Visual Light is a U.K.-based design house started by Nick Whitehouse in 2002. Bryan Leitch soon came on board as a design partner. Since then, the two have been working hard to become one of the most highly-regarded design teams in the world. Whitehouse and Leitch continue to collaborate on de-signs, striving to strike a balance between art and practicality. Some of their previous and current clients include Justin Timberlake, Coldplay, James Taylor, Kylie Minogue and Timbaland. Steve Dixon, part of the design team for Alicia Keys’ As I Am tour, contacted Visual Light about designing the lighting for the tour. They had worked together on Justin Timberlake’s tour and Whitehouse had also met Keys’ current production team at various award ceremonies throughout the previous year.
Freelance lighting director and programmer Steven Douglas also joined the tour. He worked with both Whitehouse and Leitch for several years on other projects, including gigs for Kanye West and James Taylor.
The Stage Concept
Nick Whitehouse: “The stage concept came as a collaboration from Visual Light, VYV and Steve Dixon. From there we expanded on the lighting side as well as working alongside Emric Epstein and Martin Granger-Piché from VYV, with whom we work closely. We all believe that video and lighting should work together to make a successful show. The whole initial idea was based around the huge curved screens and wall (made up of Color Kinetics i-Tile pan-els) that directed your attention into the center of the stage where the piano would be. The B stage and ramp came from Alicia wanting to get into the middle of the crowd for her solo section and to be surrounded.”
Fixture Quality, not Quantity
Nick Whitehouse: “We had a fairly strict budget for this show in terms of lighting, so we went down the route of having quality rather than quantity. The rig is pretty much all Vari*Lite 3000 series. The spots are VL3000s and washes are VL3500s. And there are a few generics — ETC Source Fours, Mole-Richardsons and Fresnels. The B stage has some VL6C+ Spot luminaires as they’re small and quick and the set has a lot of Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12s, which in my opinion are the best LED fixture for the colors that you can get out of them.
Video and Lighting
Steven Douglas: “My lighting console for the tour is an Avolites Diamond 4 Elite. It’s a very flexible desk and allows me to get everything I need done. The show was drawn on VectorWorks and we pre-programmed some looks and basic cues using ESP Vision.
“I’m not working the video end. As the show took shape, it was clear that the video operation would need its own operator. The only real challenge was to make sure that everything stayed in the same idea as the video content so that the show looks like one whole piece rather than video versus lighting.
“The crew and all are great to work with; I’m having a good time out on this tour. It was nice to work with Nick and Brian again.”
Breaking the Mold
Steven Douglas: “The show is mostly kept the same every night. There is a structure and theme running through the show, but with an artist like this there always has to be the ability to adapt; she can often decide to throw a curveball your way. There are regularly 28 songs in the show and I have 50 programmed in the board with a whole plethora of busking looks and information as well.”
