UPCOMING TOUR DATES: Australia in March, UK/Europe in April, returns to North America in July for summer amphitheater tour through September.
THE DESIGN: “As per the band’s name, it’s designed to be fun. There’s a 32-by-8-foot video wall behind the band with a 40-by-8-foot (W x H) Plexiglas two-way mirror in front of that. Five media servers show content through the Plexiglas from behind. There are four robotic and six static cameras that can then feed the live crowd shots back through the mirror, thus reflecting the live crowd. At other times in the show, the lights are pointed directly at the mirror, which makes them reflect back and appears to double the quantity of fixtures in the rig.”
OTHER ELEMENTS: “There are five TVs attached to 10K Fresnels for extra texture. Three TVs are up in the air, the other two are on stands stage left and right. The video wall, mirror and truss of TVs and other lights move up and down. An LED video wall also wraps the length of the bottom of the stage, allowing for live I-Mag or content to display.”
STARTING POINT: “A poster for the band. I just animated the basic backdrop premise into TVs, LED screen and added the mirror twist.”
BASIC PREMISE: “To really push what the venues could hold technically to create a sense of a big show, beyond what is normally seen in the room size.”
KEY GOALS:“The show was designed for maximum audience interaction. It’s a big part of what they (fun.) are about.”
OVERALL EFFECTS: “A fast moving, upbeat, dance-provoking show, and crowds sing along from start to finish, especially during their big hit, We Are Young.”
ROAD CREW: Lighting Director Fraser Elisha is running the show on the road, with Brent Clark handling media servers and Craig “Fin” Finley as production
manager.
ABOUT PAUL NORMANDALE:
Home Base: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK
Design Company: Lite Alternative
Other Recent Tours: One Direction, Coldplay, Stone Roses, Jason Mraz, Norah Jones, Kaiser Chiefs, James Blunt, The Foo Fighters, others.
