LONDON – Beatles tribute band The Bootleg Beatles have since 1994 relied on Entec for the touring sound and lighting. And the love continues on, as LD Mark Jones has designed a show that mimics the productions of yesterday, but of course includes fixtures of today.
More details from Entec (http://www.entec-soundandlight.com):
Entec Supplies Lighting for Bootleg Beatles Tour
LONDON – West London rental company Entec Sound & Light renewed its 17 year acquaintance as a technical production supplier for the Bootleg Beatles on their latest UK tour, supplying lighting and audio equipment plus crew.
Entech has been associated with the Bootleg Beatles since 1994. Entec project manager Noreen O’Riordan said, “The band and crew take great pride in producing authentic sound and visuals based on the original Beatles shows of the 1960s, creating a stunning atmospheric evening that appeals to all generations.”
The band are known as one of the definitive Beatles tribute acts, which has been performing worldwide regularly since their formation in 1980.
The show includes a full span of Beatles favorite tracks, complete with costume changes to match the era. The UK tour plays a wide variety of venues from theatres and concert halls to a selection of arenas, to wildly enthusiastic audiences cutting across all demographics.
To deal practically and efficiently with the different venues, both lighting and sound designs needed to be adaptable, and this was a key starting point for LD Mark Jones and FOH engineer Marc Langley.
Pete “Pepper” Schofield coordinated all the lighting requirements on the road for Entec, working on his second Bootleg Beatles tour, and ensuring that all Mark Jones’ requirements were met.
The lighting design partly mimics a vintage feel, so the moving lights are used subtly and the main objective is to light the band well and atmospherically without it being too busy or over-complicated.
The set up is a straightforward front and rear truss with a small amount of lighting on the floor.
The front truss features six Clay Paky HPE 300s and two Martin Professional MAC 250 Washes, plus an Optikinetics K4 projector – a quality antique piece of kit but not quite dating back as far as the Beatles – which is fitted with a liquid oil wheel for some authentic liquid effects onto a projection screen hung off the back truss.
Also on the back truss are four Studio Due CS4 bars, four Sunstrips. five CP Alpha Beam 700s for big powerful beam effects, another six Clay Paky HPE 300s and four MAC 250 Washes.
On the floor are three CS4 bars, positioned along the back of the stage on stands.
Entec is also controlling the music stand lights for the eight piece orchestra from their dimmers.
Joining Schofield on the crew is Jonathan Cope. Jones also works with them every day, and runs the show from his Jands Vista S3 console.
Bootleg Beatles Manager Raj Patel, says, “The band have always shown loyalty to their suppliers and none more so than Entec Sound and Light. Entec provided sound and lighting systems for our first show at the Royal Albert Hall in 1994. Their co-operation and help in putting that first show together secured their services for the next 18 years. Noreen and Dick have always helped us as the show has grown and developed. This has not just been in supplying equipment – their advice and friendship have enabled the band to successfully stage shows at some of the UK’s biggest venues. The Bootlegs look forward to celebrating their 20th Anniversary of this relationship with Entec in 2014.”
