Video was specified by lighting, set and visuals designer Steven Douglas, known for his innovative and original approach. It renews a positive and long-term working relationship between XL Video and the band, and follows XL's supply of video specials for festival headliners and own shows throughout the summer. XL's project managers are Jo Beirne and Phil Mercer.
Douglas's starting point for the tour design was that the band wanted the stage to have a generally more raw and stark look and feel than in the past. He also wanted the video to be different, distinctive and edgy, toned with subtlety and suggestion yet high impact.
A large part of this aura is created by thoughtful use and clever content.
This has been created by a combination of Douglas and LA based video artist Chris Callister, with Tim Burton's seminal music video for Bones playing out to a stomping rendition of the song.
The upstage screen is Pixled F15. The bottom ground stacked section is 48 ft wide by 6 ft high and the top flown section is 15 ft by 48 ft. Douglas used F30 for the summer shows which proved very reliable, and decided to step up the definition to F15 for the tour.
Sometimes the screen simply disappears into the background. At others, it brings a completely three-dimensional depth to the performance space or a challenging moody ambience.
In addition to the screen - which splits in half horizontally with the top section flying out to reveal a wall of moving lights behind - the design's videology incorporates some set elements.
The main band riser fronts are covered in 618 blocks of 10mm Barco O-Lite from XL - an idea first tried out in the summer.
Eight downstage d&b M2 wedge covers have been populated with Pixled F11 video panels, which are rotated 90 degrees for a good fit.
(Jim Evans)
