The Pet Shop Boys have made squares cool with the help of the team at Specialz.
Specialz was commissioned to provide a multifunctional cube for use on the latest Pet Shop Boys Live 2006 tour. The cube, which is internally illuminated, functions as a giant projection screen, a band prop, and dancer platform. Subdividing into four, 4m x 4m separate parts which are moved around the stage during the show.
Rockdrops Gary Cooper-Burrows said, “After discussions with production manager Joe Sanchez and set designer Es Devlin as to the requirements and uses of the cube for the forthcoming PSB 2006 tour, there was no choice in my mind as to whom I should use for the engineering and manufacture of the cube. After working with Dave Smith and Keith Owen on the Franz Ferdinand tour last year, I knew it had to be Specialz.”
Design features incorporated into the cube provide the ability to transform into dollies upon being disassembled and hence also cutting down on trucking costs.
Joe Sanchez comments, “This was a complex design and a build in a very short time, the guys at Specialz and Rockdrops did what they said they would, when they said they would, and on budget. I can’t ask for more.” Set Designer Es Devlin adds, “ Specialz really are peopled with men of exquisite skill and indefatigable stamina.” Dave Smith, managing director of Specialz concludes, “ It’s a simple, well conceived idea, which has been excellently lit by Carl Burnett and is in keeping with The Pet Shop Boys highly artistic previous shows. They liked the first cube so much we are building another one for America.”