Off the back of their latest release, Music Complete, the group set out on the road with their long serving Lighting Designer, Andy Liddle.
For this latest tour, Liddle used 16 Robe BMFLs as the backbone of the lighting rig, together with other lights, controlled via an Avolites Arena console.
Liddle chose Robe’s BMFL Spots for their “amazing brightness, speed and optics,” and positioned four of the lights on each one of four over-stage trusses, along with other lighting and GLUX video panels, trimmed at seven, six, 6.5 and 1.5 metres, and positioned at three, six and nine metres upstage, respectively.
His creative starting point for this design was an amalgamation and re-imagining all the best elements of three maverick touring lighting designs which date back to 1983, 1986 and 1989 respectively.
The lighting equipment for the UK and European legs of the tour was supplied by UK rental company Hawthorn, and Liddle’s biggest challenge so far has been the tight pre-production times ahead of each leg of the tour.
In addition to some intelligent and thought-through lighting to match the drama and excitement which resonates at every gig, Liddle worked closely with founding band member drummer, keyboard player and engineer Stephen Morris who produced the video content in conjunction with Damian Hale and Sam Pattinson from Treatment Studio to mould the aesthetic of the show.