Faithless 2010: Amsterdam Show Photos
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
Faithless 2010: Relaxed in Amsterdam
Well after a couple of hectic days in Oslo and Copenhagen, it's great to have a true day off in a wonderful place.
We arrived on the bus at 11:30, leaving plenty of time to check out the bars and shops of Amsterdam. I'm writing this post after a couple of pleasant pints of Amstel and some local grub.
The show tomorrow is our earliest yet and in a club venue, after which we are straight to Brussels for our final show of the European leg.
James
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!
Faithless European Summer Tour
James has been invited by Andy Hurst to act as video technician for Faithless' summer arenas and festivals tour. The tour will involve several UK and European venue shows, along with the usual suspects of summer festivals.
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
Samsung Wave launch, Barcelona
Tonight marked a new high for Basic Monkey and for James at the Fira Barcelona. Using a huge amount of technology and an even bigger amount of time, effort and late nights, Jack Morton Worldwide have put on a truly immersive and spectacular launch for Samsung's new phone, the 'Wave'.
The vision from the team Jack Morton Worldwide was to create a 360 degree projected image around a 33m square room with 8m high white walls. The oceanic theme was chosen by the client to re-enforce the 'Wave' brand and D'strict were again chosen to provide the content that would create this under the sea experience.
Tim Riley at XL Video was asked to bring this vision to life and he enlisted the help of James to design and implement a Catalyst system to drive the 24 projectors required. This eventually required 6x Catalyst machines, including Basic Monkey's own to drive the video and surround sound audio. James converted the story board and mass of video files provided by D'strict into a fully programmed show using our Jands Vista lighting console.
For the science bit: 5x Catalyst machines were used to drive the 12x channels of projection through 12x Folsom ImageProHDs, with a 6th machine to play 5.1 channel surround sound audio and generate SMPTE timecode to synchronise the lighting to the live action performance. This demonstrates how involved all the departments of production have become and shows how the Catalyst system can be a very strong heart to this.
J.K. Shin, the President of Mobile Communications at Samsung's speech used Keynote which was input into Catalyst and output on two opposing walls, with one wall across two machines. Live camera feeds, mixed by Kevin Watts, were also displayed as picture in picture images either side of this keynote presentation. Have a look at the schematic to see how it all came together!
The show was a huge success for all involved and leaves only one problem... what's next?
Site vist for new Samsung phone launch, Barcelona
Today I'm in Barcelona at the Fira Gran Via, meeting with the team from Jack Morton Worldwide and Cheil (Samsung's marketing agency) to discuss plans for the grand unveiling of their new phone here in February.
I can't divulge too much as the details of the phone and launch are highly confidential, but it's safe to say that this event will make a huge impact and will be unlike anything the press have seen before.
The launch is at the start of the Mobile World Congress in February. Keep your eyes peeled for more info.
James
Pendulum Summer Festivals 2009 – Photos
Check out a few of my photos from Pendulum's European summer festival tour this year:
