Lighting Co
Christie Lites
Venue
Various (Tour)
Crew
Lighting Designer: Mark Wynn-Edwards
Lighting Director/Programmer: Mark Wynn-Edwards
Tour Manager: James Monkman
Production Manager: Glen Thomson
Lighting Tech: Jessica Sanders
Christie Lites Account Rep: Terry Crain
Video Co: Main Light/Giovanni Ciranni
Trucking: Stage Call
Gear
1 HES Full Boar 4 (at FOH)
1 HES Hog 4 Nano (on stage)
10 Martin MAC Axiom Hybrids
16 Martin MAC Auras
4 Elation Protron 3K Color LED Strobes
8 Elation Cuepix Blinder WW2
7 Chauvet Nexus Aw 7×7’s
12 Martin LC Screens (3 per cart)
1 Martin P3
1 Martin P3 system controller
1 Catalyst media server
Tour Notes:
Glasgow, Scotland-based Simple Minds performed some of their hits from the 1980s along with new songs from their 2018 release, Walk Between Worlds, on a tour that ran from Sept. 24 to Nov. 11. LD/lighting director Mark Wynn-Edwards came up with the plan for “a blow-through screen on carts with enough lights that we could do a small stage show or TV appearance with no extra production, while working with a much larger in house system on a very large stage.”
Designer Insights by Steve Jennings
Mark Wynn-Edwards
Lighting Designer/Director
In support of their latest album “Walk Between Worlds”, we caught Simple Minds on their tour leg of North America. The Scottish band, with a career spanning 40 years and 70 million albums sold, performed for over two hours delighting devoted fans and gaining new ones. We caught up with the tour’s lighting designer and director Mark Wynn-Edwards to discuss the tour.
“In designing the show, I had to respect the era and the heritage the band come from but wanted to put a modern, fresh look to how the band looked on stage and make it look really big… an arena style show no mater what size venue we were playing.
I asked Jim and Charlie (original members Jim Kerr/vocals and Charlie Burchill/lead guitar) what they wanted to achieve on the US leg on a visual front, and once production told me the size of venue and how the day to day would flow I got to work forming a plan. I very quickly arrived at an idea of a blow through screen on carts with enough lights that we could do a small stage show or TV appearance with no extra production but then work with a much larger in house system on a very large stage.
“We were headed into the unknown, and I wanted to achieve ‘a show in a truck’ with my own control so anything else that came my way I could deal with quickly with confidence. Jim wanted something that would not disappoint the audience, something with a wow factor… I think we achieved this reading the press reviews.
Terry Crane at Christie Lites saw the design and saw something different and interesting there. We had a chat and talked about what I wanted to achieve and it all just clicked. Christie were only used in the US as it was a redesign, with elements from the Euro shows brought forward and reconfigured.
“I had already done an extensive tour around Europe before coming to the US but it was mainly festival shows touring a screen and some Axium floor lights. I had a show with video on a cue list and then the lighting programming on a robust busk page. I decided this wasn’t going to do for the US leg. The first production day I reprogrammed 25 songs and at this point (mid tour) I’m currently up to about 80 songs, some are very simple, others are fully cue listed epic’s.
“The fixture carts contain Cuepix Blinder WW2’s which I use with house moles to add an ambiance and lift. The Mac Aura’s are used to light up the clear tubes of the LC screen, to color wash the screen and add an extra element to some of the screen content, also to fire through the screen to add accents to upbeat moments and add mood. The Protron 3k Color in the base of the carts I use for color flashes and accents. Mounted across the top of the screen and on each side of the floor are Nexus AW 7×7’s used with mapped effects for some songs such as “Dolphins” which transform the stage. On the floor in front of the screen there are 10 Martin Axiom fixtures primarily used to create in the air effects, strong backline backlight shooting past the band.
Video has become a very important element in the show. I use it as a moving back light helping to set the mood and look to fill the picture and other times I show the bands actual music videos and use the video in the more traditional sense, I love how it works as a backlight. All this together makes for a full looking show with an interesting in the air fabric happening around the band.”
