Faithless 2010: Munich
After a relaxed and much needed day off yesterday, and a stay in the luxurious 5 star Sofitel in Munich city centre, we're at the Tonhalle for tonight's show.
The venue is in the middle of a massive ex-industrial area with loads of graffiti and lots to entertain. There's a 30m climbing wall, a few bars/cafes and bike/skate areas, however on our arrival it felt more like an old war zone for a minute.
The get-in was painless, with lots of access around the stage making cable runs nice an easy. Another small stage unfortunately meaning a slight change in riser arrangement, but nothing too serious! Today's crew were a massive help, needing little instruction to help load the GLP Impressions on to the towers (they are removed for transport).
Tonight we are off to Cologne for another much needed day off, a chance to check out the city and eat some hearty German grub.
James
Faithless 2010: Zurich
So we're in Switzerland today and the weather is absolutely beautiful. The venue is a big change from the industrial/modern locations we've had so far. The Volkshaus is an old assembly hall style venue, with a very tight stage for the Faithless performance.
After our slick get-in a few of us went for a stroll and came across a Hooters, had to be done.
The gig went well with the best crowd and crew to date.
James
Faithless 2010: Hello from Serbia!
Hello from Serbia!
Our first show in Skopje, Macedonia went well last night. The day leading up to it was tough going since most of the cable looms (which we use to make the get-ins easier) had to be built on site, the hectic schedule didn't allow for a production day before the tour commenced.
Andy Hurst has designed and programmed the show while Dennis "Bear" Brown and I build the rig. The set looks incredible with more LED than you could shake a stick at. For this European leg we are only touring our LED towers and some additional floor lighting including more LED, Palcos and Alpha Wash 300s.
Tonight's show is in Belgrade then we're off to Milan for the next show on Tuesday. More photos and details of the rig to follow.
James
James Leaving on Faithless European Tour
This afternoon James set off to Macedonia for the first leg of the Faithless European tour.
For the first leg, the rig will be a festival style, floor based LED system using GLP Impressions, ColorBlock DB4s and Palcos. Moving lights and PA will be provided by local promoters. From the first UK date in Brixton, there will be some video goodies added with full lighting and sound production for the UK tour.
James will be working with Dennis Brown aka 'Bear' to implement Andy Hurst's designs with equipment provided by PRG.
Britannia Row are running the sound department with Mark Kennedy at front of house.
Keep checking back for updates!
Connolly Wedding, Lancashire
This weekend saw James back with Lightech, this time at a wedding reception in Lancashire.
James was there to help with the finishing effort and to operate the lighting in the disco area, which was hidden from view until a grand reveal.
Fireworks also provided by Lightech added an extra 'bang' to the night, followed by band and DJ music until the early hours.
Catering was provided by With a Twist with Nicola and Catherine on the front lines ensuring the excellent food was served with efficiency and style.
Fashion Dinner @ Lancashire Cricket Club feat. Westlife
Tonight was the Fashion Kicks event in Lancashire County Cricket Club's semi-permanent marquee, lit by Lightech Sound and Light.
James was there to help with the build in the fashion show tent, sponsored by Selfridges, and later the conversion of this area to a nightclub for the guests after their dinner.
Entertainment in the dinner marquee was provided by Westlife whose LD Dave Lee used lights provided by Lightech and Versa Tubes provided by MCL.
There was a huge press interest in the event, hopefully it raised plenty of funds for Macmillan!
Gadget Show Live @ The NEC
This week James has been at the NEC in Birmingham for the Gadget Show Live with our own Catalyst and Jands Vista combination.
XL Video are providing two Chromatek 6mm screens which are integrated into the wings of the set, into which will be fed a combination of live video, directed by Kevin Watts, and VT playback originating from Catalyst.
In previous years XL have used Doremi hard drive playback devices, however due to content arriving on site from a variety of sources including advertisers, it was decided that using a media server with an operator would be the best solution.
Despite Catalyst's ability to play almost any file format, James converted all files to the Apple Intermediate Codec, well proven for efficient live playback in Catalyst. To best achieve this Tim Riley from XL Video asked Basic Monkey to provide their own media server, complete with it's suite of video and graphics tools.
The show went without major hitch, bar a few moments requiring some ad-lib when the flying scenes didn't go quite to plan leaving Suzi Perry suspended!