LONDON – The first of Robe’s new Robin DLF LED Wash lights went on tour in the UK with LD Rob Sinclair and The Human League. The rig also contained other Robe fixtures which illuminated and projected on to a scenic back wall above and behind the band, constructed from 10 Airformance Design ‘Waben Blocks.’ HSL supplied the lighting.
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LONDON – The first of Robe’s new Robin DLF LED Wash lights went on tour in the UK with LD Rob Sinclair and The Human League. Sinclair used 10 of the PLASA Innovation Award winning fixtures.
The rig also contained other Robe fixtures including five DigitalSpot 7000 DTs, which together with the DLF Washes, were used to illuminate and project on to a scenic back wall above and behind the band, constructed from 10 Airformance Design ‘Waben Blocks.’
The concept of using the Blocks originally came from lead vocalist Philip Oakey, who had seen these at a festival during the summer and thought they would look cool onstage.
All lighting and digital lighting equipment for the tour was supplied by Blackburn-based HSL, who have the largest stock of Robe fixtures in the UK.
The lighting was rigged on three trusses. Sinclair sought a fixture that was light in weight and high in output specifically for hanging on the front truss as he wanted to be able to isolate and neatly light areas of the Waben Blocks.
HSL’s Project Manager, Mike Oates suggested he check out the DLFs, which had just been delivered to HSL, and were the first available for touring in the UK.
A demo followed and Sinclair realized that the framing shutters in the DLFs were perfect for the precise ‘barn-door’ style framing of the Waben Blocks that he had in mind, and also for producing the vibrant palette of color effects that he wanted to throw onto the Blocks.
“They are nice and bright and can produce a fabulous array of colors,” he comments.
The tour also featured 28 Robe LEDWash 600s, which were dotted over all the mid and back trusses, together with 12 ROBIN 300E Beams, six positioned on the back truss and six on an upstage riser. The two types of fixture color match each other seamlessly, while the different beams offer contrast.
Lighting Director Chris Steel ran the lighting and video on tour using a Chamsys MQ100 console with a Wing.
Steel is equally impressed with the DLF Washes, He likes the zoom (5.5-60 degrees) and says, “They are fantastic lights.”
The mid truss was on a Kinesys automation system which started in the down position and then raised out to reveal the band at the top of the show.
The video content was loaded into the heads of the DigitalSpots and run from the lighting desk. It primarily consisted of ambient and texturing type footage created by Sinclair and his design team, which was edge-blended together in the DigitalSpots and flowed over the Waben Blocks, giving them a real 3D ‘spatial’ dimension.
For the European section of the tour ahead of the UK dates, HSL supplied a specials package of 12 Robe LEDWash 600s.
