ON THE ROAD: Sting


Below: Mulitple beams of white light made for a striking show; Aside from Upstaging Headlite audience blinders, the entire lighting rig was Vrai-Lite based; Lead guitarist Dominic Miller; TPi caught the Back To Bass tour when it visited Zenith de Toulouse; Beat The Street providing bussing services to the production.


their life. There are several ways of doing it and not only did we do it in black and white, but using only two fixture types. It was a challenge, but looking at the end results, I think it was the right decision,” said the LD. “You can do it using different types of white


lights; tungsten for example. I use various colour tones here - off white on the blue side, off white on the orange side and then just white. You can incorporate different fixtures types too - I’ve seen shows use fresnels and molefays or ACLs mixed with PAR Cans.”


SIMPLICITY IS KEY Although based around just two fixtures, selecting the right lighting equipment was of great importance to Nolan and Lighting Crew Chief, Ken Burns Junior, whose touring career with Sting started back in 1992. Said Burns: “I was just three weeks out of graduation and Sting was opening for The Grateful Dead. I’ve worked with him on every project he’s done since so 2012 marks the twentieth year I have been on tour with him. Aside from Sting, I’ve also toured with Rihanna, Eric Clapton, Beastie Boys and Tears for Fears. “Being able to say I’ve worked with Sting


for 20 years is amazing. Repeat client requests are always a good thing and Sting is one of my favourite artists, so getting to tour with him has been an honour. It’s great to hear music I grew up listening to and I’ve enjoyed seeing Sting go back to his rock ‘n’ roll roots on Back To Bass. He is a great musician, no matter what he does. “Sting has a certain amount of creative input


into the look of the show, but he trusts the people he works with a lot so he allows a lot of creative liberty to an extent and then if there are elements he wants changed, he will let us know.”


As an employee of Upstaging since 1991 - a


company that has supplied Sting’s shows since the late ‘80s on The Dream of the Blue Turtles tour - Burns plays a vital part in piecing together the best lighting package for the job. He explained: “As far as lighting equipment


making up the show, that’s my role. Quantities, how it gets built, the cabling, how it’s assembled and taken down is all down to me. I’ve worked with Danny for a long time. Danny bounces ideas off me to see if his artistic concept will be functional and achievable.” With Upstaging supplying lighting equipment


for the North American leg and lighting console throughout the tour’s entirety, its London- based European partner, Neg Earth, provided equipment for the production’s European dates to help save on freight costs. Burns stated: “This has been one of the


smallest packages Sting has toured with, which fits in with the theme of the tour. We tried to get the most out of the smallest package and make it efficient for travelling. This show is very stark and minimalistic - it’s a classy show, presenting Sting. Back To Bass is a very simplistic show, artfully done. Sometimes less is more. “It’s a radical departure from previous tours


as far as the show’s look goes. I think it’s a great production and what Danny has been able to achieve with just white light is phenomenal.” With the exception of four of Upstaging’s


LED Headlite fixtures acting as crowd blinders on the downstage truss, the entire lighting rig was Philips Vari-Lite based. Neg Earth - who Sting has worked with on multiple occasions on both sides of the Atlantic - supplied a total of 26 Vari-Lite VL3000 Spots, which were spread throughout the three trusses as well as on the drop-down T pipes suspended below the trusses. Completing the streamlined lighting


set-up were 24 Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash FX, which were again spread throughout the trusses as well as on the floor. Added LD Nolan: “The main reason I use


the VL3000 range is because they are bright, have great versatility in their beam sizing and can go very wide, spotty or washy. They’ve got it all; fantastic optics too. Instead of using the traditional molefays or something more rock ‘n’ roll to light the audience, I thought I would use something simpler for the LED audience blinders. “As I have so few fixtures, they are all used


for everything - effects lighting coupled with spotlighting, profile and backlighting. The fixtures are arranged in such a way that some of them are on the side, some are on the top and some of them are on the floor so I get the angles needed. “I have key lights on everybody and three


followspots that I use for four or five songs in the set. The key lighting is different throughout and sometimes I light their faces, sometimes I don’t, so there is contrast. Occasionally I like to light in a very unorthodox way.” Upstaging’s HUD truss was selected for the


tour, according to Burns, due to the convenience it offered the crew. He added: “It’s been a very useful tool. You don’t have as much physical construction to do in the morning and the load- in and load-out is quicker. It helps with set-up time and streamlining things having automated trussing.” Having the lights pre-mounted and pre-wired


has been a blessing to Head Rigger, Spoon: “It rolls off the truck with all the lights assembled. Just hook the motors up to it and away it goes. The production team likes to make things as


simple as possible so we voted HUD truss. When working with a rig based around three straight trusses, it just made sense to go with that


TPi MARCH 2012 • 09


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