LONDON —HSL supported LD Andy Iliffe’s design for the first production tour for U.K. artist Rita Ora. The visuals gear included a Pixled FX-11 LED screen, Robe ColorSpot 2500E ATs, GLP Impression 120 RZ Zoom LEDs, Clay Paky Sharpys, i-Pix BB4 LED wash lights, JTE PixelLine LED battens and strobes, all controlled via a Catalyst media server and grandMA2 lite console.
More details from HSL (www.hslgroup.com):
“Rita Ora is one of the hottest emerging talents in the UK, and Andy’s light show was every bit as original and exciting as her stage presence,” said HSL project manager Mike Oates. “We are extremely proud to be involved!”
Andy has worked with Rita Ora for the last four months. The first shows were promos, for which HSL supplied some ‘specials’ packages. Having worked with the Blackburn based company for around eight years, it was a ‘no-brainer’ for Andy when it came to recommending a lighting company to service the tour. “When given the choice, it will always be HSL,” he said.
His dynamic touring rig for Ora’s energy fuelled ‘Radioactive’ tour was completely floor based. At each venue he also hooked into a front truss prepared to their LX spec with profile and wash fixtures.
He explains that a key starting point for the design was that it had to be scalable so it could fit into any of the venues on the itinerary and look good however large or small the stage space happened to be.
Along the back of stage were four vertical trussing towers, and in each of these were two Robe ColorSpot 2500E ATs and two GLP Impression 120 RZ Zoom LED wash fixtures. These were carefully positioned to produce massive epic looks from upstage, essentially amplifying the visual impression of the rig.
He chose Robe’s powerful ColorSpot 2500E ATs because there was also a Pixled FX-11 LED screen upstage, so any lighting instruments needed to be bright enough to compete and hold their own.
There were 14 Atomic strobes, one each on top of the towers complete with color scrollers, with eight spread out across the band’s backline and two downstage at the sides. High-impact strobe chases reinforced and accentuated the rockiest numbers which could get even trippier because of the way the strobes were ‘layered’.
Twelve Clay Paky Sharpys were arranged in groups of three – ACL style – in the four corners of the stage. These were always flashed in their respective groups of three and provided masses of scope for stabs and accents as well as a huge spectacular cross beam effects when all on together!
Along the front of the stage were four i-Pix BB4 LED wash lights lighting the band in the footlights position, with another four side stage providing low level cross lighting onto Ora.
Behind Ora and in front of the band were four JTE PixelLine LED battens, rigged vertically on individual floor bases and pixel-mapped in a Catalyst media server.
All lighting was controlled by Andy using his grandMA2 lite console — his desk of choice —and he clearly had a lot of fun producing such an exciting, adrenalized show to match Ora’s flamboyant performance.
He concludes, “HSL did a brilliant job as always on the tour. I really enjoy an excellent relationship with them – nothing is ever a problem and Mike Oates is incredible!! There is really no other rental company in the UK to compare with the service or friendliness.”
For more information on XL Video’s support, go to http://plsn.com/wp/projection-connection/10687-xl-video-provides-flexible-looks-for-rita-ora-uk-tour.html
