TPI_March

INBOX
ROBE AND OUTLINE WERE AMONG
THE KEY TECHNOLOGY BRANDS
ON THE PUSSYCAT DOLLS’ LATEST
EUROPEAN TOUR...
WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCATS?
Fourteen years after their original keeping the new looks coming and the reasons including its ease of use when it comes
incarnation as an LA-based burlesque excitement and anticipation pumping right to to improvisational moments.
troupe, the Pussycat Dolls have emerged as the end of the slickly choreographed show. He Other kit supplied by HSL included 40 Martin
one of the world’s most successful female achieved all this with the relatively expediently Professional Atomic strobes, ﬁ ve front truss
chart acts with more than seven million sales sized rig in terms of ﬁ xtures. mounted Vari*Lite VL3000s with the pan and
to their name. “The 2500s are fantastic,” said Warner of the tilt disabled, used as tight focused follow spots,
The girls’ latest European tour — Doll core elements of his design. “They’re proving and a 12-way Kinesys automation system with
Domination — kicked off in Aberdeen on really reliable, very bright and offer all the Vector control.
January 18 and ended in Belgrade ﬁ ve weeks ﬂ exibility I need.” In addition there were over 60 motors and
later, ahead of their involvement as the opening The lights were distributed all across the rig. all trussing and rigging required for the lighting
act on Britney Spears’ Circus tour of North It featured an innovative trussing design based and PA points. HSL designed and commissioned
America, throughout March, April and May. on four Octopods plus a 4.5m circular truss several pieces of custom metalwork including
In charge of the Dolls’ intense lighting is stage centre, and a smaller semi-circular truss. the Octopods that were fabricated by TFL for
Pittsburgh, PA-based LD Scott Warner, whose In the upstage left and right corners were two the tour, which was project managed for HSL by
rig for the European leg featured a high 20’ runs of SwingWing truss, ﬂ own diagonally, Mike Oates.
percentage of Robe moving lights and ﬁ xtures while a back truss traversed the full width of the It was a complex lighting system to build
from the Czech company’s new Digital Series. stage area. each day, requiring lots of precision and
All lighting equipment was supplied by UK- On the ﬂ oor, eight REDWashes were used as tight teamwork. Oates commented: “The
based HSL who made a substantial investment footlights across the front of the stage and four biggest challenge was getting it in and up in
in new Robe Digital ﬁ xtures for the tour. ColorSpot 2500E ATs in ‘shin-buster’ positions a reasonable time each day, for which we did
Warner ﬁ rst used Robe on the girls’ stage left and right. The idea was to keep the some serious pre-planning to maximise the
show in St, Petersburg, Russia last year. The ﬂ oor clear of lights and accentuate the clean efﬁ ciency of get-ins and outs.”
performance, brightness and features impressed lines of the set, a co-design between Warner HSL dispatched one of its renowned A-Team
him so much that Robe has now become his and production manager Bryan ‘Froggy’ Cross, crews for Doll Domination, which was chiefed
moving light of choice. who doubles as sound engineer. by Eugene Benavidez who also operated the
With the timing of Doll Domination, he was Warner used the REDWashes to cover the Kinesys system. He was joined by Dan Tiley
keen to try out Robe’s new Digital Series, so stage and set with numerous lush and striking (dimmers), Kinesys tech Steve Belﬁ eld, Jason
added six DigitalSpot 7000DTs, 36 REDWash colours. He commented: “They are really Dixon, Rick Butler and tour rigger Chris Harris.
3192 LED wash lights and 12 Robe REDBlinder brilliant units! The coverage and the colour
296s to the spec. The rig also includes 60 Robe range are both amazing, and they also have a FROGGY WENT-A MIXIN’
ColorSpot and ColorWash 2500E ATs. proper white which is very useful.” In Europe, the Pussycat Dolls’ sound system was
The 90-minute performance by the Pussycat The DigitalSpot 7000 DTs were ﬂ own below supplied by Britannia Row. An Outline Butterﬂ y
Dolls is a highly visual, all-action extravaganza the two front truss Octopods, and utilised system was speciﬁ ed by ‘Froggy’ Cross, who
encompassing pop, hip-hop and cabaret, for extensively throughout Lady Gaga’s set which mixed both FOH and monitors, and engineered
which Warner’s light show needed plenty of opened the evening’s entertainment. a Pro Tools rig.
multiple-choice options. Warner ran the show from his own grandMA Taking the Dolls’ show at Zurich’s
His creative scope had to cover all avenues, full size lighting console, chosen for many Hallenstadion as an example, the sound system
24 • TPi MARCH 09
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