Human vs. Machine… It is an age-old conundrum, and one that has never been more relevant than it is today, as society takes its first steps into the era of AI. It is also a theme that ran through the iconic Gary Numan’s three-night, “one thousandth celebration show” residency at the Electric Ballroom. Reflecting this dichotomy was an evocative David Howard lighting design that often split the stage into two sections.
“The design took inspiration from the concept of us living with, or living against, machines,” said Howard, of David Howard Lighting Design. “A lot of Gary Numan’s tracks explore this theme, and much of our design inspiration comes from this aesthetic. Being able to split the stage in two creates an immediate visual juxtaposition. So, for example, we did things like divide the stage between a Cadbury purple with an electric green, and had a constant bass note of low level fizzling strobe to mimic machine workings.”
Balancing this duality on stage is a distinctive triangular-shaped video wall made with CHAUVET Professional F4IP LED panels, which, like the rest of the kit, was supplied by IPS (Impact Production Services). The strongest of all shapes, the triangle has always been used in mathematics, physics and philosophy to balance opposing forces. It filled a similar role in Howard’s design.
“The triangle motif has been ever present in this artist’s visual artwork, from stage designs of eras past,” said Howard. “I was dead set on bringing the shape to this show. Being able to have a triangular video wall brought this bang up to date. During the design phase of this show, I approached IPS about finding a way to make this idea of a triangular video wall possible,” continued Howard. “They were able to offer me a scalable solution for this with rigging that fit the incredibly tight stage space. I’ll always be grateful to IPS for providing the technical assistance that helped bring this design into reality.”
A total of 22 F4IP panels were used to make the triangular wall. Content was rotated at a processor level to allow easy mapping. Using his ChamSys MagicQ software, Howard was easily able to feed the same content over a pixel map layer to strobes and pixel battens. This made it possible to have video content transcend the canvas and stretched over the entire rig, resulting in a consistent visual stage presentation.
Each of the 54 different tracks that were performed during the three-day residency was supported by captivating video graphics from content creator Miguel Ribeiro. While conveying the underlying mood and message of the music, the video content also added to the visual variety of the residency, which had a number of fans attend all three performances.
“Miguel did a fantastic job of producing the bespoke content,” said Howard. “Working with our lighting tech James Walton and my existing lighting programming, he produced some stunning content that matched the sound perfectly. This visual element was so strong that I would often cut the lighting rig entirely, save for some side fill, and allow the video to silhouette the artist on stage.”
The silhouetting, along with some soft side lighting, worked hand-in-glove with the video to create a redolent aura on stage, one that reflected the 30-year career of Gary Numan and the always-complex relationships people have with one another and the machines they create. While the show didn’t answer questions about humans vs. machines, it did leave fans feeling good about a future where talented people can deploy technology to create such beautiful things.
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