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Colour Sound Experiment supplies lighting and video for Richard Ashcroft

UK lighting and video rental company Colour Sound Experiment supplied lighting and LED screen to two recent shows by singer songwriter Richard Ashcroft at Liverpool Arena and London’s O2 working with designer Jonny Gaskell whose working relationship with Ashcroft dates back to the heyday of The Verve.

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.

The 40 ft. wide by 20 ft. 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. Hogg had four operated and four robo-cams at his disposal for the IMAG, with outputs from his mix sent via the Hippo to the main screen and - direct from his PPU - to the two side screens.

Once Gaskell and Hogg had formulated the video look, Gaskell looked at the lighting. Complementing the vintage TV look and adding another scenic element were four Briese focus 180 fixtures, a lighting tool for photographers which is a 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. Mirror balls, one of Gaskell’s signature effects, were integrated into the design as well.

Gaskell chose Robe’s BMFL Spots from Colour Sound’s 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. He often used the 2-lites to follow Ashcroft’s vocals to enhance the audience interaction moments.

On the mid-truss were six BMFL Spots, six LEDWash 600s, six 2-lites, six Stormys and four LEDWash 1200s, the latter dedicated to highlighting the 24-piece Heritage Orchestra that was part of the shows as well. On the back truss the same four types of primary fixtures were rigged in quantities of eight.

On the floor were another eight each BMFL Spots. Of eight LEDWash 600s, two used like floor cans right under Ashcroft’s chin for a bit of moodiness, with the other six distributed upstage. There were also 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. 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 crew from Colour Sound comprising Andy Melleney, Simon Robertson and Hadyn Williams on lights and Ed Blackwell who tech’d the LED and video.

(Photos: Louise Stickland/Filby Photography)

www.coloursound.co.uk

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