LONDON – LD Ed Warren turned to Martin Professional’s MAC Viper Profile for Mumford & Sons’ dates in the UK and Ireland recently on their extended “Babel” world tour. UK-based Neg Earth provided the gear, which also included MAC Auras.
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LONDON – Lighting designer and operator Ed Warren of Next Level Lights turned to Martin Professional’s MAC Viper Profile for Mumford & Sons’ “Tour of Two Halves” (first half theatres, second half arenas), which hit dates in the UK and Ireland in November and December on their extended “Babel” world tour.
The award-winning 1000 W fixtures were recommended to Ed by Rob Sinclair, who worked as visual consultant for the tour. “He’d used them previously and recommended them due to their tungsten abilities, and their general usefulness,” said Warren, who has been with Mumford & Sons for almost four years.
“My show is tungsten-heavy so it was important to achieve a warm CTO from the fixtures, which mixed perfectly with the many light bulbs on stage,” he explains. “They were also punchy with clear beams as well as a decent wash. Their speed, reaction times and reliability were a bonus, too. I was previously using MAC IIIs and I think Moonunit, my lighting tech, was happy about the smaller size.”
The Vipers were mounted on three main lighting trusses upstage, as well as on one of the downstage trusses from which they were used for key light.
Also used on the show were 18 MAC Aura wash lights, 10 on the downstage edge and 8 on risers behind the band. “I used these for uplighting the band members with a warm tungsten when needed,” he says. “There are a couple of songs where we drop four drapes behind the band and project their silhouettes onto it. The zoom on the Auras came in handy when achieving this look.”
UK-based Neg Earth provided all lighting equipment for the “Tour of Two Halves” tour.
Photo: David Stewart
