For the Dandy Warhols' Brixton Academy show in London, Dan Cook programmed and operated a RADlite digital media server. The show marked the end of the tour’s first European leg, highlighting the launch of the psychedelic indie rockers' launch of their new album, Welcome to the Monkey House.
The RADlite was brought onboard by the Warhols' LD Pete "Luton" Hosier, who specified the latest in live digital visuals to funk up the stage aesthetics at the important Brixton show. It was such as success that they were already talking on the night about its future use.
Cook worked at a frenetic pace: He had from midday to 7pm when doors opened to get the show honed and ready to roll. Using an Avolites Azure console and an array of images pulled from Projected Image’s new Beacon Digital Gobo catalogue, Cook created an animated visual montage of color, shapes, effects, and movement that ran the entire two-and-a-half-hour set without repetition.
The RADlite system was supplied for this occasion by UK distributors Projected Image Digital. Cook, a well known LD in his own right and one half of the Design & Media Solutions team, comments, "RADlite is so quick and simple to manipulate and program. Within 30 minutes I had the basis of the show in the desk, and then built and fine-tuned from there. The flexibility is fantastic!"
Hosier, who is working in tandem with the tour’s lighting operator, Scott Simon, explains that the lighting modus operandi is to use the moving lights for PAR can-style "standard" illumination and for key lighting the band, while the RADlite effects set the theme, individual look, and atmosphere for each song. Simon says, "I love RADlite. The system’s creative possibilities just blow my mind!"
The main RADlite projection surface was five polyester drop banners, backed by an upstage cyc, giving the clean and "digital" feel they wanted for the stage. Projection hardware, including a Barco G5 projector, a Panasonic MX50 mixer, and a DVD player/scan converter enabling utilization of some of the band’s existing NTSC format video footage, was supplied by leading UK live video rental house XL Video. Cook mixed both RADlite and DVD video sources for the Brixton show, at times combining the two and using effects like Chroma-Key and Luminance Key. Simon operated the lighting rig using an Avolites Pearl. Lighting gear was supplied by GLS, and sound equipment was a collaborative effort between Audiolease and Juice PA.
Photos © Louise Stickland