Madness Go Crazy On UK Arena Tour With D4

15 March 2010 13.04 BST

Pete Hosier of Big Ant Productions recently completed a suitably insane UK tour with Madness while operating an Avolites D4 Vision.

The tour lasted a two month stretch over the winter season, bringing an end to a year which marked the band’s 30th anniversary. The tour took place at a mixture of arenas throughout England and Ireland, culminating in Edinburgh on New Year’s Eve.

No single two arenas were ever the same, which kept lighting designer Hosier on his toes. Pete explained how the design changed daily, while crew aimed to keep a consistent look: “We put virtually the same rig in Southend cliffs pavilion as we did the O2 in London, that kind of sums up our daily challenges.”

The versatile Diamond 4 Vision allowed Hosier to compensate for the shifting venues and changing configurations of each rig. The show consisted of five main elements; the lighting rig, video screens, LED backdrop and, of course, the backline and artists. Pete commented that this meant it was a daily battle to figure out the best possible configuration to maintain the show’s finely tuned performance. However, advanced forward planning from the crew meant all the logistics were almost effortlessly pulled together.

The video screens from XL Video were one of the main elements given as a brief. Made up of F30 panels in various shapes and sizes, it was clear that the screen was hugely important to the artist. Therefore, the design had to incorporate this and compliment, rather than detract, from the act.

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