Coldplay: The Stadium Shows

It’s not often a legendary lighting/scenic/production designer steps into the breach to organise your interview schedule, arrange photography positions and the other ensuing journalistic bureaucracy when on-site with a large crew and a hectic schedule!

    However, in his characteristic low-key fashion, Paul Normandale — who I know would visibly cringe at being tagged ‘legendary’ even though he’s one of the great innovators of the genre — made my day a very smooth and efficient one.

    The balmy evening was as memorable as the incredibly animated audience. Even given Chris Martin’s enthusiasm and mastery of crowd participation, it could’ve been a hippy dippy rave, replete with thousands of excited clubbers anticipating coming up on some amazing collective wave of euphoria and togetherness, rather than a stadium in one of northern Europe’s key industrial zones.

    This story — just like the design process — started with Normandale, who is always friendly but never one to blow his own trumpet to the media... nor indeed pose for the camera.

    Normandale’s creative finesse faced the challenge of introducing some stadium level ‘wow’ factors that weren’t LED clichés or a distraction to the carefully-crafted blend of performance and production that was already up and running. The basic principals remained the same, he just needed to add some appropriate large scale imagineering.

    He decided to change the shape of the performance space into a gentle arch or ‘eye’ shape with a large medium resolution LED screen at the back, echoed at the front by an arched stage header, crowned with a ring of 4-lites and i-Pix BB4s.

    Although one of the initial Viva La Vida briefs had been to avoid large quantities of LED onstage, with the stadium shows often starting in daylight, Normandale knew he could come up with something inventive and different without compromising the essence of the design.

    The 54m wide by 12m high PixLED F30 screen was comprised from 502 panels and also had a 3.5° lateral curve, cyc style. It was chosen after careful deliberation with the team from the tour’s video supplier, XL Video, led by project manager Des Fallon. The impressive looking structure was flown on 29 points.

    This whole screen ‘eye’ concept and the way it would be worked into the show was evolved between Normandale, video director Andy Bramley and Phil Harvey, the band’s artistic director and fifth member — a vital communication conduit between Chris Martin and the production team.

    Not many would have the audacity to light a stadium show with about 130 moving lights, but that didn’t faze Normandale. The basic arena rig of 88 Martin Pro moving lights that had toured for the rest of the year was retained along with all the other lighting components, the quirky architecture of the ‘wave’ trusses over-stage and the theatrical elements like the kabuki drops.

    The ‘organic’ essence of the visuals was added to with the bold high-impact statements congruous with “a real desire” to keep it intimate, embracing all of the audience and not just those at the front, and encouraging a real sense of involvement all around the venue with the B and C stages.

    Apart from the overall shape shift of the stage, other additions in the visual department included four extra wave trusses, rigged in the stadium wing areas, joining the four over-stage ones already on the tour. These elegant curved constructions were made by Total Fabrications. The original four waves were rigged on Kinesys motors and tactically glided in and out.

    Normandale took the opportunity of trying out eight of the new Martin MAC 250 Beams with the Micro fresnel lenses in the wings, which he likes for their “almost” single ACL beam effects. The other Martin fixtures were 52 MAC 2000 Wash XBs, 44 MAC 700 Profiles, nine MAC 700 Washes, 32 Atomic 3000 strobes and 14 MAC 250 Washes.

    The powerful Novalight Nova-Flower fixtures running along the back line of the stage were increased from six to 10 for the stadiums, used sparingly and with spectacular effect. The i-Pix BB4 count was increased to 36 — 24 along the stage crown and 12 on the delay towers — and there were also six strings of digital festoon on each delay tower.

    With audience inclusion to the fore, the auditorium lighting was boosted with an eclectic range of fixtures including eight Airstar balloons dotted around, rigged to the stadium stand roof beams wherever they could be fitted.

    Sixteen Syncrolite 7kWs were strategically positioned around the venue, in the delay towers enclosures, around the stage walkways and behind the stage.

    The conventional 4-lite count was also increased with 24 joining the i-Pix BB4s on the crown and the rest scattered on the delays, utilised for some serious audience blasting.

    Back on stage, the lamp count included Mole Beams, 8-Lites, 11 Lowell Omni photo floods, and eight sticks each with nine ‘clip lights’ fitted with domestic bulbs for some “twinklies”.

    All this and not forgetting the 10 follow spots was indeed expedient for a stadium show, but big for a Normandale design! However, as we all know, it’s not about having the biggest of this or the most of that! Ideas, intelligence, application and appropriate technology for the end goal of enhancing an emotional experience for all to enjoy is definitely where Viva La Vida was at.

    Fraser Elisha, a long-time collaborator of Normandale’s, worked as lighting director and the pair collaborated closely on evolving the show right from the start. Elisha ran it using a WholeHog III set up.

    The Kinesys system was supplied by Blackburn-based lighting contractor Lite Alternative and operated by Tommy Green one of a universal lighting crew of five from Upstaging, the US lighting rental vendor, headed by crew chief Dave Favorita. The other seven lighting crew for Europe were all supplied by Lite Alternative.

    All the rigging kit was supplied by Summit Steel, and this department was overseen on tour by head rigger Gabriel Wood.

STAGING
Another bonus of my Dusseldorf visit was bumping into Hedwig de Meyer, the main man at Stageco, a company enjoying a phenomenally busy year. Coldplay’s three stages were each packed into 12 trucks per system, adding another 36 vehicles to the touring fleet of 35, with 14 crew and drivers per stage system.

    The 20m high x 55m wide stage was designed by Stageco to Normandale’s brief. The ‘eyelet’ shape was flatter than the standard Stageco roofs, so the Belgian firm custom-built the Viva stage in July at its Werchter base with a combination of standard and bespoke elements to produce the desired shape.

    To increase the open feel, there were transparent skins over the downstage half, with black for the upstage, which aided the projection and video. Incorporating the seven inflatable ‘globes’ into the roof was a challenge for the staging department. They were wind sensitive, so needed guiding with cables.

VIDEO
In addition to the PixLED F30 arch screen, the side LED video elements were scaled up dramatically for the stadium shows. The two left-and-right side screens were Lighthouse R7, each comprised from 28 panels a side in portrait format for the standard sized venues, expanded up to 108 panels a side in landscape for the larger stadiums like Wembley and Munich. Three delay screens at the back of the field were each made up from 20 R7 panels.

    Video director Andy Bramley added two extra cameras for the stadium shows, bringing his total to six. These were positioned two in the pit, two at the end of the stage left and right ramps running out from the stage into the first part of the auditorium, one on the FOH tower and the final one right in the centre of the field just in front of the delay screens.

    This final camera was specifically located to create a very cool looping feedback effect that was integrated into the mix for ‘Fix You’ and ‘Politik’. There were also two robocams onstage.

    Bramley used a GV Kayak mixer (his switcher of choice) and a Magic DaVE effects unit for which he maintains a great affection despite it being close to retirement! The DaVE still managed to take a good hammering from Bramley, who used it for harsh vintage black and white and colour treatments. Despite the availability of newer technology he really likes the quality and texture of its effects.

    The I-Mag mix was sent to both the side screens and the arch screen. The picture stretched the full surface area of the arch for some songs, and at other moments it was run as a 4:3 aspect ratio picture just in the central section.
Another variation used just the two end wings of the arch, with nothing in the centre and with the side screens switched off, evoking variety and surprise — dual concepts central to the way Normandale wished the onstage LED to work.

    Camera feeds sent to the arch screen were fed into a Catalyst system fitted with a Triple Head To Go, allowing one output signal to be split into three utilising the Catalyst’s mix outputs and edge blending, so a single image can be split over three devices. In this case, the three sections of the screen, which were driven by three processing units. The media servers were all operated by Ben Miles.

    The Catalyst also shaped, masked and fitted the images to the different arch screen permutations, while the side screen camera footage was output directly to its destination from Bramley’s Kayak.

    Creatively, Bramley looked for more unusual and idiosyncratic angles, cuts and treatments, keeping it fresh, exciting and in the process, congruous with the overall visuality and feel. He also received plenty of input from Phil Harvey.

    The seven inflatable 2m and 3m Pufferfish globes (an increase of one from the previous legs) were a major Viva talking point. These were all rigged on individual Kinesys motors, for smooth movement in and out throughout the show, each with its own 360° projection system.

    These consisted of a projector mounted with a special Pufferfish lens that internally fitted the content around the full sphere. Looking after this was ‘sphere tech’ Matt Vassallo.

    Christie 20kW Roadster projectors fed the two 3m Pufferspheres, while the five 2m models were run with Barco CLM R10s. The projector signal was run via fibre optic cable, which was new for the stadiums.

    The 1400 x 1050 resolution content for the spheres was supplied by eight Hippotizer digital media servers (previously four) — one for each globe plus a spare, also controlled by Ben Miles, together with the Catalyst, via an MA Lighting grandMA light console with another running in full tracking back-up mode. Miles could also output the different camera feeds to the spheres — the song ‘Cemeteries’ being a good example.

    Miles’ Catalyst supplied the playback content to the arch screen which was a total of 3840 x 1024 pixels. This specially-created footage was commissioned by Phil Harvey and produced by Hello Charlie at the exact required resolution, so it didn’t need scaling.

    Using DVI over fibre at both ends gave the capability of doing any pixel ratio. The content was triggered using a combination of timecode and live operation by Miles.

SPECIAL FX
Some precision cued pyro was added for the stadiums, all handled by Strictly FX from Chicago, who also supplied lasers and confetti.

    The eight pyro positions depended on the layout of the venue — in Dusseldorf it was all fired off the roof at the back of the stage. It came near the end of the set and included 350’ high comets, mines, gold crackles, white glitter and glorious technicolour rainbow effects — all very glitzy.

    However, it was the three cues in ‘Lovers in Japan’ that really wowed the crowd, creating a blizzard of butterfly confetti shooting around the entire stadium. This was achieved using 12 cannons positioned across the front of stage, another 20 scattered around the house, in the FOH enclosure and at the bases of the delay towers, with another three up the top of each delay tower. Together they consumed 260 lbs of confetti per show.

    The lasers were the same as for the arena show, with an additional two in the system bringing the total to six — all Arctos 10W white light systems. The four main ones were upstage as they always had been, and the two additionals in the wings. All were operated live by Strictly FX’s crew chief Mike Hartle using a Pangolin system. As you’d expect, the cues were considered and matched to the colours and looks (both lighting and video) of the relevant songs.

POWER
It’s becoming increasingly common for large shows to carry their own independent specialist power consultants and generation facilities, and on Coldplay this was all sorted by UK-based Fourth Generation, run by the very calm Tweed Hurlocker.

    The decision was made to carry power for continuity and to aid the speed on the ins and outs. Fourth Generation was chosen after being highly recommended to production manager Craig Finlay.

    Fourth Generation dealt with all the house and generator power needed for the production, in the process providing over 5km of mains cable for the A and B advance stage systems and 3400 Amps of generated power per show, complete with all the primary and secondary distribution.

    The company carried two 325 kVA twin packs and one set of 500 kVA twin packs, all run synched, transported on their own trailers, and used to power everything onstage.

    Unsurprisingly, lighting was the heaviest consumer, specially with the 16 7kW Syncrolites added for the stadium leg, and the 10 follow spots.

    The main challenge was the timing logistics, ensuring that all departments had power when they needed it and on-demand for the ins and the outs which were, as ever, on a tight schedule. The diesel was supplied at each venue as part of the rider.

AUDIO
Tour systems engineer Tony Smith had been out since the start, looking after the system and fine tuning it for Coldplay’s FOH engineer Daniel Green. Like all the crew, he enthused about what an enjoyable tour and great vibe it had all been.

    Obviously they stepped up the d&b system for the larger venues, but the main difference was in replacing the B2 subs used previously with d&b J-Infra subs on the floor. Twenty Infras were arranged in a line array style arc, about 1m apart, on the downstage edge of the stage. This bent the sound to maintain smooth coverage.

    Fitted with a 21” driver, “the low end harmonics are amazing,” stated Smith, adding that they are hearing “all sorts of new things”.

    They first used Infras in Singapore a little earlier in the schedule, and so specified them for the stadium tour, where they worked in conjunction with the 11 a side flown J-Subs.

    The main left and right hangs consisted of 12 d&b J8s, each with six J12s underhung, complete with side hangs of 20 J8s a side. The front fills were a mix of Q7s and Q10s, and the delays — of which there were typically three, but could be up to four — were 14 J8s each plus two J-Subs on the ground. All of this was driven by 146 d&b D12 amplifiers, controlled via the brand’s proprietary R1 software.

    Green used a Digidesign Venue D-Show for FOH control for the tour. The main plug-ins used were the Waves Renaissance series of compressors and EQs, with Waves C4 and APIs to simulate classic studio compressors, along with Transient Designer and Eventide reverbs.

    Smith had many good things to say about Waves, and in particular highlighted the firm’s helpfulness when his bag containing all the authorisation keys was stolen in America.

    The Lake Contour processing was new for the stadiums. After using them in the US and Asia, it was decided they were a perfect match for the J-Series system.

    The audio kit was supplied by Wigwam, who supplied all the UK and European sections, along with eight crew joining the three universals and two engineers.

    Monitor world was overseen by Nick ‘Mystic’ Davis who had also been onboard from the start, setting up and babysitting monitors for engineer Chris Wood, who is also extremely hands-on. Wood mixed with another Digidesign Venue console utilising the standard AAA plug-in package.

    As expected, the monitor set up mirrored the arena tour, with four d&b M2 wedges onstage over three mixes — one for the piano, one for guitar and two for bassist Guy Berryman, along with a d&b sub to give his backline rig that extra oomph! These were also all driven by D12s.

    Each band member used Sennheiser IEMs, run on eight frequencies — four live with four spares — with a further five tech mixes. Chris Martin’s mic is a standard wireless Shure SM58.

    There were six receivers dotted around, four on constantly as he flitted between different mic positions throughout the show — a centre mic and piano mic which were static and two floating.

    They added another Sennheiser IEM system to the C stage, normally positioned far out on the auditorium left, giving a local system and constant strong frequencies. They also used an Optocore LXP4 48 line optical multi run out to the C Stage with 16 returns, a decision made to save cable runs.

    For the stadiums, the only other thing that changed was the way they routed their shout system. They all wore IEMs instead of comms to reduce noise. The six technical mixes were routed through a sub mixer fed into one channel on the monitor desk, run via its PQ mixer facility.

    So much for the technicals...what about the show? Well it absolutely rocked! Apart from looking and sounding amazing, the fine balance of accessibility, inclusion and spectacle was plenty to give a bit of an edge and launch the audience on to a planet of spatial ebullience. Just like any real ‘live’ experience should be.

    Phil Harvey, who rapidly and eagerly soaked up new technical knowledge each day as creative director, summed it up neatly when recalling their fledgling dreams of playing stadiums many years back: “It’s an incredible team effort from everyone that makes this show happen. No one ever forgets that.”

    So taking the pleasant surprises with the constants, I’m already looking forward to friendly faces and the warm, welcoming atmosphere of production manager Craig Finlay’s next project!
TPi