ANASTACIA
Stage Manager Nick Gosling with LD & Show Designer, Simon Horn; FOH Engineer, Chris Madden.
go for the very top of the SD range as I can, with the SD7 being my Rolls Royce of desk choice, but the SD8 has everything I need and it fits into our single truck with ease.” Pell is a big fan on the SD7’s onboard reverbs, citing them as “an excellent feature.” Over at the Hammersmith Apollo’s theatrical FOH position, Madden too is excitable about his console, an Avid s6L. He said: “I’ve been an Avid beta tester for a long time now, so I’m very, very close to Avid as a manufacturer. The s6L is a fantastic desk. The software is continually developing and improving significantly but the signal path hasn’t changed, which is brilliant. A key thing for me as an engineer, isn’t just that I need to love the product, I need to know I have support if and when I need it. I know if I was in Timbuktu, they’d help! It’s very important that they don’t leave us out there on our own.” Pell echoed the opinion: “Having relationships with companies is a big part of why we use them; it’s not like that with every company, but for me, knowing I can pick up the phone to DiGiCo or Sennheiser and get what I need straight away really impacts how comfortable I am within my work.” The same can be said for Madden’s enthusiastic choice of PA, the Clair Cohesion 8. “It’s an incredible box, it’s a very, very good design and it’s a remarkable step up for Clair engineering. We used the system last year and I thought it was amazing, so I naturally wanted to use it again.” With just 12 boxes a side and a couple of subs, Madden is confident that for this tour, it’s a case of “Once they’re flown, it’s job done. Andy Walker at Clair UK used to fly the PA stage right for me, once upon a time so I wanted to use their services as I know what they can do. If you haven’t heard this system, you should; it really stands out compared to historical Clair boxes, and its small footprint fits into our truck very nicely!” he concluded.
the truck, and managing a dual role, Gosling was thankful for the crew he’s able to work alongside. “In one truck we’re carrying audio, lighting, backline, set pieces & catering but by show 3 [out of 14] we had the packing down to an art. A lot of this crew were new to me before I began working for Anastacia 18 months ago, but I’ve been very fortunate in that Keely has chosen some great crew, including Carpenter, Dom Dryburgh, Lighting Tech Alessandro Schillaci, Audio Tech Ben Byford, Backline Tech Ben Dawson and Production Assistant Victoria Bunney. There’s a fair bit to juggle, but it’s a really enjoyable tour to work on. “Tours work from the top down so if you’re treated nicely by the artist, the crew tend to really care about what they do. It all filters down and Anastacia really appreciates us. She makes an effort to talk to us and ask how we are. She’s a lovely person to work for and that means that everyone else is nice to be around!” Straight after talking to Gosling, there was crew photo call with Anastacia, her band and dancers. As I approached the stage for the photo op, the singer, not one to miss a new face, said hello. I told her I was visiting the crew to see how they’d put her tour together. And she told me, as she stroked my leopard print coat with crazy cat lady fashion approval, “Girl, please do; my crew work so hard, they’re amazing.” So there you have it, straight from the lionesses’ mouth. TPi Photos: Shirlaine Forrest, Nora Jerker, Andy Teo @ Photocillin Phorograohy, TPi www.anastacia.com www.negearth.com www.clairglobal.com www.beatthestreet.net www.stagetruck.com www.thepantrymaid.com www.trussing.com www.purplelighting.co.uk
A TEAM EFFORT A valuable team member for Myers is Nick Gosling, Stage Manager and Drum Tech. Knowing how tricky it is to fit everything from the stage into 54