tribute to Sir George Martin's achievement by performing a medley of Beatles songs with a 30 piece orchestra, while Led Zeppelin, Dusty Springfield and Rod Stewart also earned their places in the legendary UKMHOF.
(Chris Henry)
