Latest News Headlines

SGM Giotto Spots for Coldplay

Coldplay’s lighting designer Bryan Leitch has invested in his first purchase of SGM Giotto 400 Spots, 14 of which he’s using for Coldplay’s 2002 world tour that has just kicked off in Europe. The SGM fixtures were supplied to Leitch’s company Siyan by SGM’s UK distributors Lightfactor Sales.

   Siyan is one of the UK’s most successful lighting design and rental companies. It has a slightly different take on the mainstream hire business, specialising in designing and catching bands while they are raw and on the up, staying with them, and growing LDs and design concepts with the band as they gain profile. Leitch – who has had vast experience of all the major moving light fixtures on the market – chose the SGM's after careful consideration, and following a demo by Lightfactor. He was looking for a small sized, mega-bright fixture for the start of the Coldplay tour – which plays in a vast assortment of venues.

   “Giotto’s are great value for money,” he states, and he still continued with the purchase despite them not being the cheapest option. “I looked at everything available - and chose the fixture most suitable for my design brief, and one that would work with the practicalities of the venues.”

   Leitch is confident that the Giotto 400’s brightness even exceeds some 2k fixtures! When adding dark colours on top of the dichroic filters, the beam still cuts through without struggling. In addition to that, what really clinched it for the Giotto was the “excellent quality of movement - the smooth and silent operation of the fixture.”

   Leitch’s show for Coldplay is moody and dramatic, replete with rich saturated colouration. There are plenty of looks with expressionist-style blocks of colour, delineated by the attractive and contrasting beam shaping of the Giotto’s. The show visuals also utilise a four-way Radlite video, complete with five onstage remote mini cams, designed and operated by Nick Whitehouse.

   As the tour steps up to larger venues, Leitch plans to add more Giotto’s to his rig. He first encountered Giotto 400s at a Duran Duran show in Chile last year. They programmed throughout the night before, and the units then ran all the next day for the supporting acts, and all the next night, up to and including their slot – in the heat, without a single problem. Leitch was immediately struck by their stamina.

   Siyan has also used new Giotto 400’s on the recent Beverley Knight tour (LD Steven Abbis), at various one off’s at London’s La Scala and for the Radio Academy Awards. In the autumn, they’ll be out on the JJ72 tour – one of the UK’s hottest young bands - and of course, in increased volume on Coldplay when it steps up to arenas in September.

   Paul de Ville, Lightfactor’s MD said: “It’s always a greater pressure when the customers are as experienced as Bryan and the Siyan team. But from Light factor’s perspective, with a new product like the Giotto 400, it’s fantastic that the fixture comes out on top when judged on performance and value-for-money.”

12th August 2002

© 1999 - 2024 ET Press Ltd News Stories