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The recent sold out UK and European shows by US singer / songwriter Nicole Scherzinger featured a lighting design by Scott Warner, who took a selection of the latest Robe technology on the road to all six high profile gigs in a floor specials package.
With a stripped back stage and minimal set – apart from the ‘Nicole’ backdrop and a set of grey voile stage drapes – and with no video or production rehearsal time – all eyes were on the lighting department to help enhance the drama and atmosphere of the evening in tune with Scherzinger’s style.
“There was a lot of pressure on lighting for these shows, but when that happens, it certainly tests your imagination and skills as an LD,” he says.
He first worked with Scherzinger on the Pussycat Dolls, whom he lit for seven years before being asked to light her solo work. He been a big fan of Robe products for some time and used them consistently for the last five years. In particular he has a soft-spot for the REDWash 3?192 – one of the pioneering units in Robe’s LED product range – which he’s used on several major acts including Pussycat Dolls, Goo Goo Dolls, David Cook / Gavin McGraw and others.
This time around, he chose all the latest Robe fixtures, specifying 12 ROBIN 600 LEDWashes, six ROBIN MMX Spots, four ROBIN 300 LEDWashes and four ROBIN 600 SmartWhites, all supplied by RM Lighting, together with Warner’s grandMA light console.
At each of the six shows – which included London’s Hammersmith Apollo – he hooked into overhead rigs supplied by the local promoter.
Warner went for a mix of theatre and rock ‘n’ roll, plenty of contrasts, shadows, silhouettes and dark ‘Noir’ elements counteracted with bright and assertive beam-work and bold color combinations.
The LEDWash 600s were positioned along the back of the stage, on the drum riser, on the floor in front of the risers and to each side of the stage for cross stage washes. Four of the MMXs were at the back, right upstage, with the other two at the sides shooting across the upstage, where they caught the dancers bouncing in and out of their light paths.
The LEDWash 300s were compact enough to go almost unnoticed along the front of the stage where they provided footlight effects that Warner liked a lot – he recalled being impressed with their small profile when he first saw them back in the US.
He also used the near beam-effects of the LEDWashes when zoomed in, and made use of their range of high quality ‘tungsten’ whites, all contrasted with the hard edges of the MMX beams slicing through from behind.
Warner runs his company, Karate Pinky Visual Design, out of Pittsburgh, PA. In addition to doing lighting, visual concept and production design, he is broadening his creative horizons to making videos.
RM Lighting is based in Battersea, London and headed by Rob Mander.
