Leading UK lighting and video rental company Colour Sound Experiment supplied
lighting and LED screen to two recent high profile shows by singer songwriter
Richard Ashcroft at Liverpool Arena and London’s O2 working with designer Jonny
Gaskell.
His working relationship with Ashcroft dates back to the heyday of The Verve when
the band – for which he was lead singer – were favourites on the 1990’s alternative
rock scene.
Gaskell started with designing the video playback system. He suggested a large
upstage LED screen for the playback material for which live camera director Julian
Hogg re-edited some existing and classic Ashcroft music video footage and created
some new content, which they decided to “repackage’ onscreen in a series of virtual
“old TV set’ frames … for a retro appearance with a modern twist.
The 40 ft. wide by 20ft high screen was constructed from Colour Sound’s BT-6 HD
LED product, with two 3.5 x 5.5 metre side screens added for Hogg’s IMAG mix –
which was made up from BT-7.
A Green Hippo Hippotizer v4 was used for storing all the playback footage
appearing on the main screen.
Once Gaskell and Hogg had formulated the video look, Gaskell looked at the
lighting.
Complementing the vintage TV look and adding another strong scenic element were
four Briese focus 180 fixtures, a lighting tool for photographers which is a funky
shiny photo-umbrella complete with a tungsten lightsource.
For the main stage lighting trusses he kept things simple – for practical as well as
aesthetic reasons, with three straight trusses over the stage – front mid and back.
Added to that was a circular truss flown between the mid and back trusses which
had a 1.2 metre diameter mirror ball tucked inside it that flew down for one of the
final numbers of the set.
He chose Robe’s BMFL Spots from Colour Sound’s large rental inventory for his main
profile units with eight on the front truss for key lighting. They were joined by eight
LEDWash 600s, eight 2-lites and eight Claypaky Stormy LED strobes facing into the
audience.
On the mid-truss were six BMFL Spots, six LEDWash 600s, six 2-lites, six Stormies
and four LEDWash 1200s, the latter dedicated to subtly highlighting the orchestra.
On the floor were another eight each BMFL Spots, with four LEDWash 1200s – two
downstage left and right – to cross Ashcroft from low angles.
One Zap Technologies 5K Biglite was rigged on the mid truss directly upstage of his
microphone position, and another six 2-lites and six strobes were positioned around
the backline at head height on tank-trap stands.
Gaskell operated the show from his own ChamSys control set up. He worked
alongside associate LD Joe Beardsmore, who also looked after the Hippotizer during
the show, and was joined by a “Fantastic’ crew from Colour Sound comprising Andy
Melleney, Simon Robertson and Hadyn Williams on lights and Ed Blackwell who
tech’d the LED and video.
It was a fantastic end to a mega busy year for Gaskell, and Colour Sound’s Haydn
Cruickshank (H) commented, “We’ve enjoyed a great year working with Gaskell on
his various projects! His designs are constantly inventive, he has a keen visual eye
and an excellent approach so we all love collaborating with him!’
