This was the day before all large-scale public events were cancelled for the foreseeable future to halt the spread of the virus.

Lighting designer Paul Durozey – who has worked with the band for three years – used 23 x Robe ESPRITES for the first time at that Zenith show which were supplied by French rental company Regietek from Gonesse near Paris who took delivery of the luminaires two weeks earlier.

A total of 23 x ESPRITES were divided up into 18 rigged on six over-stage trusses forming an arch in an upstage / downstage orientation, with 5 more on a conventionally positioned downstage truss.

Paul checked out the ESPRITE features and spec beforehand and decided that they would be ideal as his signature spot fixtures for the show.

He “really liked” the C/M/Y/CTO colour mixing system of the ESPRITES which enables the creation of “beautiful pastel shades” and thinks the gobos and zoom range are both “excellent”.

For the largest show on the UK itinerary, London’s Brixton Academy, Paul used BMFL Spots in the same context as the ESPRITES in Paris.

He chose 21 x BMFL Spots for their power and versatility, solid gobo selection and the zoom range. The wash lights for this show were 21 x Robe Spiiders, also positioned on the overhead trusses.

For this ‘empty shell’ show, all lighting was supplied by Leeds, UK-based Zig Zag Lighting, coordinated by Neil Hunt.

Regietek also suppled a smaller touring package for all the other UK and European gigs comprising 8 x Robe LEDBeam 150s, some LED strips and video battens making up a striking custom pixel-mapped video feature upstage which Paul designed for the tour. The ‘top’ rig at the smaller venues was supplied by the house in each case, arranged via the promoter.

The dynamic “Art Deco Corolla” video art piece was built from lightweight product to be tourable and scalable so he could adapt if for different sized stages and venues.

According to the band’s brief, he created something that looked simultaneously retro and modern, together with the video content to play through it, matched it with complimentary lighting looks.

All lighting was controlled by a grandMA3 console, and Paul used ArKaos MediaMaster Pro to play all the video content into the separate P3 controller that mapped the video elements.

Paul has been using Robe products in his work since he became a lighting professional around 10 years ago. He likes the build quality and the spirit of innovation that characterises the brand.

Photo Credits: Bertrand Vacarisas, Nicolas Patault, Paul Durozey