Big Glastonbury Show? Done.

The crew often mark their tours by the 'Big London Show' (Brixton etc..) and Glastonbury, I guess really as a right of passage for the band. Faithless however are no strangers to the Pyramid Stage but I'm pretty sure this show was the best to date.

For myself, there are few better feelings in life than standing infront or amongst 1000's of people 'going off' at a big moment. Last year, Pendulum's set on the 'Other Stage' blew me away for this very reason, the large crowd and the energy 0f the set just hit the right chords. This year, the Faithless crowd hit whole new levels...

I wouldn't like to guess at numbers, but there were people as far as the eye could see, and those at the back were giving it just as much passion and action as those down by the barrier. You'll notice below a number of attempts to capture the crowd on camera, but I'm afraid no photo could really do it justice.

Gladly I made it out to see a few friends on site, and check out another couple of stages. My favourite of which was seeing Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip at the Queens Head. There are certainly perks to the job.

There's a few big festivals to go, however Glastonbury will always hold a well deserved place among the best in the world.

James.

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Welcome to your first glimpse of the world's largest 'Etch-a-sketch'!

Tonight we were blessed with the large stage of the Wolverhampton Civic so all of the back screen went up and all of the riser video strips went out. A perfect chance to get a few photos for you.

From the beginning it was planned that 'Pilot' would be used as the media server for the tour, based on it's ability to do some funky pixel shifting. Due to time constraints and other influences, Intro were commissioned to produce the content for the show rather than use Pilot's built in rendering system. After a few teething problems at Brixton, I decided to try using Catalyst to run the show off my laptop. After a quick programming session at Doncaster, I had the show ready to go, all frame synced to the backing track and no issues at all. A real testament to the flexibility of the Catalyst system.

Check out the photos below to see the LC screen at the back and the MiTRIX panels on the risers.

James

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A massive hit with the crowd, the show looked and sounded amazing. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any photos, I had to stay side of stage to look after the video kit and run the visuals.

Using 'Pilot' (the media server chosen for the tour) for the first time was interesting. Always a little unnerving using something for the first time on such a big show! For the most part the show went without a hitch; the video for 'We Come One' (which was changed just before the show) wouldn't fire but seeing as the lighting was so strong for this song, I don't think it mattered at all. I'm always against last minute changes, a little out of my hands on this occasion.

There's still work to be done, good job this was only a warm-up!

James

So, here are my first photos of the show, possibly my only as explained...

During the shows that Andy Hurst operates, he likes to have someone front of house to spot any problems with the lighting and relay these to whoever is on stage. Tonight, since crew chief Paul Solino is on follow spot duty, that job fell to me. So taking the chance, I decided to get some photos of the show.

This is one of the last shows to have lighting only, after this leg my responsibilities switch to video, I'll try and get some photos of this online from Brixton.

James

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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!

Equipment will be provided by PRG, including Martin's LC series semi-transparent LED screens which will be James' responsibility. He will also be helping with the lighting rig and roll on should he have any spare time!

Keep checking back for more news. Follow James' updates here: Faithless Posts

Long term friends of James', The Fetish Sound System, were asked to provide music in the back room while Calvin Harris and Pete Tong were playing in the main room. Along with their DJing, they wanted to make the most of the opportunity with fancy dress, usual fetish antics and a visuals show from Basic Monkey.

We provided our Catalyst media server controlled by Jands Vista S3 lighting console feeding into a central Sanyo projector onto a screen and two installed side projectors onto the brick wall.

Using a wide selection of stock content, specially designed animated texts and also live inputs from a night vision camera and special hat mounted wireless camera worn by Tom from the Fetish and various others; the visuals complemented the antics on stage.

Having received sketch plans yesterday, James had 6x Robe ColorSpot 700 and 6x Robe ColorWash 700 moving lights, 2x Martin Atomic strobes, 8x James Thomas Pixellines, 6x 2lite molefays and 6x S4 19deg profiles to fit intro the notoriously tight venue. All equipment was provided along with James by HSL in Blackburn.

The moving lights were split between the floor, boxes, truss towers and a goalpost truss across the back on 2no Litech wind up stands. Matt Waterfield the LD arrived late morning and was happy with the deviations from plot made by James to fit into the venue. Room was made for the band's fastfold screens under the goalpost truss with a minimum of clearance.

Not sounding a very glamorous role, it did involved working in the bowels and heights of one of the most beautiful buildings in the UK. 100x Robe ColorWash moving lights in both 1200 and 2500 models were used on specially built rigs strapped to columns, on cases around the organ, or high up on the cathedral's walkways. Also, 9x A&O Falcon 7000 moving lights were used, in both beam and flower varieties with 2x hung from a truss suspended from the bell tower, a 200ft drop!

Harnessed up, James and Paddy spent most of the night lowering the wash moving lights from the high walkways on a builder's wire hoist. Then they made their way to the bell tower to drop the two huge falls of wire and motor chain.

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