For Def Leppard’s 2011-2012 Mirrorball tour, show designer and video director Jonathan Beswick, who has been providing the band with distinctive video looks since 2006, worked with LD Kenji Ohashi to go beyond mere I-Mag to fuse lighting and video into rock ‘n’ roll looks that are even bigger than those achieved on previous tours. Higher-resolution video panels — and more of them — made that goal possible, and lighter-weight gear helped keep the production’s rigging, setup and tear down challenges in check…”Last time around, I used a 53-by-13.5-foot LED wall upstage, and then LED fascias on the set carts. In the air, I had previously used the Nocturne V-Lite with its 28mm resolution,” Beswick said. “This time I wanted to go with a higher-res product, and I wanted to go bigger. The problem we had to overcome was, how do we go bigger within the same core design and make it look fresh? After considering it, I redesigned the large upstage screen area. It is now 63 by 17.9 feet, and I broke it up into seven separate panels. To up the resolution, I went with an 18mm product; the new PRG Nocturne Productions V-18. It is a module product, and I made each of the seven screen panels six modules wide by 12 modules high. I staggered the panels on the stage depth-wise to achieve a three-dimensional look to the wall, but kept the same aspect ratio that we had produced for the 2009 show, albeit a bigger version of it. The set carts behind the band are covered with PRG Nocturne V-Lite, their 28mm product.”
—Jonathan Beswick, interviewed by Michael S. Eddy, “PLSN Interview,” Dec. 2011
