Lighting programmers/directors Alex Murphy and Mark “Sparky” Risk run Willie Williams' rig for U2’s Innocence + Experience tour like the well oiled machine it is. While creative director Williams calls the rig "really very simple and—don’t laugh—actually very minimal in a spread-all-over-the-arena kind of a way," it still has plenty going on.
"Generally speaking, we tend toward the 'less is more' school of thought, with the emphasis on strong powerful looks that are appropriate to the music, rather than imposed on the music," says Risk, who joined the team in late 2013, while he was working with Williams and Murphy on Robbie Williams' Take The Crown tour. "This approach also means that when we need to up the ante, we always have somewhere to go."
"At first glance, the staging looks like a fairly standard 'A' and 'B' stage set up with a catwalk in between," adds Williams. "However, the different parts of the staging are used at different times and each area, including the catwalk and the video screen, is a performance area in its own right. The sheer acreage of staging means I need quite a few fixtures, but they are used very sparingly."
The performance space is split into distinct areas: the main, square "I" stage, the circular "e" stage, the runway joining the two, and the PRG Nocturne V-Thru video screen/barricade hanging above the runway with its own runway as part of its structure. "The main rig consists of 17 PRG Best Boy Spots above the 'I' stage, together with floor Best Boy Spots, [Harman Martin Professional] Atomic Strobes with scrollers, and DWEs around the perimeter," says Risk. "Another 26 Best Boy Spots are hung within the screen, together with more Atomic Strobes and DWEs. To cover the runway at times, the E stage and the audience, we have four house trusses: one long one on either side of the runway and two shorter eyebrow trusses 'downstage,' as it were, of the E stage. On these trusses are a combination of Bad Boy Spots, Best Boy Washes, and Bad Boy Spotlights." (Check out the full equipment list.)
Risk concentrated on programming the main rig, while Murphy worked specifically on programming the 120+ PRG Bad Boy Spots, including some HP versions with followspot controllers. "When working on particularly involved songs, Alex and I would sometimes share programming duties in order to save time," says Risk, noting that the initial programming period was done without the whole stage/set structure in place, as is usually the case with large, complex productions. "This is a situation we're accustomed to, and we were still able to do plenty of preparation that allowed us to hit the ground running once the full production was assembled in Vancouver."
The show runs on two networked MA Lighting grandMA2 consoles, with one networked backup using two grandMA NPUs. One console is solely for Bad Boy Spots and run by Murphy.
Stay tuned for more our talk with Risk, as well as lighting director/programmer Alex Murphy.
Check out our full coverage, sponsored by SHS Global at our Project In Focus on U2's iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour here, and check back often for continuing updates.