LONDON – Entec is supplying lighting, rigging and part of the visuals package, including a new Green Hippo Grasshopper HD media server, to the current Australian Pink Floyd Show tour. Entec has supplied gear for the band, lit by LD Phil White, since 2004. "We are very pleased with the evolving seven-year relationship we've had with the band and crew on this show," said Entec's Noreen O'Riordan. "Every night, each department delivers a high quality, faultless performance with a consistency that is very hard to beat."
The lighting rig design is based on Pink Floyd's 1994 Pulse tour, and the visuals element of the show utilizes both 3D and 2D projections, featuring a new set of material following a new band line up, "rebirth" and new management deal.
The 3D projection is a focal point for the new show, with custom content produced and created by video artist John Attard played back on a six-meter circular screen centre stage. The 2D material for an arch screen upstage of the circle was created by Phil White and Lydia Baker, and also includes some 2D footage from Attard, which is derived from and related to his 3D material playing on the circle.
The arch is 60 feet wide arch and filled with matte white projection screen. In front of this is the circular truss filled with an HD projection screen supplied by Harkness via Hangman, and the 3D projections kick in during the second half of the show, providing narrative accompaniment to the songs. They are projected onto the circle via a playback system provided by XL Video.
The arch features an assortment of 2D backing visuals and ambient content, which is stored on Entec's Hippo Grasshopper and triggered from White's grandMA full size lighting console running over ArtNet. The arch projections are fed from two Barco R12 projectors, one covering each side.
To give the stage a new sense of depth and dimension, 12 sections of individual 3-meter upstage/downstage truss are flown at varying heights on ProStar motors. These are collectively also in a spherical shape format – in front of and framing – the white screen of the arch. "We wanted to introduce a real 3D feeling to the stage to complement the 3D visuals," White noted.
While certain elements of the original Pink Floyd show are mimicked, the dynamics of the TAPF show enable new visual material and ideas to be introduced all the time, ensuring that it's a constantly evolving work rather than a static environment.
Entec purchased their new Grasshopper from A.C. Video, the specialist video division of A.C. Entertainment Technologies, for the tour, which follows the purchase of several other Green Hippo products from AC-ET. It was specified by Entec's Ryan Brown, who also set up and fine-tuned the system before it left their Northolt base.
The lighting equipment supplied by Entec includes 40 Clay Paky Alpha Spot 300 HPEs, 24 of which are positioned on the 12 trusses around the arch, with the remaining 16 around the perimeter of the circle.
There are also six Martin Professional Atomic strobes on the arch trusses and 12 2-lite Moles, with each section of truss internally lit by an i-Pix Satellite LED "brick" tucked into the corner.
In addition to the 16 HPEs on the circle, there are eight 2-lites, and the trussing itself is also internally lit with another 16 Satellites to match the mood lighting of the arch trusses and accentuate the architectural look of the stage.
Further downstage at either end of the band space are two vertically mounted truss sections, each rigged with four Vari*Lite 2500 Spots, which are used for back-of-stage lighting and low level cuts-and-sweeps.
The two Barco 20K FLM projectors on the front truss feed the circular projections, and two Barco R12s feed the arch, together with five Vari*Lite VL2000 Spots used for key lighting. These fixtures are joined by three Martin MAC 700 wash moving lights, utilized for general high level stage washes.
On the floor are 10 Vari*Lite VL2500 Spots, two Nova Flower 2.5K flower effects and a splattering of LED floor PAR cans.
At the front of the stage are 11 Chromalech Jarags. These are used to mimic the 10 x 10 Raylite matrix used on the original Pulse tour. They are programmed to produce patterns, symbols and text keywords. The Jarags offer a 5×5 bulb format, and they double as audience blinders.
One of the aesthetic directions that White discussed with the band at the start of the tour was how to make it brighter than previous years. This was addressed by introducing the "double arch" architecture, facilitating lighting positions that allow aerial/audience effects to be happening while the band is bathed in light from fixtures on the arch and side trusses.
White builds the show gradually – at the start. everything is minimal and there's no projection, just stark, stripped-back lighting, similar to the vibe that it would have accompanied the original band's early career in the 1960s and 1970s.
Next, the arch is revealed as the show starts to gain more of a technical look, and then 2D projections onto both arch and circle start, with the 3D kicking in at the start of the second half. At this point, the band members looks as though they are floating in space in an iconic Pink Floyd look.
{mosimage}After this, the show builds to an electrifying crescendo, with 3D projection and all lights blazing, right through to the final chords of "Run Like Hell," which ends the show.
For more information, please visit www.entec-soundandlight.com.
