Leading UK lighting and visuals rental company HSL has been supplying a substantial ‘specials’lighting rig - comprising over 160 fixtures - for Chase & Status's 2013 summer festival tour, which drew to a blistering close at the 2013 Reading and Leeds Festivals.
This continues an excellent working relationship with the band and Lighting Designer Neil Carson.
Chase & Status live shows are renowned for their relentless high energy content and innovative use of visuals and lighting and the basis for Carson's design was to ensure that the rig could be wheeled onstage, rigged and wired in 30 minutes …and give the band their own highly distinctive show for each and every one of their incendiary festival performances.
Lighting Director Cate Carter also ran the lighting for a section of the tour while Carson was fulfilling other previously booked commitments.
HSL Project Manager Mike Oates says, "It was a pleasure working with Neil and Cate again on this and also with production Manager Mike Clegg. Neil came up with a great concept which we helped realize in a practical touring package".
Right at the heart of the rig were two pre-rigged truss dollies each containing 20 Robe LEDBeam 100 fixtures. These were pushed onto stage and positioned upstage of the band risers. Another 20 LEDBeam 100s were rigged onto two 5 metre towers each side of the stage and offstage of the dollies.
This all resulting in a crazy 'wall of death' type effect made up from the 60 x LEDBeams, which worked perfectly with the combination of their miniscule size and massive brightness!
Eight Robe LEDWash 600s on the floor provided low level washes and kept the band’s faces subtly lit along with those of any guest vocalists.
For spectacular beam effects, 22 x Clay Paky Sharpies were deployed - five on each of the towers, three in both dollies and three each downstage left and right. These were used for those sumptuous big Sharpy 'beauty' looks and for speedy moments when the music is going completely nuts!
Eighteen Atomic strobes with colour scrollers were scattered around the stage area, and another two trussing towers sat downstage, each loaded up with three Atomics and scrollers and some Robe LEDForce 18 PARs, chosen because they are super-fast for flashy effects!
Along the back of the stage behind the risers was another lighting highlight - three Novalight Novaflowers - used for those massive heavenly and apocalyptic moments –for which they looked exceptionally cool!
Finally, the lighting count was completed with a bunch of Molefeys dotted around - which no self-respecting Chase & Status gig would be without.
HSL supplied a grandMA2 light console which was the control surface of choice for both Carson and Carter.
Also an integral part of the whole project were two of HSL's fabulous crew - Simon ‘Piggy’Lynch and Marc Callaghan. “They were wonderful," remarks Carter. Neil Carson adds, “They were always up for the challenge of getting an ambitious amount of kit onto the stage no matter how tight the changeover time!”
Carter’s biggest challenge was picking up and running with a complex and tightly cued show, a task at which she excellent and enjoyed. Having also looked after the band's show a couple of years back, she says, "Chase & Status are a really exciting live act to work with, Neil's show absolutely rocked and I really enjoyed looking after it".
Carson, who also made good use of HSL's WYSIWYG suite beforehand for pre-programming states, "HSL were brilliant! Nothing was too much trouble, they produced several custom solutions and dealt with everything quickly and efficiently and with lots of smiles! Mike was excellent as always and his attention to detail outstanding”.