PRODUCTION PROFILE
came to freelance crew from suppliers, it was very last-minute to get final names as, I’m sure most are aware, suppliers are really struggling to get the right people into shows due to many people leaving the industry.” DYNAMIC DESIGN Dan Hill, one half of the show designers, Cassius Creative, reminisced about the early conversations he and Chris ‘Squib’ Swain had with Macdonald’s team. “They were looking to modernise her show, and change the visual direction from previous tours, giving it a contemporary and sleek finish ahead of her debut into arena touring,” he began. One way in which the team looked to modernise the look of the show was to move away from the simple backdrop upstage to incorporate video into the overall stage canvas. “The use of video came as a development of the show through festivals ahead of the headline at the Hydro,” stated Hill. “It evolved from a monochromatic live camera treatment we used to lift festival performances. From this, the contemporary, graded feel of live video extended into the content created by RCM to provide dynamic, scenic backdrops to songs.” Hill went on to discuss the unique projection surface and what he thought it brought to the show. “With the minimal feel of the stage aesthetic, we wanted a large-scale, panoramic surface that looked good under both projection and show lighting,” he explained. “We also wanted to be able to lift the show with the
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reveal of hidden lighting for the more energetic songs in the set. The translucency and delicate nature of the unconventional spaghetti curtain met all of these requirements. Despite needing daily maintenance to keep it looking fresh, it kept the impactful yet minimalist feel we were aiming to achieve.” As well as collaborating with content creators RCM, Hill and Squib also got to join forces with Lighting Director, Geoff Hall. “Geoff’s involvement as Lighting Director was fantastic throughout. His attention to detail and musicality throughout the process lead to us achieving a refined and accurately implemented performance.” When it came to the specific fixtures used, Hill stated that it was kept “simple” with lots of the same type of unit to help create a cleaner, more minimal aesthetic. Supplier Siyan provided 43 Ayrton Diablos as the visual team’s main lighting source, with key light coming from Vari-Lite VL2600 Washes. Meanwhile, side light was created by Martin by Harman MAC Aura XBs, with the drapes being lit from ChromaQ Colourforce 48 and 72s. There were also numerous Martin by Harman Sceptron to outline stage risers. “Alongside these, we needed moments of the show to break from these cleaner looks and have the energy and feel of more ‘classic rock’ moments,” stated Hill. “We utilised an array of CHAUVET Professional Strike-Array 2 LED Molefay units, hidden behind the scenic backdrop to add this punch as required.”
Amy Macdonald Manager and Tour Manager, Chris Kiely; Production Manager, Steven Down; Lighting Director Geoff Hall; FOH Engineer, Tom Wiggans; Audio System Designer, Craig Burns; Monitor Engineer, Jasen Hattems.
