Lighting Designer, Director, & Programmer Chris Yeomans was approached again by Rina Sawayama’s Tour Manager, Claire Hunt, who had worked together previously. This was all before lockdown restrictions were lifted in the UK, so there was uncertainty as to whether or not the tour would go ahead. “The first tour I worked on was Rina’s Dynasty Tour, the first tour after the debut album release Sawayama, which received critical acclaim after its release during lockdown,” says Yeomans, who also supported Sawayama at Coachella and at the Summer Sonic Festival in Japan. “The Dynasty Tour was a big success for all involved, with each show across the UK sold out, and received multiple five star reviews, so it made sense that the same team worked on this second album tour, Hold The Girl.”
The show went through a number of variations before they reached the final design, notes Yeomans. Sawayama’s Creative Director, Crystalline, had an initial brief which was oriented around a spherical object center stage. The spherical element was key to the Hold The Girl narrative, as the album’s underlying theme addresses holding your inner child, and addressing negative experiences buried in our past. A spherical object would represent embracing these experiences. “As the project grew, more shows were added with varying stage sizes, and the choreography became more refined, it made sense for the center stage to be opened up for movement. Crystalline raised the idea of using a truss circle upstage for Rina to stand under/inside of. We discussed a number of options for how this should look, and we wanted to use two layers of lights around the edge of the circle that could almost wrap around Rina as she emerged through the circle. This also meant the inner circle could be used to light Rina, and the outer circle could be used for aerial effects.”
Design Aesthetic
Yeomans adds that once this centerpiece was found, it became about aesthetic. “The brief was industrial and raw. We used silver truss and metal work across the stage, grated stage deck, and truss towers staggered in height. The backdrop we used was a metallic mesh, which could be lit to either look metallic or organic, almost like a rock surface. For our full production which was used in the UK (and features in the ‘Imagining’ music video from Brixton Academy) I wanted to try and maintain a circular aesthetic for the flown rig but using straight truss. We used four fanned and staggered trusses which stretched out from the top of the truss circle and over the stage. The staggering of the flown rig was continued in the side towers; the downstage side towers being higher than the upstage.”
“Once we had our design, we then began light programming. I received direction from Crystalline for each song with a general feel and color palette, but I was given creative freedom to program the show beyond Crystalline’s brief. I programmed the show in Ibiza, where I spent the summer in 2022. Crystalline and I maintained a dialogue during the programming of the show, and when production rehearsals started, tweaks were made to work with the choreography, and to ensure Rina and the dancers were lit as they moved around the stage and across the upstage risers. Rina had a lot of input into the lighting, and mostly with the song ‘To Be Alive,’ which is a euphoric crescendo to act three of the show (named After The Storm). Rina really wanted this to be an uplifting part of the show and wanted it to feel as if it was an all-night party. We turned the truss circle into a sunset and washed the stage in deep blues and purples for the verses, used a shadow shift effect using Rina’s shadow on the backdrop for the instrumental, and we transitioned out of the sunset into sunrise for the choral ending using cyans and warm whites.”
Yeomans says the team on this tour are constantly developing the show and coming up with new ideas, whether that was choreography, the set list, track edits, or lighting. “We constantly make notes and discuss them during soundchecks. We also occasionally film the show on a GoPro from front of house and hold viewings in the mornings after load-in to see what can be improved. It keeps us engaged in the show and creates a synergy between the touring party and allows us to keep building the show. It’s this open-minded approach that makes it such a great show to work on.”
Key Equipment Choices
The floor package for this show was quite big, notes Yeomans, with the circle alone taking at least an hour out of their day. “The towers are four meters high and are manually lifted into place. There is a row of X4 Bar 20s upstage, eight MegaPointes on the downstage edge, five JDC Line 1000s under the risers, and seven fans around the stage. The main fixtures on this show are MegaPointes and JDC Line 1000s. I like to try and use one main moving fixture type when designing, so I tend to use fixtures that can be used for different applications. The MegaPointes can be used as a beam or wash; and produces great aerial effects with a high output. On the full show, where we had a flown rig, we only had MegaPointes in the rig. For me, this creates a cleaner aesthetic, but also challenges you to be more creative in programming. Having MegaPointes on the downstage edge, on the side towers, and in the flown rig meant that I could achieve some interesting geometric looks, and of course, create a beam cage! The JDC Lines were used as side light; we had 16 for the U.S. tour. I wanted something with a wide beam angle that could be pixel mapped and produce a bright strobe. They were also key to maintaining the shape of the stage design for the full show, as they highlighted the staggered height of the side towers. They were a fairly new fixture, and quite tough to get hold of. Colour Sound in the UK had them in stock, and thankfully Fuse Technical Group (our American supplier) got some in for us.”
Yeomans says working on these shows is really rewarding where everyone involved has a lot of respect for each other, along with having fun. “Everyone brings their A-game to every show, and the constant push to improve is really special. Seeing the shows sell out way in advance and the great media reviews tells us we are on the right path, while also wanting each show to be better than the last.”
Production Team
Lighting Designer, Director & Programmer: Chris Yeomans
Lighting Crew Chief/Tech: Erika Reyes
Production Manager: Will Taylor
Tour Manager: Claire Hunt
Production Companies
Lighting (U.S.): Fuse Technical Group / Mike Pirich, Alan Peterson
Lighting (UK): Colour Sound Experiment Ltd / Alex Ryan
Staging/Set: Hangman UK / Sue Harrison
Gear
1 MA Lighting grandMA3 Console
24 Robe MegaPointe
20 Robe LEDBeam
16 GLP JDC Line 1000
12 GLP impression X4 Bar 20
