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March 2009 entertainment, presentation, communication www.lsionline.co.uk

Doll Domination The Pussycat Dolls live at the MEN Arena

Theatre, Inside Out The Morning Line Water World Technical Focus L&SI at Leicester’s Curve Sculpture, art, sound, odd Aquarium Lighting, Dubai Inside the JBLED A7

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Doll Domination

What a difference a couple of years can make. Here I was, expecting the same old same old, and blow me the girls pull a rabbit out the hat, or is that pussy out the pouch? Either way, they have really raised their game . . .

words & pictures by Steve Moles usctDo Pussycat ll :ntour.qx s:On 30/0909 03/03/2009 d Scott Warner stilldoeslights, andBryan stalwarts wesaw last timewevisitedremain- Changes abound inproductionaswell.The Production night . all beashappytheassembled throng this and itdoesn’tfailtodeliver. Oh,thatwecould party forwomenandgirlsonagrand scale, that’s notwhatthey’reallabout.This isahen whose voiceprojectsrealstarquality)but the planet(intruth,Nicoleisonlyone going tobethemostpotentvocalcombo’on themselves havematured,whilethey’renever with ahealthydoseofpheromones.Thegirls stripping outthesaccharineandreplacingit of DaveAude,whichhasdonewonders, act, theirmusichasreceivedaremix,courtesy Two: thegirlsthemselvesareamorepolished confronting aGIintheshower. LED bunnyearslikeaTaliban Tufty feet singing,swaying,andflashingtheir the housewasfilledandtheywereontheir she finished,just20minuteslater, mostof Lady Gagabegantheproceedings;when 20% ofthehousewasinandseatedas cannot helpbutshowtheirchops.Say oestrogen-fuelled Mancunianlasses headline act?Well absolutelynot;20,000 offer. Anunlikelyline-upforagirlband Sinatra mixedwiththebestR&Bhasto Well, Neyoisastarintheascendant,think and AClockworkOrange,thenNeyo. between Zigue-ZigueSputnik(it’smyage) saw LadyGaga,asortofhardhousecross One: anexcellentline-upofsupportacts : 49 Page 47 off theshows, andespecially intheEuropean Dolls andtheirmanagement maketheirliving to thesedays,but thepointholdsgood.The Well it’snotjustpop bandsthatmaximapplies money fromtouring. sales, butiftheyweresmart,could make bands wouldnotmakemoneyfrom record when hesaidwithgreatprescience, thatpop boy/girl bandgenreagoodfewyears ago with SteveLevitt,theUK’sSvengaliof We allknowwhyit’sdonethisway. Iwastalking right boxes,butlackedstyle. was theset.niceenough,ittickedall - just.Iftherewasoneweaknessinthisshowit a popactatthislevel,youcangetawaywithit and placingtheLEDwall.Butincontextof up abackwalkway, addingacoupleoflifts, responsibility: setdesignisnotjustsketching production managerstakingonthis To tellthetruth,Ihave mixedfeelingsabout set designwasverymuchinhisdomain. those tohisformidablelist.For thisoutingthe design, itwouldn’tsurprisemeifheadded fill theshoesofchoreographerandcostume the Producerroleofthisshow. Whilehedoesn’t Cross is,asyoumightimagine,verymuchin didn’t havethekitthisshowrequired. contractor felldownontheirservice,theyjust primarily onproduct,soneitherformer chagrined aboutthis:decisionswerebased the formercompaniesshouldfeelparticularly and incomeHSLBritanniaRow. Neitherof Gone areBanditLitesandClairBrothersAudio, monitor mix),butthevendorshavechanged. manager, productionmanager, houseand ‘Froggy’ Crossstillwearsfourhats(tour Lighting & Sound - March 2009 ontour

47 www.lsionline.co.uk Pussycat Dolls:On tour.qxd 03/03/2009 09:50 Page 48 tour on

market where their constituency is strong and they’re a headline act. a couple of flickering candles upon the buildings above. The In the US they’ve only ever been an opener, as they are again for Billboard is good, quite surreal in fact, making the backdrop so Britney later this year. Like I said, there’s nothing inherently wrong much more than a 2D scene. The candles, on the other hand, with the set, LiteStructures have done their usual proficient job, the looked out of place. But both were clearly visible and strong Props from Show FX are very plausible, and the Nocturne screens enough. Later, Warner put flickering red clouds in the sky above the do the biz (V-Lite screens with the Tait Towers developed high-speed buildings, like thunder-clouds with St Elmo’s fire within them, this rigging frames). But they’d do well to drop some cash on someone was much more potent and really added some dynamic animation who can give it some art. This was the kind of set I could design, to Gaga’s song. In that respect, the DigitalSpots earned their place a roadie set, and it looked it. Sorry Bryan, but fret not, I’m sure the in the rig, and demonstrated what can be achieved. accountant loves you, and you have plenty of skills elsewhere. Talk to the crowd. So what pulled Warner towards the lamp? “Robe took me up to HSL last July and showed it to me. Learning to operate was pretty Lighting easy, the only difficulty was terminology - what exactly does So what has prompted the lighting change? Last time around, Scott Lecture or Shaper do? - but it was easy enough. I used it the first Warner was a disciple of all things Martin; now, he explains: night.” “Principally it’s the DigitalSpot 7000 DT that’s really caught my eye. The whole rig is Robe, apart from some Vari*Lites. I’d tried the 7000 Warner did some one-off shows in the UK last summer, Go Go Dolls on some UK shows with the Go Go Dolls (seems like I only work being a case in point. “As a light it’s fast, has good colours. with bands who have ‘Dolls’ in their name these days). They’re very I like the LEDs down the side, I never did understand why they [High exciting - the lights that is - video and light in a moving head for an End Systems] put a camera in the DL3, the LEDs are much more LD to play with. I also wanted to be the first LD in the US to use useful. Other Robe lights in the rig include the ColorWash 2500E AT. them; I have one at home already.” Warner is taking some with him I’m a big fan of the VL3500; the Robe 2500 competes well, although for the Britney tour, and who can blame him for wanting to break the Vari*Lite has the edge on brightness, especially in the UV. My new ground on his home territory. Spots are [ColorSpot] 2500Es as well; I’ve got 48 of them. And the Red Wash 3 LED head, a rectangle of LEDs in a moving yoke. I’m Warner continues: “We have a scenic Globe in the rig which I can project onto.” (Think The Daily Planet atop Superman’s place of employment.) “It’s still early days for me, so I’m not exploiting the 7000s a great deal, and I have just a pair up there right now, though I’m carrying six. In fact, right now I use them more for Lady Gaga, I’m having fun with the support act and learning.”

A shrewd move on Warner’s part, the full rig is big and, as the idiom demands, very bright. For Gaga, playing downstage of a cityscape backdrop, there’s barely 20% of the rig in action and the two 7000s online.co.uk are in a good environment to compete against local light levels. Plus Warner can play around, make a few mistakes, and not compromise his main act. As it happens, Warner also has a DigitalSpot 5000 www.lsi which projects onto a faux advertising billboard on the side of one of the skyscrapers, while for the first song the two 7000s projected

48 Lighting&Sound - March 2009 usctDo Pussycat www. bright.” Theredon’tappeartobeany I taketheTVshowapproach,boldand two drummersupstageonthewalkwayso with thegirlsalotoftime,andI’vegot “It’s abigbusystage,therearefivedancers strong andeffective. decorative effectoftheRedBlindersis tilts, alllooksverynice,andthevisual for movinghispodsaround,descentsand Warner usesaKinesysautomationsystem through acolourchanger. Frou frouindeed. output fromaconventionaleight-light and howstrikingtheyareincontrasttothe eight-cell P36formatweallknowandlove, LED clusterslooked,mimickingexactlythe I wasverystruckbyhownicethecirclesof embellishment theyarenewanddifferent. wash thestage,thatis-butasavisual their abilitytocastlightinaneffectiveway- units, Ican’tofferanobjectiveopinionon Warner wrapshisupstagepodswiththese look.” LED unitsgivecolourandanothernew downstage podsforaudiencelight,butthe of thesquareP36ninelightsonmy as brighttherealthing,soIhaveabunch Blinder, anLEDMolephayeffectively. It’snot light ontothestage.SamewithRed candy totheaudience,andafunctioning really pleasedwiththem,anew-shapedeye ORIGINAL ll :ntour.qx s:On doughty-engineering ® Tel: +44(0)1425478961 40/0908 04/03/2009 d Twenty Clamp PRODUCTS : 38 wouldn’t? Seriouslythough,Ilikethelookof Series 2]andwantit-it’sblack,who was too.IhaveseenthenewGrandMA[the “It’s easy, andgettingthe7000sonthere Warner runstheshowoffhisownGrandMA: with it.” he getsthelight-levels hewantsandIwork behind it.“GeorgeElizondorunsthevideo, walkway, witha‘seethrough’ LED screen metre highrear(almost)fullstagewidth Perspex stairsleadingdown fromthe2 there domostofthework.”Crosshas a lotofthesetideas,LEDscreensin practicals intheset?“Bryancomesupwith print stagemonitorandsimilarlyfur-lined miccase. (left) andlightingdesignerScottWarner; Right:CrosswiththeClairBrothers’12AMleopard Above: Tour manager, productionmanager, houseandmonitormixerBryan‘Froggy’ Cross Page .co.uk ® 49 light.” nothing todowiththecompanies,just I likeboth[BanditandHSL].Thisswitchwas side? “They’regreatguys,butIhavetosay And how’stheswitchtoHSLonservice very old-fashionedonthesoftwareside.” a PC.InthatrespectmyGrandMAlooks functional looktoit,likeaMaccompared the newsoftwareinterface,ithasthatclean, began. “Itdidn’tmakesensetocreate from whatweusedasasupportact,”Cross “Last timearoundwehadasetthatevolved Stage Set&Video Lighting & Sound - March 2009 ontour

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tour Dolly Mixture

on Bryan Cross: “Because I don’t mix out front I’ve been able to push the FOH island right to the back of the hockey dasher, that adds at least another 150 seats; at £35 a seat that’s revenue not to be ignored. We don’t use any spots in the house either, so that can free up seats as well. Just one (Juliat Cyrano) on the platform FOH which is mainly for Neyo,” who wears a narrow-brimmed Trilby, just like Sinatra, “he needs the spot from low level to get under the brim and hit his face.”

“The Tablet control over the D-Show Profile is good, with a couple more something completely new for Europe, so where a dancer overstepped the mark, Fritzes in the audience, one in the front we just grew what we had. This time we and there’s a lot of pyro cues in there,” row, one on the first tier, I have thought had the opportunity to re-design from says Cross. There’s also a really nice about mixing a band show off the scratch. We wanted a clean stage like orange flame effect, using Spray Master Tablet.” before, and very clean lines. This is units: “They’re German, seem really good, a visual act, it’s really important all the and we’re waiting for them to get back to Cross admitted he’d originally conceived audience gets to see the girls; that was us with some colour variations.” Perspex decked ramps down from the a primary reason why I switched PA, I was rear walkway, “but the girls found it too able to scale back physical size without Sound steep in their high heels. I’ll keep that losing audio impact.” The rehearsals must have been a busy idea for another show.” time for Cross. Readers may recall from Cross has a large screen above the last time around (see L&SI March 2007) General walkway as well as the one below, set how the Dolls perform to track from the The two drummers upstage on the behind the stairs. “For the video I chose Pro Tools system, and Cross mixes walkway provided a useful visual the Nocturne V Lite. I needed one of those monitors and front-of-house from stage distraction when the girls popped off for see-through screens, but I didn’t want that left. With half the show consisting of new a breather - a great improvement over invisible black hole look. The V-Lite has an material, and the other half old stuff the last tour’s playback musical aluminum look to it, which complements re-mixed by the aforementioned Aude, interludes. The girls have also tightened the stage set. The top screen takes live Cross was thus presented with a chunk of up their between-song raps; still lacks shots and pre-made content, the below Pro Tools files of wide dynamic disparity a certain sincerity, but there’s a lot less stairs screen just content. I feed George that he needed to bash around when he schmaltz. timecode to trigger content - it’s all been first arrived at Wakefield. made or adapted from music video for the Video content materiel was varied, not tour. The piece made for the show “Really, the show flows together,” he says. knowing the Dolls’ music video output opening works really well, it shows the “There are only four or five stops in Pro that well, I can’t say how much was girls on motorcycles, then the lift brings Tools all through. I’m using the new Pro derived from that source, so sepia up the real girls on the bikes right in front Tools 8, I guess it’s been out a couple of images of snow clad woodshed’s made of the screen. It’s a really good transition.” months now, and I’m having no problems no sense to me in one song, but hey, at all - so far,” Cross chuckled: he was what do I know? But then alternating He’s right, it is a good gag, the bikes by just being superstitious, like everyone else large Pop Art spots on screen for ‘Wait the way, really look the part, yet weigh just in the entertainment biz. “I’m using the a minute’ just did it for me: a Polka pop 50kg each - nice job, Show FX. And on Digidesign Profile for obvious reasons, in song with Polka dots . . . that score, the LiteStructures staging is fact we have two out here, mine and one nicely finished; Cross made a point of out front supplied by Brit Row which is for complimenting them: “We rehearsed at Lady Gaga. There’s also a Yamaha PM5D their facility in Wakefield. It’s great having in the house for Neyo’s engineer.” the shop right across the yard. The girls asked for some changes to the banister Neyo was a show-up-and-play act, so rail and it was done in a moment, none of I never had chance to speak with his that trucking it here and there.” engineer, but if you get the chance, check him out - a slick horn section, full rhythm “We have a lot of pyro for this show, all ensemble, and Neyo’s polished vocal from Pyro Junkies - they just have such performance, all neatly mixed, with

online.co.uk a good safety record,” adds Cross. It also breathing space for everything. Smooth. helps a great deal that the Dolls, unlike most of their contemporaries, were “I still use Fritz out front,” Fritz is Cross’s professional dancers before they became bi-aural head mic, the KU 100 from www.lsi an act, so know all about hitting their Neumann, to give himself ‘ears’ in the marks. “We’ve only had one ‘no shoot’ house, “but I also use the desk’s tablet

50 Lighting&Sound - March 2009 usctDo Pussycat Outline Butterfly fromBritannia Row?“Well I’vebeenusing So howaboutthis switchfromClairBrothers’I4system to What’s toworryabout? matches perfectlytotheconsole,that easeofconnection.” that reliance?“Sure,plustheplayback fromtheProTools just pre-ampsandfaders.”You’re quitesanguine about way; I’musingthefulldepthof technology, insteadof initialise. “Yeah, toomanyplug-ins.Butlookatit another apparent thattheconsoletookmaybe 90secondsto what heworkswithattheconsole,itwasglaringly Cross gavemealittlelistendemonstrationsoIcouldhear signal losswasreallynoticeable.” that putfourAtoDconversionsinthesignalpathand we rehearsedatLiteStructuresusinganaloguesnakes; analogue fromamptospeaker. Ididacomparisonwhen way tothespeakers,AESfront-of-house, theLakes,only Cross thenaddsathought:“Signaltravelsindigitalallthe the showfromconsoleIlookatWave analyser.” that wayIgettoconcentrateonthehousemix.Whenstart programmed sotheyprettymuchtakecareofthemselves, code -EQ, leveleverything.AlltheIEMstuffispre- low end.Themonitormixrunstighttosnapshotsofftime by 18”s.Ihaveasubaswell,justtogivemyselflittlebitof asideontopofpairL-Acousticsdancers; twoARCS 2 have toputsomesoundupthereonstageaswellforthe choose touseeitherWestone orFuturesonics plugs.Ido songs. Thein-earsareSennheiserG2systems,thegirls “They alsohaveSennheiserheadsetmicsforacoupleof fetish .Ilikethat. wedges aresimilarlyfluffy. Asoundengineerwithamild‘skin’ lined case(artificialI’msure),andthatCross’s12AMlisten photo thesemicsalltravelinapersonalisedleopardskin people whodidtheSpiceGirls’mics.”You’ll notefromthe bling’d outbyCrystalRocksinceyoulastsawus,thesame “The girlsalluseSennheiserhand-helds.We hadthem link tohistablet,andheknowsshowintimately. fashion forsometimenow;hetrustshisdesk,theradio been runningshowsinthissomewhatunconventional Such confidence:youseeimmediatelythatCrosshas delays.” I’ll goallthewayouttofirstleveltribunelisten the frontrowstocheckwhat’shappeningthere;sometimes remote forthefirstcoupleofnumbers.Iliketopopoutinto ll :ntour.qx s:On 60/0913 06/03/2009 d : 17 Page 51 See usatProLight+Sound-Hall9.0,StandE08 Lighting & Sound - March 2009 ontour

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Left: The rehersal stage at Litestructures Studios, Wakefield.

tour Butterfly - and half a dozen dV-Dosc almost backstage pointed off to the very top tier seats. There was a pair of delays, also on Butterfly, right at the back of the hockey dasher, flown extremely high just to cover the top tier. During the 20 minutes of Lady Gaga’s set I subjected myself to the MEN heart attack routine and walked up and down both tier levels along house left; yes, you could hear the transition from dV-Dosc to Butterfly as you passed along the side of stage in the top tier, but like the upper tier seats at the back, the clarity was excellent. And to confirm Cross’s raison d’etre, at no point did I find a seat where stage view was Photo: courtesy of LiteStructures compromised by a row of black boxes in mid-air: Job done. Clairs for a long time and I knew what I’d easy decision. It has other advantages: it’s need to cover big arenas like this one at relatively light, I’m using just two points for “I can’t say enough about the Outline,” Manchester. As I said, the set design was main PA, that frees up a lot of load capacity concluded Cross. “The subs are just tight, based around having a very clean stage, for the lighting rig and LED screen. For these and very compact. It’s efficient too, the and we knew we’d sold the venues 104- big arenas I’m flying just three Outline subs Outline amps are well matched and you 110%. That meant playing to 240° audience for reach, and 12 a side on the floor.” need so few to drive the system.” - not quite in the round but a big spread. I couldn’t put up two hangs of I4, say 16 in In truth there was a lot of PA in the air Cross is a convert, but why not? As he one and 14 in the other, each side of stage, around the stage: the main system with said about the console, he’s using the plus flown I4 Subs, it would just kill too flown subs to the stalls and back seats, side technology to the full and it works. many sightlines. So I needed a physically system to tiered seats down the room, all You can’t knock that. smaller system that I could fly higher, but which still had the reach. I tried the Nexo Geo T, that would do the job but I didn’t like the low-mids. Brit Row sent me a set of 12 Outline boxes and four subs to LiteStructures to try and I was absolutely blown away.” So much so that Cross is considering buying a system for his rental company back in the US, Bryan Cross LLC.

“They’d be ideal for the corporate market because of their size. That did scare the management a bit when they first saw them, so I stood them in front of the sub and showed them the controlled power they can deliver. I’d given Brit Row the opportunity to show the system to me because they’d serviced a few fly dates [one-offs] in the past and their service had been consistently good - their crew are especially good - so it was an

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52 Lighting&Sound - March 2009