Tina Turner Tours with Clay Paky

tina-turner-3lo.jpgTina Turner, eight-time Grammy Award winner and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, is currently making her long-awaited return to stages after an eight-year hiatus, during the “Tina Turner – Live in Concert” Tour, spanning North America and Europe. There are currently 80 dates scheduled, with more being added as the massive demand for tickets continues to increase.

Turner's new show features her entire career of hits, backed by a spectacular production including the singer's high-energy band, original choreography, and of course, a jaw-dropping lighting scheme.

The stage includes a stunning array of 80 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300 fixtures, as part of a massive LED wall grid upstage. The fixtures hide behind a motion-controlled video wall, which separates into sections, allowing the Alpha Beams to shine through. The fixtures are hung from custom brackets on the sides of a total of 8 LED screens, with 5 fixtures hanging along each side, which become visible when the screens separate from each other. Lighting is controlled by a GrandMA console, operated by Kathy Beer.

Lighting Designer is Barry “Baz” Halpin, who lists Cher, Queen, Joe Cocker and Pink among his credits. “I chose the Alpha Beam 300 for Tina Turner because of their low power consumption and unparalleled output compared to anything else in its class,” said Halpin, “I was most impressed by their reliability, speed and effectiveness. They are lightweight, bright and pack a powerful punch. I love them!”

Some of the most stunning effects occur first during “Addicted to Love”, when the LED wall splits for the first time into four sections, revealing 40 Alpha Beams between the split screens, then again during “Simply the Best”, when the four screens divide into eight, showing all 80 fixtures beaming between. Halpin says, “They look just beautiful – they make an incredible impact without overwhelming the other stage elements. We were able to use all of their features in different ways to get a gorgeous variety of looks.”

The Alpha Beam 300 is the new 300W Clay Paky Beam Moving Lights that are having a very strong impact on the worldwide market, thanks to their “new concept” exclusivity. It recently won the Award for Innovation at PLASA08 in September. “The judges were impressed by this amalgamation of existing technologies which has created a new tool for lighting designers, offering greater versatility and flexibility,” said Matthew Griffiths, Managing Director of PLASA.

Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky GM for the Americas tells us: “Alpha Beam is a winning and innovative product, conceived to complete one of the widest professional moving heads line in the world, the «Alpha Range». We have lit up some of this year's leading events with these products from Shakira's tour to The Cure's, from the Beijing Olympics to Cirque du Soleil's latest show. Clay Paky products are now specifically requested by many American and British LDs following the intense promotion of our products with demos and presentations”.

Francesco also mentioned the importance of the partnership between Clay Paky and PRG Distribution, initiated at the beginning of 2008: “PRG Distribution's professionalism and market penetration capacity have been determining factors in Clay Paky product distribution in America. The two companies have high esteem and faith in each other and I am convinced they will bring mutual success on both the short and long-term”.

Eric Mueller (PRG Distribution Director of Sales) said, ”We were thrilled when Baz specified the Alpha 300s for Tina Turner. They're low-maintenance and look absolutely stunning on stage. We knew everyone would be really happy.”

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