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The Australian Pink Floyd Show Shines On
The Australian Pink Floyd Show has been around for nearly 20 years now, and those of you who have had the chance to hear them will know why. The musicians behind the show are every bit as talented as the real Floyd.
So with this in mind, when it comes time for touring they need a lighting spectacular every bit as enthralling. And that is exactly what their 2007 tour is.
The challenging task was put to lighting designer, David Hill, whose past experience is as broad as it is impressive – from Swan Lake to the Rolling Stones. “The idea for this tour has been buzzing around my head for a couple of years now. It is very loosely modelled around the Pink Floyd Pulse tour from 1994, hence the arch and circle,” explained Hill.
“I wanted a back wall of lights that could create a barrage of effects, the intention being to recreate some Floyd looks but at the same time build a show that is unique to The Australian Pink Floyd. We really wanted to produce a visual feast for the audience.”
This wasn’t the easiest of tasks when a key parameter was that the whole rig had to fit into only two touring trucks. So compact yet powerful was the order of the day.
“I had to come up with an arch that was versatile enough to fit in many different venues. I decided to go with a black Mini-Beam truss arch, 57 foot wide x 30 foot high for arenas that could also, in stages, be reduce to 36 foot wide x 23 foot high, with a projection screen fill.”
This versatility supported production manager Andrew Keightley’s view that no audience should be short changed and that the show must remain consistently spectacular whether in an intimate venue such as Norwich UEA or an arena like Manchester MENA.
A mixture of LED and Moving heads on the circle and arch created a wild Catherine wheel effect while the floor was busy with MAC 700 Washes, Martin Atomic Strobes and Vari*Lite VL2500s.
“For lighting I chose 33 MAC 250 Wash lights to hang evenly around the inside edge of the circle. They are small and light while punchy and very fast - allowing for greater movement, colour changes and strobe effects.”
Noreen O’Riordan from Entec Sound & Light, who provided the lights adds: “We knew we would be tight on space so the lights specified had to not only be dynamic for large arenas, but compact. Jessica Allan from Martin demonstrated the MAC 250 Wash and it was perfect. The units are very responsive and cut through the enormous amounts of Jem smoke and Martin 24/7 haze used during the show.”
And when it all came together – light, laser, music and fog – it created a stunning show that has seen people coming back for more.
photo courtesy Robert Hollingworth
4th June 2007
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