ON THE ROAD: The Saturdays
ALL FIRED UP
BRIT GIRL GROUP, THE SATURDAYS, CONTINUED TO PACK A POP PUNCH ON THEIR LATEST ARENA TOUR - ALL FIRED UP - WHICH PLAYED HOST TO AN AUDIO DEBUT AND A LIGHTING DESIGN THAT LED TPi ON A VINTAGE TALE AND A FUTURISTIC JOURNEY.
Production North Ltd’s Iain Whitehead has run the successful touring company, based in Leeds, since 1999 with partner, Steve Levitt. Together, they’ve accumulated a combined expertise of over 55 years in live production and have carved out a niche in the touring world, making some of Britain’s best known pop acts sound record fresh in fan-fi lled arenas. He’s currently heading up The Saturdays’ UK arena tour. Besides the All Fired Up outing, Production
North also caters for the X Factor Live tour, Ronan Keating, Olly Murs, Westlife, Isle Of Wight Festival, JLS, McFly and Girls Aloud amongst others. Whitehead was brought onto this tour by Pete Loraine, The Saturdays’ Manager, the connection being that Loraine worked at the same record label that Girls Aloud was signed to, and they were one of Production North’s biggest live hits. Said Whitehead: “I got asked down to London
for a creative meeting with management, stylist and choreographer. We went through various show ideas and then molded them to fi t within the constraints set by the budget.” Playing to an arena audience of 5,500 people at the Nottingham tour date that TPi attended, the
52 • TPi FEBRUARY 2012
show’s physical structure was 90% built and put together in Production North’s warehouse. In terms of design, there were only a few minor
changes needed to the initial set visuals, when a back walkway initially intended to be one level, became raised in the centre. Said Whitehead: “It ended up being raised in the middle due to a central entrance onto a semi-circular raised section below. A turntable hidden within the stage, a hydraulic scissor lift, fi ve man lifts and an elevator prop in which the band make an entrance at the start of the show was all incorporated into the set created in-house at Production North.” Four days was spent in LS-Live’s rehearsal
studios, allowing a day for the load-in followed by the band, their dancers and musicians for a three-day full rehearsal run. The pre-production time ended on 1st December, making use of the catering area, two production offi ces and en-suite dressing rooms, all located at the side of the arena. From LS-Live’s on-site hire department, the pop group rented a 60’ wide by 32’deep by 6’ high rolling house stage, with 16’ wide by 8’ deep by 6’ high wings stage left and right. Whitehead led a total touring crew of 27 and employed an additional 32 - 36 local crew for load-
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