LONDON — LarMac LIVE created a design and coordinated technical production for a “silent” gig for the pop band Scouting For Girls on the third floor of The Bargehouse exhibition venue at London’s Oxo Tower. To meet noise constraints, everyone – band, crew and the 150 guests – listened via earphones.
Working on behalf of Absolute Radio and smart car, the product crew’s challenges included six flights of steep, narrow stairs; a single 3-phase 63A power supply, which had to be run up from the first floor and shared for lighting and sound; a low ceiling; rigging limitations; and, for the superstitious, the fact that it was held on Friday the 13th.
LarMac’s Jo MacKay and Ian Greenway worked with Colour Sound Experiment (lighting), Blackout (drapes and dressing), Show Force (crewing) and Britannia Row (sound), with on-site support from Jenny Stogdon.
The design involved the transformation of the bare room in its raw condition into an inviting party environment, which had to be achieved in the space of 10 hours.
The crew started by installing a pipe-and-drape system around all the walls and the central pillars, after which all wallspace was clad in black bolton material, which was overlaid with 80 square meters of Chroma-Q ColorWeb 250 LED mesh, adding depth and dimension to the space.
The back and sides of the stage – positioned at the far end – were draped in purple velvet, matching Absolute Radio’s logo. A dressing room for the band was created in an adjacent room, draped out in rich red velvet fabric. The velvet contrasted with the rough textures of the building’s interior.
As a finishing touch, one-meter strips of black, slate gray and purple carpeting covered floor, went up over the front edge of the stage, and ended at the back wall — muffling the sound in the space further.
MacKay collaborated with Haydn Cruickshank from Colour Sound on the lighting design. One of the special effects she specifically wanted was some classic psychedelic kinetics undulating around on the ceiling and floor, which was achieved with a collection of six Solar 250 effects projectors, quality antiques that were dusted off for the occasion and looked resplendent with a selection of vintage liquid oil wheels and other wacky effects.
Mindful of the limited power, Cruickshank’s general lighting scheme for the room and the stage used a selection of different LED fixtures – GLP Impression RZ 120 moving wash lights, Chroma-Q Color Force 72 battens and i-Pix Satellite “bricks,” over 30 of which were dotted around the room illuminating the seating areas, dance floor and bar. There was also a set of Sunstrips at the back of the stage.
All the lighting equipment had to be either floor- or stand-based, or clamped to additional pipe-and-drape. Lighting was programmed and controlled via a Chamsys MagicQ console.
The room design was finished off with a series of acrylic panels printed with retro kaleidoscopic patterns, which were backlit and used for the bar front, to mask the FOH mixing position and hung above a small chill-out booth in the side of the room on stage left.
A seated area was created at the back of the room, bringing a contemporary twist of silver and black Chesterfields and Ottoman sofas and matching mirrored tables.
“I needed the design to work on many levels,” noted MacKay. “The historical ambience of the building was a good starting point, and it being an incredible space in its own right. Then it had to be welcoming and vibe-y for guests, whilst also creating a sense of the unexpected, so they kept encountering surprises, right from when they stepped into the building and went up the stairs, to entering the transformed gig room to being handed the headsets to and getting immersed in the performance.”
For more information, please visit www.larmaclive.com.
