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December 2011 entertainment, presentation, installation

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SymphonicaLSi visits George Michael

on tour in Dublin

CT at 25LSi talks to Creative Technology

Bridge to EnterpriseDiGiCo: 10 years of innovation

Pride of FinlandLSi at Helsinki Music Centre

Also Inside . . .

TF: PrevisualisationChanging practices at the ROH

PLUS! Vectorworks 2012 • White Light at 40 • PALME Vietnam • Danley Sound in LeedsLDI Orlando • Newcastle Theatre Royal • J&C Joel • Q&A: ASD Chairman Gareth Fry . . . and more!

Cover:Cover 08/12/2011 11:16

Despite my best efforts, I never got to see 25 Live, George

Michael’s last tour, so I was really looking forward to this one.

I was not disappointed. For those of you who still think of

George in the context of Careless Whisper, think again; the

mellifluous, honeyed tones of his voice still resonate with

soul and passion, yet in maturing have become even

smoother.

Since being introduced to George’s album Songs from the lastCentury two years ago by David Claringbold, the GM ofTheatre & Events at Sydney Opera House, I’d wanted nothingmore than to hear him render such masterpieces live; that hehas chosen to do so accompanied by an orchestra is typical ofa performer who has always striven to impose the productionvalues of the recording studio upon the stage.

25 years ago, designer Jonathan Smeeton put George in a giant cage on stage and then unfolded the artist to hispublic; these days George is very much master of his ownpresentation. In covering the Symphonica tour I discovered an artist whose clear ideas of how he wishes to be seen andheard exert powerful influences on all departments of theproduction team.

Stage SetI was given a quick tour by stage manager Rik Benbow. Thiswas their second show at the Dublin O2, but there had been a boxing event between the two, so - lighting apart - much of the show apparatus was being reassembled having been loaded out. “The stage set takes parts of the old stage from the last tour, maybe 30%, and then marries it to the new stuff.”

The set is built from Total Fabrications Ltd (TFL) Arena Deckmodular staging system. Benbow elaborates: “The design isin layers, a top horseshoe-shaped curved deck circumscribesthe rear and sides and gives George a platform above theband and orchestra. Then the decking steps down in terracesbeside central deep steps, with the band and orchestradistributed equally each side. The big thing is there’s a sub-stage, the different pieces sit on top; that means whenwe switch from a large arena like this, to one of the smalleropera houses or concert halls we’re playing, we can effectively pick and mix the elements of the stage set that fitand suit the venue.”

Set was designed by tour director Ken Watts. I spoke to himlater and he revealed the design’s evolution had been easierthan perhaps accommodating a 35-piece orchestra, 10 pieceband and three BVs might imply. “George was very clear abouthow he wanted the show to look - clean and neat. That’s onereason why you’ll notice the lengths to which we’ve gone todrape and blackout this venue. Determining the stage set wasa proportionate response: how much space do the musiciansneed and how can we place them so that visually they don’toverwhelm the context.” Context being an implicit invitation forthe audience to immerse themselves in possibly the classiestnightclub they’ve ever visited. “Once I got the placementarranged it was just a matter of sitting down with Chris Croninat TFL and letting him engineer the details that make it work.”

There is, of course, a little more to it than that. A fully plumbeddressing room sits below deck, for example, as do tech’spaces for backline crew. The basic concept Cronin applied isto have a rolling sub-stage (the load-in follows the typicalconvention: build the stage out in the hall while the light riggoes in and up, then roll it in beneath) with the terraces, deepsteps and horseshoe sat upon it. What really completes thepicture is that the two monitor men (four consoles, no less) arerelegated to a backstage position, completely out of sight ofthe audience. That single artifice more than any other - thecomplete absence of a single visible member of the crewanywhere on stage - is what gives this show its class.

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Live at the Dublin O2 Arena: 3 November 2011Words & pictures by Steve Moles

George Michael:Symphonica


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“Depending on space, it takes about four-and-a-half hours to build,” said Benbow. “We get out intwo-and-a-half to three hours.” He was in nodoubt the effort was worth it: “I think it’s fantasticfrom an audience perspective, the fabric BazHalpin spec’d for the drapes takes lightbeautifully.” It’s not often you get a stage managerwaxing lyrical about soft goods. “I believe we gotthe last three rolls in the world.” There’s no doubtthe high gain fabric has an impact, for a blackfabric the Austrian-style ruches look spectacularwhen coloured by light, and there are a lot ofthem. The finish to the stage is impeccable, eventhe front edge is dressed beautifully. “The mainissue is storage, we have to keep the stage cleanand slick. It’s a 180 degree presentation andthere’s never a flightcase in sight.”

Jem Matthews is part of the carpentry team:“There are three of us and two trucks full ofstaging, 18 set carts and 182 decks.”

The mix of new and old elements had not givenany problems, said Matthews: “The older stuff ispretty robust to be honest, so the way it lockstogether is still solid. We have a few custom gatesections but otherwise it’s pretty standard. Theonly problem we have in assembly is thelanguage barrier; but the special sections are allcolour-coded, so as long as we keep an eye onthem it’s all self-explanatory - even in Portugal.”

What about the LED strip inlaid in the horseshoedecks? “They haven’t given us any problems; thelighting guys fit them and hook them up.Mechanically that’s all very sound. There’s a bayarea for the backline crew stage left and right.Once we’ve rolled the stage into position we’reable to take out a few of the cross bars to easeaccess. We have done one or two outdoor showswhere we’ve just used the horseshoe and steps;exposing the decks to rain hasn’t been a problem.It’s a good, solid system.”

LightingSomething of a cleft stick this one: Baz Halpinwas engaged to design the show, while BenoitRichard, who worked on the previous 25 Live tour,was brought in to run it. Richard is very much inthe pocket of the act - nothing wrong with that,and he’s very sympathetic to the design concept,but it does mean some changes have beenmade.

He says: “Baz has designed a fabulous show.Dennis Gardner programmed it before I took over,while he turned to his production managerresponsibilities. The main thing with this artist iscommunication, because I’ve been in this seatbefore that channel is already open.”

Richard has been working on movies betweenGeorge Michael tours. Now a fully paid-upmember of IATSE Local 728 (Hollywood), I daresay we’ll see less and less of him touring. “Doingthat has rejuvenated me. That said, with this I’vetried very hard to keep the design intact, I justneeded to tone down the things not liked byGeorge. It’s still very rhythmic, but visually moremellow.” Contrary to the traditional philosophy,Richard stated: “The purpose of the lighting is tolet the video take precedence and not distractfrom it. I often take my lead from it, following theprevailing colour.”

Most of the video content is from Sound Spectrum(www.soundspectrum.com), a video version of a sound-to-light unit, with a morphic, fractal qualityto it that grows and devours the screen. Often it’smonochromatic, or certainly fixed within a limitedpalette. “That’s what he always wanted, a seamlessblend between lights and video, with lighting in thesupporting role. I’ve added my touches on how toplay the rhythm here and there, but there are stilllots of parts that George and Baz agreed.”

Does being parachuted in to take over a showpresent its own problems, even if you’ve workedwith the artist before? “The key was to create theshow in ESP Vision, which meant I could ‘virtually’watch what was happening on the stage videoscreen in the lighting software modelling program.To achieve that took two devices - a VGA scanconverter the video guys gave me, and a VGAcompositor which allowed ESP to know what tosize it to. So I’m running QuickTime with time codefrom the show track; when I see the colourchange on the video screen I can stop and modifythe lighting cue. It’s graphical eye candy withlighting to match.”

“There is a third element - there are cameras onthe tour and video director Richie Shipman tendsto blend IMAG pictures into the graphical image,but again these are often colour-keyed to theoverall image. I also have some content off a Catalyst that drives the RGB LEDs built into thestage set (narrow single row strips inlaid into thehorseshoe decking by TFL), and the VersaTubes(deployed vertically as cover for the orchestralmusic stands). It’s just a way of adding animatedmood to what’s already prevalent. Mostly theCatalyst looks at external input from Richie andputs it across the floor.”

The console is a GrandMA2: “I have a pair of themand although personally they’re not my first choiceof console - I’m more a Hog III man - their networkreliability is fantastic; if one console goes off-linethe other takes over without so much as a flicker -seamless. I just hope that soon you’ll be able toimport different focuses determined by differenttrim heights.”

What of lighting the musicians and artist? “Thereare two main elements: 66 VL3000 Spots oncurved trusses across the rear with another six onthe floor, and clusters of Martin MAC 301 LEDwashes that work more for effect than stage light.The Vari*Lites are used very subtly. As George isnot a fan of top light they are used instead formovement toward the audience. There’s nofoundation of ‘air’ washes. What I’m going to do isput [Color Kinetics] ColorBlast TRX as up-lightson the orchestra, that’s where he wants to see thecolour come from.”

There are approximately 60 x 2ft sections of TRXalready providing the up and down light on thefront truss and front stage Austrian scallopedboarders. “My main light from the side comesfrom a pair of horizontal trusses with rows of sixClay Paky Sharpys on each (two either side ofstage) and 11 Martin MAC 700 Spots on the floor.These he’s more comfortable with - he especiallylikes the upward fans from behind.”

Richard did admit these rules from George meanthe had to work all the harder with the side lights,just to keep it varied. “It can get repetitive, so I’m

From top: Simon Hall, band monitors

Left: Andrew Robinson, monitor engineerfor George Michael

Right: Gary Bradshaw, FOH sound engineer

Left: Dennis Gardner, production manager

Right: Benoit Richard, lighting operator

Left: Paul Brower, visualiser (SoundSpectrum)

Right: Richie Shipman, video director

Dean Ruffy (left) and Andy Tonks, video

Rear view: the curved video screen,supplied by Chaos Video.

OT_George_Michael:On tour.qxd 05/12/2011 15:25 4


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still trying to find new ways of using them.The Sharpys do most of the work. Besidesthat I just have four lengths of PixelRangePixelLine beneath the stairs and 10 four-light Molefays for audience above the fronttruss. These are important, particularly forthe audience interplay in the last section ofthe show when he performs his more well-known hits.”

There are also followspots, a pair of Lycian2500s on the truss, and Robert JuliatLancelots in the house. “He doesunderstand the need for key light for theIMAG. We try to get the house spots as faroff to the sides as possible, though nothere, where they’re straight on. TheLancelots are very green so I’m using halfCTO with Full minus Green, plus a 0.3NDon house left; 0.6ND house right - thecameras tend to shoot him from stage left.George takes a recording from a locked-off wide camera each night and scrutinisesthe show. And yes, he does ask for things:at this point it’s very nuanced, it’s aboutfinessing the look of a song.”

So it is that lighting passes almost withoutcomment, this is much more abouttheatricality in its most precise sense,providing a dramatic environment for theshow without being a show in itself. If I wereto be really picky, I’d say it’s too dim. TheChaos WinVision video screen behind(7.8m tall by 22.8m wide - roughly 170sq.m)is more than powerful enough to cope withmuch brighter lighting, but it remains a factthat George Michael has eye problems (he

wears tinted lenses all night) and this is theway it is always going to be.

SoundThis is the second tour to my knowledgewhere Andy ‘Baggy’ Robinson, with supportfrom the good people at Wigwam, haspushed the boat out technically to ensurethe live audio matches the aspirations of hisartist. Gary Bradshaw does a lovely job outfront, Simon Hall keeps band and orchestrahappy and in touch, while Robinsonnurtures the star’s own listeningenvironment. All are dependent upon theaudio infrastructure Robinson has contrived.

In some ways, you might imagine thepeople at DiGiCo must sweat every timeRobinson calls, but then they have soldfour SD7s to Wigwam on the back of it.Maybe it’s Chris Hill at Wigwam whoshould sweat, but whenever I talk to himabout George Michael he seems to beloving every minute.

“You should see what’s going on out herein Prague,” he said to me from rehearsalsback in August. “Just amazing.” Hill is oneof those men who can smile and frownsimultaneously, and then transmit thatexpression down the phone. “Don’t ask,”he said, chuckling. If rock’n’roll was justabout renting gear, men like Chris Hillwould be long gone; maybe too men likeDave Webster at DiGiCo; but they’re stillhere because this ‘stretching the limits’stuff is what makes it fun. But to front-of-house first.

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Baz Halpin, LDI took the opportunity to call Halpin, currently out in Abu Dhabiworking on ‘Project A’ (the one we all know about but shall notspeak its name). I asked him about the origins of his design. “I was approached by Ken Watts - he and Chris Cronin hadalready done the stage design. He initially sent me somereference material, such as the concert George had done withPavarotti when he performed live with an orchestra. As ithappens, I was familiar with the intended style - I had bought a copy of Songs from the last Century, so I had a clear idea. I also knew that George doesn’t like anything too complex orbusy. I kept it uniform, the curved trusses enfold the artist, ashe in turn is enfolded by the orchestra below; the rows ofVL3000 on those three rear trusses emphasise that curved line.

“When we first met, George was focussed on the video content.He liked my renderings, the [Barco] VersaTubes on the musicstands rather than have the orchestra playing in a black hole,and the pantographs for lowering the 301 clusters. The show isfull of subtlety. Although the music is of a mood, there aredynamic episodes, and when they occur the Sharpys on thefloor and flown at the sides punctuate that perfectly. The onesoff to the sides enable the stage to gain width visually for thosenumbers that need it, like Feeling Good or Buddy can you sparea dime?.

“The MAC 700s on the floor upstage are there specifically fortheir effect wheel. Fixtures hidden upstage kept the stageappearance clear and clean, but add a lot of options. Georgehad seen my Sade show, he liked the cleanliness. The choice ofVL3000 for the major work on the orchestra is built on hisimpressions from that show, and the fact it’s a good, stablework light. Mix them with a wash light on this show and youwouldn’t be able to use them at the same time, the music justisn’t that busy, so having VL3000s alone was enough andmaintained that clear, unfussy look. If you listen to the show,the orchestra are there on every song, the arrangements arethe same, all done by the same person: I have to treat thelighting palette in the same way; in that sense the VL3000carry most of the show - they’re the string section, while theSharpys are like the brass, providing the dynamic input.”

And what of the visual content? “Any show you do with anartist who is engaged at a visual level is fantastic; right orwrong it’s their show. George found the Sound Spectrum guyson the internet. Yes we had our reservations - you needexperienced professionals who understand live shows to buildcontent - these guys had founded their business on developingApps for iTunes. But in the end a lot of what they have done isreally beautiful and unlike anything else you’ve ever seen onstage before. Their stuff is designed to be spontaneous, buthere was George pushing them to adapt their stuff to be biggerand to work to a cue, and they’ve done a great job.”

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“I’m mixing approximately a hundred channels,”says Gary Bradshaw, “many of the orchestrainstruments are double mic’d - cellos and doublebass, for example. Add in a ten-piece band,three BVs and a touch of Pro Tools and it soonadds up. The whole show is orchestrated, exceptperhaps one or two songs; he finishes the showwith acoustic versions of some of his classic popsongs, just him and guitars. I get the wholeorchestra to me as separate channels exceptstrings, which I take from Simon Hall [orchestramonitors], who provides me with stereo sub-mixes. There is no orchestral percussion.The band consists of the same musicians whorecorded the album with Phil Ramone producing.He’s been out here quite a bit. Ramone is one ofthe world’s top producers and I admit I was a bitnervous to meet him at first, but he’s been reallyhelpful. He told me what he tried to achieve in thestudio. He’d say things like, ‘try putting the celloshigher in the mix’. With him at rehearsals myorchestral mix came together quite quickly.”

Is there some sort of imperative to achieve studioperfection on tour? “Interestingly it does change;the vocals are entirely live and we started bytrying to put them over as something that closelyresembled the Air Studios recording. But the factis one or two songs, when performed live,needed their arrangements changed - so in thatrespect it’s all become very live.”

The orchestra are quite tightly packed, and thebacking vocalists are stationed immediately infront of the band percussion; imagining a lightlevel delivery with a lot of open mics on stage; I wondered about spill. “The only real area ofdifficulty is the flutes, with the trumpetsimmediately behind. The strings all have DPA4099 which exhibit great rejection; when wesent the first live recordings to an engineer inthe US he immediately asked, ‘what mics areyou using?’. I’m using very little EQ and gettingtons of gain. With the bass and cellos I alsohave those Schertler flat stick-on mics for thelow end. Horns are [Shure SM] 58s, 57s on thewoods, the flutes take Neumann 184. Drumsand percs is all pretty standard Sennheiser; I’musing their clip-ons for the Congas. All thebackline is off stage and DI’d; guitars are allclean. The piano at the front is played by MDHenry Hay; it triggers a Yamaha module off

stage that provides several different sounds. Forvocals, the BVs have Sennheiser SKM 5200 withthe MD 5235 dynamic capsule. George has thesame hand-held radio unit with a KK 105capsule that’s great for his voice; the BVs’capsule is more suited to their proximity to theband, where spill is an issue. Overall, it hasproved a lot more straightforward than I firstthought. There’s lots of dynamic variation fromthe musicians; the PA is sitting at around93/94dB, and with lots of space in thearrangements I don’t have to do anything.”

Bradshaw is fresh from the Take That tour -stadium pop presented with a creative andeffective solution to sound distribution through a mass of well-positioned Martin gear (see LSiJuly 2011). Now, he has an arena system of J Series from d&b audiotechnik. “This PA is justso good for his voice and this music. You canhear all the detail everywhere in the room. This issitting down mixing, there is almost no PA EQeven with all those open mics. I do group theband and apply an overall EQ on them;otherwise it’s all pretty flat. It’s what Baggy hasdone where the complexity comes in. We’ve gotfour SD7s all on the same optical loop; we sharegain. I have a Lexicon 224 for his voice and userich plate, otherwise all clean - oh, and sometempo delays from the desk. The whole systemis really hi-fi - Wigwam did a great job on the lasttour and they’ve done it again this time.”

The difference between Take That and this is likecomparing a power boat with a four-mastedschooner. The fact that Bradshaw can switchfrom one to the other with such aplombunderlines his abilities; a more quiet,understated and capable engineer you could notwish to meet. It’s about time engineers of thiscalibre - and there are quite a few out there -were sponsored by Live Nation or whomever ispromoting, to take younger upcoming engineersout on a ‘Sorcerer’s apprenticeship’ tour.

MonitorsAndy ‘Baggy’ Robinson, as his nicknamesuggests, is the most affable and laid back ofaudio men, yet here he is presiding over aninherently complex audio system. Why the needfor structural expertise?

“We’re actually processing about a thousandchannels of audio. When we first knew of theorchestral content to the show Simon Hall and I spent two days in a hotel and thrashed out thepatch. There was really no lead time orproduction set-up - as we had at WembleyArena for the 25 Live tour - becuase the bandwere busy recording the new album. So lockingourselves away in a hotel and spending the timeanticipating every scenario was the only way.The show was already scheduled to passthrough different venue types - arenas, concerthalls, opera houses - how things would have towork would vary, but what we couldn’t affordwas for a show this complex to re-patch fromvenue to venue to suit needs. Our plan had towork everywhere.” And the fundamentals of thatsolution? “Simon has one desk for the orchestraand one for the band. I have one for George,music and effects.” There are three SD7sbackstage, but I spotted a Midas to one side,“George’s vocals stay completely analogue; hehas great ears and even a two millisecond delay

Crew ListManagement

Ken Watts - tour directorLisa Johnson - assistant tour director

Holly Sandeman - production coordinatorDennis Gardner - production manager

CrewRik Benbow - stage manager

James ‘Frommy’ Kelly - show managerHarry Hughes - ASM

Andy Henderson - drums & perc techAidey Dessent - guitar techKerry Hopwood - pro tools

Nick Sizer - keys/orchestra tech

AudioGary Bradshaw - FOH sound engineer

Andrew ‘Baggy’ Robinson - GM monitor engineer Simon Hall - band monitor engineerDon Parks - FOH system (Wigwam)

George Hogan - RF/monitor tech (Wigwam)Conor Dunne, Ralph Smart, Nick Mooney - PA

techs (Wigwam)Niall Flynn - record engineer

LightingBenoit Richard - lighting director

John Shelley-Smith - lighting crew chiefLuke Radin, Jim Mills, Katie Flanders, Martin

McCloughlin, Adam Mogan - lighting crew

VideoRichie Shipman - video director

Andy Tonks - crew chief/LED techAl Wright - LED tech

Bob Stansfield - LED tech/camerasBruce Selkirk - LED tech/cameras

Dean Ruffy - LED tech/cameras

Visualizer/Creative ContentMichael Figarelli - visualizer

Paul Brower - visualizer

RiggingSteve Walsh - head rigger

Jules Grommers - rigger

CarpentersMike McGuire (Head Carpenter), Jem Matthews,

Jean Pierre Van Loo

CateringSimi Donald (Head of Catering), Darren Staats,

Dave Pascoe, Jules Pascoe, Jessica Mayer-Jones


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doesn’t escape his attention.” That’s hard toimagine? “Don’t forget, even a short delay likethat can end up changing the EQ in the ear.”

“In anticipating how many and where to placestage racks, we imagined the longest channellist we’d ever need; the orchestra rack and theirheadphone amps are one entity so they can beplaced for regular stage positioning, or placed inthe pit at a concert hall or opera house. Using anOptocore loop the orchestra could, in theory, beup to 150m from the stage; certainly runningfibre to the pit works very well. We have fourstage racks in total, the fibre loop could support11; that’s something just not possible on the lasttour. The new SD racks make having four deskson the loop possible, and we can choose whichdesk has control over which fixed channels. Wecan’t quite get all the necessary inputs onto onedesk, so for example Gary and I can’t fit thedifferent departments of the strings; we takesub-mixes from Simon instead. Simon managesgain - we’re all adults here - that works as a structured platform for everyone.”

And how did that hotel brainstorming work outin practice? “By the time we got to Denmarkwhere we stopped for 10 days, we didn’t haveto change anything, just take a few things away.We learnt a lot from doing it, fortunately we arenot challenged on budget; there are not manyshows where you can specify four SD7s.”

Simon Hall adds: “There are 11 permanentmembers of the orchestra, with the rest fromorchestras in Europe and the UK; the musicians

from Prague where we started, did most of theEuropean dates. The orchestra monitors are splitover 20 mixes so big changes take time, they allhave their own mixes, including the conductor, butin fairness although there are peaks it’s mostly a steady state. All have a wired in-ear feed with local level adjust function; it’s a Canford Audiosystem with Lab.gruppen amps. For the bandthey’re also hard-wired in the static state, I use theSennheiser 2000 series wireless IEM when theymove down stage for the acoustic finale.”

Sennheiser provide tour support with theredoubtable George Hogan sifting the airwavesto keep those radio units cleaved to the mostfavourable frequencies.

“Mix management is fairly obvious,” continuedHall. “A stereo mix for the lead violin, then anothermix for all the other first violins, same through thesecond violins etc. The band and backingvocalists all have their own mixes, I also mixdown-sub mixes between my two desks,because as well as feeding subs of the orchestrato Gary and Baggy, the band is sub-mixed to theorchestra feeds and vice-versa. That’s why I needed two desks: when you start adding upthe outputs you just can’t fit it all on one desk.”

Is that as difficult to manage as it sounds? “Thefact is, we have done shows without sound-check; the recordings from the JoeCo kit Garyhas out front are what has enabled us to dothat; the BlackBox units are on every night andunlike other recording systems they’re anuncomplicated, hassle-free, solid device.”

ProductionDennis Gardner started the tour as bothproduction manager and lighting operator:“He’d be unloading the trucks in the morning,directing things all day, and then go and run theshow and load out,” said Halpin on the phone.“A man with an amazing capacity.” I askedGardner how managing a touring orchestrapanned out. “The core soloists are from the UK;for the pick-up musicians it’s been largely theCzechs in Europe, Irish and English here and inthe UK. Yes it does take some organising, but inevery sense carrying our own principalmusicians makes it all a lot sweeter. Probablythe biggest element for me is PA; there is a lotof it, not because the show needs to be loud -quite the opposite actually - but it’s all aboutcoverage. The sound is the show and if you’regoing to deliver without blowing people’s headsoff, then you need speakers. We also insist thefront-of-house position is between 31m and33m from stage. In terms of gear and people,these are the best and the sound is pristine. The camera positions also require carefulattention, it’s not rock’n’roll, you can’t plonkthem exactly where you’d like; this is a seatedaudience and it requires consideration.”

Watts mentioned the masking: “Yes, we dospend what some might think an inordinateamount of time on dressing the stage; we makeit so no single member of the audience can seebackstage. We’ve even had custom tab-tracksassembled for the Albert Hall and CoventGarden shows. We spend a lot of time on thedetail.”



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VideoVideo is such a dominant part of this show, it’s nowonder a lot of attention is paid here. The screenis curved, concave across the centre of stage,and rolls off convex at each end rather in thefashion of a scrolled document. Affectation? In theO2 Dublin certainly not - the shape allows a morevisually fulfilling view for the audience at theextreme edges of the auditorium. This is a verywide room so although the benefit may be lesspronounced in more conventional rectangulararenas, it still means the 180° presentation isnever visually compromised. Consider theexperience of an IMAX cinema: this is somewherebetween that and a flat screen presentation.

“The system is 9mm pitch WinVision,” explainedAndy Tonks on the video crew. The screen issuspended from Video Truss built by TFL.Winner of an Innovation Award at this year’sPLASA Show, it is co-designed between TFL andChaos Video; US director Nick Jackson havingspawned the original idea. In simple terms it’s aninverted triangle truss with an ‘I’ beam on theupstage cord that facilitates a beam trolley withbosun’s chair-type apparatus to allow easy andsafe access for technical repair. How’s it workingout in practice? “Because of the curve we havefive little half-ton CM Prostar hoists to cover thewhole truss, although the screen is mountedcurved, the truss is straight sections with littleangled bend-connectors, so the ‘I’ beam is notcontinuous. For working on the lower sections,we just pull ourselves up into position manually.The WinVision stuff is very good - I think we’vehad just four or five faults in the 37 shows we’vedone so far. That’s down to packaging; on thatside of things Chaos are brilliant, theirequipment is better packaged than any otherI’ve ever toured with.”

Tonk’s fellow video tech’ Dean Ruffy added aninteresting comment: “There’s nothingidiosyncratic about the way they package; oftenyou find things that work well for one person butnot another, but this Chaos system works foranyone.” He liked the truss for another reason:“The weight saving from not having a structural

support for the LED modules allows us to hanga very large screen in places that wouldn’tnormally have the load capacity.”

The screen modules are actually subbed fromVER but the cameras and PPU is all from Chaos:“It’s one of the biggest I’ve toured with,” saidDuffy. “We’ve got two quad splits just to themonitor desks.” So those two monitor menmarooned backstage can see what’s going onfrom multiple POVs. “Plus feeds to the Pro Toolsguy, stage manager, and the autocue. It’s basedon a Blackmagic 3G Hi Def router - basically 64inputs 128 outs. I can send any feed to themonitors, even a close up, independently. TheBlackmagic is really good and we can go 150mwith full HD without re-clocking; normally you’dstruggle to get 50m. We use d3 from UVA toscreen map the content from Sound Spectrum.Richie Shipman (director) is running at 50frames per second, 2432 by 832 pixels: thateases the burden on the processing and keepsthe whole thing stable and looking very sexy.”

Head rigger for the tour, Steve Walsh, was sat athome basking in the warm glow of a new-bornbaby when I visited Dublin. He did, however,have some useful comments on the new videotruss. Does it further the rigging profession andprovide real positive benefits, I asked? “It does.

This is the first iteration and I fully expect to seemore in the future. First out it stacks, the wholetruss for this tour is just two dollies. It’s also fastto put together, though in the future I’d like tosee pins instead of bolts to make it even faster.From a health and safety point of view, the I-beam trolley across the rear addresses theissue of access for repair head-on; and let’sface it, there’s always something that needsdoing to these screens. For me, as a customtruss designed for dedicated purpose, it’sfantastic and ticks all the boxes.”

I mentioned that Andy Tonks felt it took as longto reach and repair as with the old method,scaling the structural framework used behindother screens. “Maybe, but then this way issafer and we’re not flying all that additionalweight of a sub-structure to support the LEDpanels. What we’ve found on tour is this: NippyIndustries trained all the guys on using this trussbefore the tour - they’ve all been taught how toascend manually for rescue purposes. Whenyou use the little ProStar motors to take you upyou’re still attached to the [Petzl] ASAP fallarrest and rescue line. For the lower repair jobsthe guys are tending to just ascend manually -they’re still attached in two places - ASAP andrescue - and that saves the time of powering upthe motor. For the higher reaches I think they all

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All drawings, designs, specifications, and copies herebyfurnished by hindsight studios, Inc. are sole and exclusiveproperty of Silent House, inc. and the client for whom theyare prepared. They are to be used in regard to this projectand no other. They shall not be reproduced, nor disclosed

to others without written consent.Silent House is responsible for visual aspects of the

project only, and it is understood that all specificationsrelate solely to the appearance of the design and not to

matters of safety.

LOCATION

TITLE

SCALE:

DATE:

SYMBOLS

FOR DESIGN INTENT ONLYNOT FOR CONSTRUCTION

All drawings must be reviewed and approved by a licensed engineer.All equipment must be installed in accordance with

all applicable Local and National codes.

1645 NORTH VINE STREET Suite #402LOS ANGELES, CA 90028

(M) 213.590.2971

[email protected]

© silent house, inc.

DRAWN BY:

FILE NAME:

DA N S I

PERKINS

DESIGNER

ASSOCIATE DESIGNER

GEORGE MICHAEL

WORLD TOUR 2011

BAZ HALPIN

CHRIS NYFIELD

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T: +44 (0)121 772 5234F: +44 (0)121 772 5231W: www.trussing.comE: [email protected]

SYMPHONICA TOUR 2011GEORGE MICHAEL

prefer to be hoisted up.” The fact Chaos took itupon themselves to have the guys trained sayssomething about acceptance. “As I said,”concludes Walsh, “it ticks all the boxes; whywouldn’t you use it?”

Director Richie Shipman has seven HD camerasand a full content show to corral. “The content isvery highly detailed,” he began. “There is, forexample, a graphic that resembles a spacestation, every little bit of that image growssynchronised to the sound.” To say the contentresembles often completely irregular expandingfractals of complex 3D spatial shapes is barelyadequate; sometimes it’s like watching one ofthose slow motion movies of crystals forming.

“Literally, points of light are choreographed to a visual representation of the music; it is anincredibly sophisticated sound to light,” saysShipman. Live camera shots are also insertedinto the graphic: “We also pre-shoot stuffGeorge likes and put it in live. With largely staticmusicians we can shoot angles that would bevery intrusive were we to do it live during theshow, and then blend them into the show.”

This was a particularly gratifying sleight of hand:the black screen bleed-ins never overtly posedthe question, ‘he’s not bowing the violin likethat’, in that there was no conflict between whatyou could see on stage or on the screen,

though you might ask ‘where’s the camera’ ifyou thought about it. “Yes it’s naughty, but that’swhat technology is for.” Shipman is an entirelypragmatic director who doesn’t letconsiderations of artistic sensitivity interfere withhis robust view of what’s required. “It’s like ProTools for camera.” And why not?

What are the origins of the content? “George isreally heavily involved - it was he who foundSound Spectrum, which generates all thecontent. Imagine that, he found these guys thatbasically provide an App for iTunes - not yourtypical source for a four million dollar LEDscreen. But he scrutinises everything, he knowshow to edit video and he knew what he wantedto achieve. Invariably it works.”

The content is an evolving process, both on andoff screen. As such, Paul Brower from SoundSpectrum is on the tour: we spoke briefly. “Eventhough we work with performers, normally wejust licence our software, so this is unique,” hebegan. “George used a package of ours lasttour, but this time he wanted highly customisedgraphics. We take feedback from him and aboutonce a week changes are involved. It’s easierfor me to be here and work around the guys; I do the work on a Mac Book Pro, render out thevideo and then give it to Richie. Our softwarecomes with many pre-packaged visual scenes;you might have seen some of them (licensed)on the recent Peter Frampton tour. With Georgeit’s been really stimulating to work with such a hands-on artist; the fact he knows what hewants and is explicit makes the working process

easier. He might not be a software engineer, sohe’s not hampered by considerations of thesoftware’s limitations, but he has laid out a blueprint and if it’s possible we will make itwork. Some ideas did at first look improbable;now we have reconsidered. He has pushed usin quite a few ways; he’s forced us to reinventour approach to visual ideas.”

ConclusionA good show requires light and shade; this hasthem both but, for my taste, too much shade. I visited two hotel bars and a river boat saloonafter the Dublin concert (all in the line of duty,you understand) and spoke at length to manyconcert-goers. All expressed the samedissatisfaction: ‘Too many smoky ballads, notenough pop’. Some even declared the show“boring” - though these tended to be boyfriendsdragged along by their partners. The ladies,easily in the majority, were more forgiving. “Hesounded beautiful. He sings better now thanhe’s ever done.” In fact, the praise for GaryBradshaw’s mix was fulsome from all quarters;a flattery he fully deserves to hear. George didproduce a really spirited rendering of the NinaSimone classic Feeling Good and hisperformance of Buddy can you spare a time?was truly monumental in climax, so the lightwhen it came was emphatic. If you want tosample before you visit (there is talk of moreconcerts next year), try his sadly neglectedalbum Songs of the last Century: if nothing else,it’s one to add to your list of highly articulateand dynamically rigorous recordings ideal forvoicing out a PA before sound check.

Left: Baz Halpin’s lighting plot showing themain overhead rig.Below: Previsualisation of stage and screen.


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