Liverpool, UK, based ADLIB is supplying its brand new Pixled F30 LED screen, a Catalyst media server, full production lighting, FOH and monitor sound consoles and a stage monitor system, plus crew for the BRIT Award winner Ellie Goulding's UK tour. For selected shows, including the London showcase at Hammersmith Apollo, they also supplied the full PA , as required by Jamie Butterworth - Ellie's affable & unflappable Production Manager.
ADLIB's Ian Tomlinson has designed a stylish and elegant lightshow for Goulding – the UK's hottest rising singing/songwriting talent – on her first full production tour, which is surfing high in the wake of her phenomenally successful first studio album, “Lights”.
Taking the art of ‘less is more' to new, expressive environments, the minimalist lighting concept was developed in close collaboration with Goulding's drummer and musical director Joe Clegg, who produced all of the show's video content through his design agency Artclub.
Taking these visuals as an overall creative starting point, he and Tomlinson looked at the options on screens, which resulted in ADLIB's purchase of the Pixled F30, which is configured for the tour as an 8 metre wide by 4 deep back wall upstage of the band.
The video content is extremely specific to each of the songs, and Tomlinson's lightshow was crafted to compliment and match this, in the process bringing a strong synergy to both visual elements.
Another major parameter in the evolution of the lighting design was time. It had to be quick , straightforward to rig and guaranteed to work with no production rehearsals, going straight into the first gig at Newcastle Academy. Obviously it also had to fit the budget!
The footage is all programmed into a Catalyst media server which is primarily timecode triggered by the Alesis HD onstage, with some cues executed manually via the Hog 3 console on which lighting director Rob Lister is operating all the lights.
Lighting fixtures are hung on 2 mini-beam trusses – front and back. This is an unusually symmetric rig for Tomlinson, known for his love of the idiosyncratic! “With the screen and the video being so central to the show, symmetry was the way to go on this one,” he explains.
The back truss has 6 Martin Professional MAC 250 Beam moving lights and 6 Ikea balls - a customised Tomlinson & Clegg created scenic element consisting of Ikea paper lampshades covering 40 Watt incandescent bulbs.
One of the advantages of the Pixled screen is its light weight, so this is also hung off the upstage cord of the back truss.
Wherever there is a mid truss in the venue house rigs, it's used to hang the other 5 Ikea Balls, and if not available, these are accommodated on the back truss.
On the floor below the screen are another 5 MAC 250 Beams, and on the front truss, 7 x MAC 700 Washes. There are 4 floor pars across the front of the stage to warm Goulding's face up and contrast to the starkness of the MAC 700s.
And that's it!
Each fixture is multipurpose and used for numerous different functions, and Tomlinson really maximises the visual trickery of making it look and feel like a much larger rig. The lighting and video work in complete synchronicity, and essential theatrical basics like tight cuing, perfect key lighting and ensuring that the band are all properly and evenly lit ...... make the show a joy to watch.
For the poppy & rocky numbers, there are plenty of beams, bright colours and bold chases, and it drops right down for the acoustic section, with strong moody backlighting creating a warm intimacy.
Extras were brought in for the Hammersmith show (which was shot for a DVD release) in the form of 6 x MAC 700 Profiles, used for rear key lighting and 6 x MAC 700 Washes, which were used to light a silver lame Austrian Curtain rigged upstage of the screen to great effect. The extras were all run off a Road Hog Full Boar console which was operated by Tomlinson, leaving Rob Lister to concentrate on running the normal touring show.
Other ADLIB lighting crew were Neil Holloway, who also tech'd the screen & the Catalysts, and Jeff Bond.
On the sound side, ADLIB supplied the redoubtable Steve “Patto” Pattison who mixed monitors using an Allen & Heath iLive R72 console, and the Midas Pro 6 FOH console spec'd by engineer Rick Geduld, plus the stage IEM system for which the standard set up was 8 stereo mixes of Sennheiser G2 and 8 effects sends.
Pattison chose the iLive 72 for it's super small footprint and is running it with an IDR48 mix rack. An additional IDR16 was supplied for Hammersmith, where 4 extra IEM mixes for the string section were added for the show. He's also doing a mix for Neil Holloway looking after the Catalysts, so he knows when the video should be triggering.
ADLIB is supplying a full mics and stands package, the majority of which is Sennheiser.
For Hammersmith, they sent James Neale to rig and systems tech the main PA, which was a V-DOSC system specified by Geduld, consisting of 9 V-DOSC cabinets per side, each with 3 x dv downs, 6 x SB28 subs a side and 4 ARCs a side on the stage for infills and a tight focus. The V-DOSC system was chosen because it produces a great sound in the venue.
The tour's production manager Jamie Butterworth has been working with ADLIB since 2004, and comments, “ADLIB will always be my first choice of rental company – their gear is great, the service is second to none and the people are amazing – there are no egos involved and I really like the family atmosphere and attention to detail. Design and technical skills are important, but equally so is temperament and attitude".
For more press info. on ADLIB, please contact Louise Stickland on +44 (0)1865 202679 or +44 (0)7831 329888, or Email ‘[email protected]', Contact ADLIB direct on +44 (0)151 486 2214 or check www.adlibsolutions.co.uk
Crew photo caption, L-R : Jeff Bond, Rob Lister, Ian Tomlinson & Neil Holloway