The Rolling Stones embarked on their Zip Code Tour visiting 15 cities in
North America from the kick off in San Diego in May to the wrap in Quebec City
in July. The band’s lighting rig
featured Clay Paky Mythos and Sharpy
Washes.
“The band is playing as well as I’ve ever seen them,” says Ethan Weber, who was crew chief for the
Stones in 1994-95 and became their lighting
director in 1998, a post he still holds today. The majority of shows on the
tour were in stadiums, though they mixed in a couple of festivals and a theater
show in Los Angeles, where the band played the entire “Sticky Fingers” album.
“The venues have been more consistent on this leg than on most in the
past couple of years,” Weber says. “Not as many clones or fixture changes have
been needed on the grandMA2.” Patrick
Woodroffe of Woodroffe Bassett Design was the lighting designer/creative
director for the tour, Terry Cook
associate lighting designer and Miriam Bull studio associate.
Upstaging, Inc., headquartered in Sycamore, Illinois, supplied the theatrical lighting
and equipment trucking for the tour as it had for the band’s last several
tours. New this year are 44 Clay Paky
Mythos fixtures, 32 of them mounted on trusses over the stage and six on each
of the two wings.
“Mythos are very versatile—possible to use as an effect or wash light,
and bright enough to compete with the three video walls and other wash lights
in the system,” says Weber. “I had heard
about Mythos from a trusted friend and looked forward to trying them out.
Upstaging doesn’t carry our old effects light, but did have Mythos in stock; so
Patrick and Terry opted to make the change. I’ve been very happy with them so
far.”
John Huddleston, director of stage lighting
services at Upstaging, reports that the
Mythos fixtures have been very popular.“They’re a new tool for designers; they tick every box: powerful,
compact, fast, extremely bright and packed with features. Mythos is what everybody has been looking
for.”
Fourteen Clay Paky Sharpy Washes helped to light the fascias, which
surrounded the video walls designed by Stu Fish and built by Tait Towers. The big screens were located left, right and
center onstage; they were framed by golden fascia lined interior and exterior
with LED strips.
Weber explains: “The Stones are, of course, famous for their fairly
large shows, but in the end it’s about the music and the bands’ performance. In
lighting them, we try never to take away from that. The goal is to make sure
all the band members are lit and to give them an interesting environment to
play in.”
Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky Area Manager for North and Latin America,
added, “We’re thrilled to see our newest lights on the highest profile
tours. It’s a pleasure to collaborate
with all of the amazing individuals involved.”
A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive North American distributor for Clay
Paky.
Photo credit: Ralph
Larmann
