HSL Walks Between Worlds with Simple Minds posted: 26/03/2018
HSL is delighted to be on the road again as lighting suppliers with Scottish rockers Simple Minds and their long time lighting designer Stephen Pollard who has created another innovative look for the band's acclaimed new Walk Between Worlds album.
Released in February as part of a celebration of an incredible 40 year career, the album is a blend of the introspective yet optimistic elements of their music with some huge electronic and stadium rock moments that kept them on the alternative' side of cool. The performance features the entire new album, bookended by a careful selection of Simple Minds early material and classics.
This was a showcase tour for the new album. As such the show paused for two Q&A sessions between Jim Kerr, guitarist Charlie Burchill and journalist / radio presenter Billy Sloan. The Q&A sessions included chatting about the new album and how the band's music has changed and evolved over the years.
Visually for this tour, Jim wanted a dramatic change from what had come before for, Stephen explained a different way to presenting a show that combined a popular pick of hits whilst showcasing the powerful work from the new album. Rather looking at the past at this stage of their career, the emphasis was on the future.
HSL has been the band's lighting supplier since 2011, when Stephen first met MD Simon Stuart at HSL's Blackburn UK headquarters, and has taken his business there ever since.
They always do a fantastic job and are a pleasure to work with, he affirmed. The account is project managed at HSL by Andy Chatburn.
This first leg of the UK tour played to a selection of intimate venues around the UK and Europe. As a proving ground, the new material consistently went down well every night with the fans singing every word of the new songs even though the album had only been out a few days.
One of the very noticeable and recent changes within the band is founding members Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill have been joined by an exceptionally strong female line up featuring drum/percussionist Cherisse Osei, keyboard player and backing vocalist Catherine AD and long time backing singer and sometimes lead vocalist Sarah Brown. Together, with bassist Ged Grimes and multi-instrumentalist Gordy Goudie they make up one of the most formidable Simple Minds line ups ever.
Jim really wanted to keep the impetus we achieved with the last acoustic tour going with these new additions to the band, explained Stephen. Also with this, he wanted a new visual approach.
Stephen's Simple Minds shows in the past have a reputation for being beamy, blindingly bright to dark and moody, but this time the brief was to do something radical and new ... so he did!!!
The visual essence started with a new hybrid lighting fixture invented by Stephen combining URC's GoldPix 77 - an LED warm-white halogen look-alike 7x7 pixel-mappable panel - with eight Martin Sceptron VDO 10s mounted on the front. These were then rigged on custom stands.
This gave the combination of two very different mappable lightsources through which he could potentially play video as well as programming traditional lights, one outputting in the tungsten CT range and the Sceptrons in full colour and cooler, crisper whites. They were dubbed the Sceptopix , and five were used on this leg of the tour at different heights positioned around the stage, giving full tungsten / daylight effects as well as dynamic blocks of video driven output.
HSL's Andy Chatburn engineered and fabricated all the Sceptopix fixtures. Andy commented, Stephen usually comes up with something off-beat and wacky, and we really love challenges like this and making his ideas into tourable solutions .
All the lighting specials for this section of the tour had to be floor mounted and quickly and easily deployable, and these were combined with a very straightforward promoter-supplied two truss rig specified by Stephen, comprising seven spots and six wash moving lights in the front and eight washes and seven spots on the back.
Upstage, the design included two rows - one above the other - of Martin LC2140 plus semi-transparent 2m x 1m LED video panels. The LC2140 panels were concertina-ed in seven 2-way jointed sections in order to be free standing and behind these, Perspex mirrors were fitted to reflect the lighting, video, the band and in which the audience could also see themselves!
Lighting pointed into the mirrors and strobes in particular produced some crazy funky looks that brought a completely new spatial dimension to the stage. It also made the entire video surface appear larger than it actually was in a neat bit of visual illusion!
Twelve Martin Axiom hybrid moving lights were mounted in stands positioned at different heights upstage, and 14 Mac Aura XB were positioned around the floor and set risers.
The riser edges were also mirrored but the fronts remained open as to allow a see-through path to the video screen at the back. At times with the smoke and atmosphere, drummer Cherisse Osei appeared to be floating.
Stephen created all the tour's video content working in conjunction with programmer Matt Brown. Much of it was inspired by the Walk Between Worlds' album artwork, graphical, bold and colourful in content, run through a Catalyst media server where it was animated, treated and affected. This was triggered via Stephen's grandMA full size console.
Ryan Soave joined Matt as the second HSL crew-person technician, with Stephen commenting that both were Fantastic people, highly skilled and great to work with .
He continued, saying, I really love the way HSL come up with good practical solutions and help me stretch the budget - and the creative options - as far as possible . He is really looking forward to taking this basic
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
07/05/2024
Syncbak, a 15 year-old provider of streaming tech for local broadcast stations has rebranded itself, adopting the name of its streaming service launched in Febr...
07/05/2024
POST Luxembourgs journey with TAG Video underscores how finding a vendor who und...
07/05/2024
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. New findings from Hub Entertainment Research provides extensive data showing that the majority of consumers will opt for lower cost ad-supporte...
07/05/2024
NEW YORK The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation (LABF) has announced th...
07/05/2024
CBS News has named Lindsey Reiser an anchor and correspondent for CBS News 24/7, the network's live, streaming news service. Reiser, who was most recently a...
07/05/2024
NEEDHAM, Mass. After more than two years of decline, worldwide tablet shipments posted modest year-over-year growth of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24),...
07/05/2024
ESPN is reporting that April was a record-setting month as the network delivered its best April prime time audience on record, dating back more than 30 years....
07/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has announced that Kirsten Donaldson has joined NAB as vice president of public policy. Donaldso...
07/05/2024
The Bulls are back home again this week from May 7-12! Don't miss out on any...
07/05/2024
Skeem Saam: Monday's episode, 6 May 2024 [video]Missed an episode of Skeem Saam? No problem! Watch the latest episode of your favourite South African soapie...
06/05/2024
By Ilyse McKimmie
Now, more than ever
That's a phrase so often used in the last few years that I've come to dread seeing it in notes like this one. A...
06/05/2024
alt= class=wp-image-12099 data-lazy-src=/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Blog-Exabyte-Storage-Demand-960x540-1.jpg/> Demand for storage solutions has reached unprece...
06/05/2024
Around the world, Asian and Pacific Islander (API) artists continue to impact mu...
06/05/2024
Spotify is making it easier for booklovers to count down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until a new audiobook releases. With Countdown Pages for audioboo...
06/05/2024
Get Ready to join Dan Hong as he hits the streets in his ultimate culinary journ...
06/05/2024
In this video, cinematographer Simon Rowling welcomes viewers behind the scenes as he lights a daytime-interior scene inside a coffee shop. Shooting on Panavisi...
06/05/2024
L3Harris is well positioned to support the complex and multifaceted nature of special operations forces in all domains through our agile and responsive technolo...
06/05/2024
OAKVILLE, Ontario As part of Emergency Preparedness Week, Alert Ready, Canadas national public alerting system, will be distributing a test alert to Canadians i...
06/05/2024
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. Horowitz Research has released a new study on the viewing and media habits of U.S. Hispanic/Latine audiences that shows a dramatic decline in...
06/05/2024
RE:Vision Effects Autograph 2024.4 released! 50% Off Through May 9th
Brie Clayton May 6, 2024
0 Comments
New game-changing motion graphics & VFX featu...
06/05/2024
NBC has renewed Night Court for a third season. The courtroom comedy was on the network from 1984 to 1992, and NBC rebooted it in early 2023....
06/05/2024
ABC has revealed its summer schedule. The Bachelorette gets going Monday, July 8, with Jenn Tran the star in season 21. Celebrity Family Feud starts up Tuesday,...
06/05/2024
It's almost go-time for the Holly Springs Salamanders! The season opener is ...
06/05/2024
Tonight on Scandal: Deception is rife as a man places his trust in the unfaithfu...
06/05/2024
Rap beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar turns NASTYA long-simmering feud between rap titans Drake and Kendrick Lamar has exploded into allegations of pedophil...
06/05/2024
The Amazonas Digital initiative will see INRED leverage SES's MEO satellites...
06/05/2024
Tonight on Skeem Saam: Kobus busts Pretty in a compromising positionDon't miss Monday, 6 May's riveting episode of South African soapie Skeem Saam on SA...
06/05/2024
Tonight on House of Zwide: Bra Zakes and Sphamandla agree to leave Tembisa and n...
06/05/2024
RT has announced details of its coverage across digital, TV and Radio in the ru...
06/05/2024
For years, radio stations have used on-premises servers to broadcast content and manage automation, traffic, and billing systems. As technology continues to adv...
06/05/2024
06 May 2024
AI and Big Data Take the Centre Stage in Central Asia at Beetech 20...
06/05/2024
FIRST LOOK AT JIM PARSONS & MAYIM BIALIK REPRISING THEIR ROLES FROM THE BIG BAN...
06/05/2024
NBC Sports and Churchill Downs Extend Historic Partnership, Kentucky Derby to Be...
06/05/2024
Beverly Hills Aerials, LIV Golf Make Australian-Broadcast History by Flying Live...
06/05/2024
Back to All News
Watch the Trailer for A Part of You - Felicia Maxime, Edvin Ry...
06/05/2024
Leadership in 12G-SDI for low impact migration to 4k production...
06/05/2024
Press release - 6 May 2024 07:31
STATEMENT CONCERNING EUTELSAT GROUP'S GROUND NETWORK Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
Download as PDF
Paris, 06 May 2024 ...
06/05/2024
Tyngsboro, Mass. - May 6, 2024 - Join us at InfoComm 2024 to experience the latest advancements in live production technology. From June 12-14, 2024, at the Las...
06/05/2024
To champion global movements to protect and advance equality for LGBTQ+ communities, Apple is introducing a new Apple Watch Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop, ava...
06/05/2024
Actress Matseliso Mohale has joined Muvhango'Talented actress Matseliso Mohale has joined SABC2's soapie Muvhango' as Vhangani's lover and a c...
06/05/2024
Tonight on Smoke and Mirrors: Leroy refuses to give up fighting to bury MthethoDon't miss Monday, 6 May's riveting episode of South African soapie Smoke...
06/05/2024
Intrinsic, a software and AI robotics company at Alphabet, has integrated NVIDIA AI and Isaac platform technologies to advance the complex field of autonomous r...
06/05/2024
Cybersecurity experts at the RSA Conference this week will be on the hunt for ways to secure their operations in the era of generative AI.
They'll find man...
06/05/2024
1) What is the rationale of the transaction? What is the benefit for SES shareholders?
This combination creates a stronger and more competitive multi-orbit ope...
05/05/2024
A special evening performance by multiplatinum singer Becky G will provide a memorable conclusion to TeievisaUnivision's Casa Cultura upfront event on May 1...
05/05/2024
Giant media buyer Publicis is telling network sales executives that it does not think Nielsen's new panel-plus-big-data currency is ready for this upfront....
05/05/2024
WASHINGTON Glenn Kirschner, legal analyst at NBC News, blasted the media for referring to the New York trial of former President Donald Trump as a hush-money ...
HSL Walks Between Worlds with Simple Minds posted: 26/03/2018 
