MIAMI – How many men can claim to have been pursued by Colombian pop star Shakira? Such is the case with lighting designer Paul Normandale. "She saw a Depeche Mode show that I had done and tracked me down. Her management contacted me and we met," he says of their initial contact. For Shakira's The Sun Comes Out World Tour, in support of the artist's two most recent albums, in addition to performing a string of older hits, the tour hit the U.S. in the fall with a European leg that ran through December. (The sun didn't come out in Frankfurt, Germany, however, and the show, canceled due to snow, was rescheduled for mid-June 2011.)
The other European shows featured an all Martin rig made up of MAC III Profiles, MAC 2000 Wash XBs, MAC 700 Profiles, MAC 250 Beams and Atomic 3000 strobes with Atomic Colors scrollers.
"We did a six week run in the States with no major issues, and thus far in Europe they are fine too," Normandale said. The lighting vendor for the U.S. leg was Upstaging with Lite Alternative, Normandales's U.K. based lighting production company, handling the European leg.
Normandale, who field-tested the MAC III Profile over two years ago on a James Blunt tour and is also using them on the current Chemical Brothers world tour, credited the fixtures for "a broad zoom and beam extremity, allowing for both expansive and defined beams. We even used the laser trick and convinced everyone but the tour accountants we had lasers!" he noted.
Capable of punching out over 33,000 lumens of power with a fat beam look, the MAC III Profile also features an 11.5 to 55 degree zoom range that zooms to full in a second and other features.
For the Shakira show, Normandale has the fixtures placed in the farthest upstage position, and also downstage on a rig that is in essence five fingers with Kinesys truss waves beneath.
Shakira The Sun Comes Out World Tour
Crew
Lighting Designer: Paul Normandale
Lighting Director: Fraser Elisha
Set Designer: Es Devlin
Producer: Felix Barrett
Production Manager: Bill Leabody
Touring Manager: Marty Holm
Lighting Vendor (US): Upstaging
Lighting Vendor (Europe): Lite Alternative
For more information, please visit www.martin.com.
