Lighting and video rental specialist Colour Sound Experiment has invested in new Robe
MegaPointe moving lights, Blackmagic video control technology and new pre-rigged trusses, all of which were used on the 2CELLOS latest European tour.
West London based Colour Sound provided lighting, video, rigging and crew, working
closely with Lighting Designer Crt Birsa and Production Manager Chris Griffiths.
The UK performance was staged at London’s Royal Albert Hall with the band accompanied by The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.
Birsa, a big Robe fan, was delighted when Colour Sound was able to offer its brand new Robe MegaPointes. The fixture was launched in September 2017 and this was one of its first European tours. It was the first time he’s worked with Colour Sound and said that it was a “totally positive” experience. “The guys are extremely nice, highly knowledgeable and absolutely dedicated to doing a great job in getting the show onstage every day,” Birsa aded.
Colour Sound’s crew of Simon Robertson, Frank Williams and David Cattermole were
chiefed by Kester McClure. The lighting was toured in the pre-rigged trussing for convenience and to speed up the get-ins / outs. The main touring rig featured 3 14 metre long overheads trusses – front mid and back, with one more added for the Albert Hall. The moving lights – 26 Robe MegaPointes, 20 Robe Spiider LED wash beams and 5 Robe BMFL Spots for key lights – were distributed across all trusses with eight of the MegaPointes on the floor. They did most of the work and were augmented with 2-lite and 4-lite blinders for audience illumination, together with strobes on the mid and upstage trusses which kick in later in the set. Some of the lights were rigged on drop-bars to achieve more separation between the sources.
They played the RAH show with the organ revealed, an approach that worked effectively in conjunction with their 10m x 3m deep LED screen. Built from Colour Sound’s BT7 product, this was rigged on a Litec QL52 truss and flown just below the bottom of the organ pipes, filling the space as if it had been specially tailored. The extra truss at the RAH was rigged with another 6 MegaPointes bringing the total for that gig to 32.
The Robe MegaPointes were utilised for numerous effects and eye-candy as well as for profile and beam looks. The Robe Spiiders took care of all the basic stage washes and had no problem in covering the expanded orchestra for the RAH show, while the colours showed their continuity with the robe MegaPointes.
Birsa programmed and ran lighting on his own ChamSys MQ80 console with a Wing, and
Colour Sound providing a complete replica system for backup. The band’s Video Director Zaor Kolar put together the playback visuals in conjunction with 2CELLOS Creative Director Miro Vidović. Colour Sound supplied two Panasonic AW-HE60 robo cameras – 1 for each of the two stars, Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser – which were operated by Kester and combined with an input from the band’s own GoPro focussed on drummer Dušan Kranjc. All these inputs were fed into the new Blackmagic kit, first into the Smart Videohub
CleanSwitch 12×12 matrix stationed at dimmers, with the signals sent to FOH where they
were mixed and output to screen via the new Blackmagic ATEM Television Studio Pro HD
switcher operated by Zaor, who also added in the playback footage input from 2CELLOS
own Resolume system.
Kester was impressed with all the new kit they had on the tour: “It’s always good to work with new technology, and the MegaPointes are really bright, small and impressive and utilising the pre-rigged truss greatly helped the speed and efficiency of the get-ins and outs.”
EXE-Rise 1000kg 8:1 double-braked chain hoists were used for all the rigging, and the
touring lighting and visuals package was completed with two Robert Juliat Merlin followspots and 3 hazers. Colour Sound’s ‘H’ (Haydn Cruickshank) commented: “We are really pleased to be servicing and supporting this tour. It was an ideal opportunity for all of us to see the MegaPointes in action as Crt really uses them extensively and effectively and great to also get the new video kit on the road. It’s been a great experience working with Crt – we have loved his enthusiasm and imagination – and indeed that of the whole 2CELLOs production team”.
In return, Crt, one of Slovenia’s best known lighting, set and visual designers, added: “It’s been a pleasure to work with Kester and the Colour Sound crew on the road, and H and
Alex in the office. They have paid great attention to detail and given fantastic service, so I
look forward to the next time.”