LONDON — Lighting programmer Graham Feast is using a Hog 4 lighting console from High End Systems for Depeche Mode’s Delta Machine tour. LD Paul Normandale provided the lighting design and Anton Corbijn designed the set. AED Distribution provided two Hog 4 consoles for the tour.
More details from High End Systems (www.highend.com):
Depeche Mode are touring the world again, unveiling a new stage design from Anton Corbijn and LD Paul Normandale for the Delta Machine shows. Normandale and moving light programmer Graham Feast picked two new High End Systems Hog 4 consoles to program and operate the show. Supplied through AED Distribution for production company Lite Alternative through AED’s UK sub-distributor AC-ET, the desks were a natural choice for Feast, who also toured on the group’s most recent Tour Of The Universe outing. A Hog programmer since the console’s first iteration several decades ago, Graham admits, “I’m fairly okay with most consoles out there, but my preference would be the Hog operating system. You plug it in and away you go – it’s a very easy console to get to grips with.”
Feast got the call from Normandale and the group’s management to do the Delta Machine tour, and production rehearsals commenced in Europe at the end of April. Graham explains, “When Paul and I began talking about our console options for this tour, I got a few recommendations from people I knew in Europe who had been using the Hog 4; one was Oli Metcalfe with Muse, and the other was Ross Williams, and both of them came back with glowing reports of how rock solid it was. I needed something I could depend on, and that really formed the basis for my decision to say to Paul, ‘let’s take a couple of Hog 4’s with us’.”
Normandale’s fresh lighting design for the opportunity allowed Feast his first opportunity to program on the new console. “Paul is very keen not to revisit anything,” says Graham, “and while certain things are a given, i.e. the dynamic of the track is the same, the song elements need to be embellished accordingly. He doesn’t do the same thing twice, from a design point of view. It’s also very much driven by the band; Dave Gahan is quite involved, and he wanted a different feel on stage. The last tour was good … so let’s make this one better!”
Feast’s first impressions of the console echoed the sentiments of other top programmers: “The improved speed of the Hog 4 is impressive. It’s incredibly quick. The initialization sequence and boot up are really fast, as are operations such as ‘replicate fixtures’ and ‘change type’. The user platform offers a much nicer canvas, and I like the fact that you can change the button and font sizes – it’s a really nice desk to move around. I love that I can get into each parameter element and be really selective in what I’m going to store – that’s great. The console is so solid and easy to work with, now I am excited about the rumors of an effects engine coming out!”
Graham also gives high marks to High End Systems’ European partner, AED Distribution. “I’ve known David March for many years; he’s always been very helpful, as has Frank Schotman. They are a solid partner for High End Systems in Europe, and it’s so important to have a facility where you can get some hands-on experience with these products.”
Depeche Mode have completed their first leg of the Delta Machine tour, and the band is slated to play the U.S. for several months of shows, culminating in a performance at the ACL Festival on Oct. 11.
