SINGAPORE – Singapore-based show production and equipment hire company The Show Company (ShowCo), supplied 120 Claypaky Scenius Unico fixtures for mega-star Katy Perry’s dynamite performance at the Singapore Indoor Stadium as part of her current worldwide tour Witness: The Tour.
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The singer’s Singapore show was hailed as ‘one of the grandest Singapore Indoor Stadium had ever witnessed’ by online music magazine Bandwagon. Designed by production designer Es Devlin and lighting designer Baz Halpin, who also produced the tour, Witness hooks in audiences with its whirlwind of rich video content, large-scale props and wide-eyed lighting effects, delivered in part by the powerful capabilities of the Claypaky Scenius Unico.
“The production is large format and makes a bold statement with its enormous ‘eye-shaped’ LED screen,” says Halpin, “I wanted to make sure that the lighting design complemented not just the screen’s shape, but was also able to compete with the incredible amount of light emitting from it.”
After discussion with Associate LD, Eric Marchwinski, Halpin chose the Claypaky Scenius Profile alongside the newest addition to the Scenius range, the Scenius Unico as the key fixtures in the Witness rig.
“The Scenius Unico has a wide application as a spot, wash and beam with great framing capabilities,” says Joseph Gan, Director of ShowCo, technical partner for the tour in Singapore. ShowCo invested in the Scenius Unico fixtures ahead of the show date to ensure that Halpin’s lighting team did not have to settle for less than ideal alternatives. “Discussion about investing in the Scenius Unico fixtures started some time ago and the Katy Perry show was the deciding factor in making that next step,” he says.
For Halpin, ShowCo’s investment was gratefully received. “It’s important when designing a world tour, where the entire system is not traveled, that you are able to replicate the design with the correct, original fixtures in order to preserve the designer’s original intent,” he says. “Making swaps is never ideal and because of the unique versatility of the Scenius range it was wonderful to be able to replicate this design in Singapore with the original fixture choices.”
“Alfonso Zarakate from Claypaky was extremely helpful in turning things around so quickly and ensuring the fixtures were delivered to us ready for the Katy Perry show,” says Gan. “This is not something that a lot of manufacturers are able to do and it was a great team effort from Claypaky.”
Halpin’s design calls for large amounts of the single fixture type arranged in 140ft (43m) spans across the ‘upper lid’ of the production’s central eye-shaped video screen. Of selecting the Scenius Unico for the task, he says, “We needed a fixture with enough flexibility to act as a key light, wash light and beam effect light, all at once. The Scenius fixtures are wonderfully versatile and have enough punch to stand up to the LED screen behind.
“I have used Claypaky fixtures for a long time now and I am continuously impressed with the commitment to innovation from the brand. I have used large quantities of Scenius Unicos, Scenius Profiles and Claypaky Mythos2s on all my tours this year.”
Witness: The Tour, the fourth concert tour by Katy Perry, is in support of her fifth studio album Witness (2017). The tour began on September 19, 2017 and is scheduled to end on August 21, 2018 in Auckland, New Zealand. Following the Singapore Indoor Stadium show on April 8, 2018, the tour is currently completing its European leg.
