Ed Sheeran
is one of the most popular, successful and respected young music talents of the
moment and is currently engaged on an extensive world tour, featuring an
eye-catching production design by Mark Cunniffe with a networked grandMA2
system specified to control lighting and playback video.
Cunniffe has
worked with Sheeran and his technical team, led by production manager Chris
Marsh since 2010. That was right at the start of the artist’s impressive career
trajectory which started unobtrusively and steadily grew – keeping all the best
cool and slightly underground elements – to the supersonic proportions it is
today.
For this
tour, Cunniffe’s brief was to make the stage space really dynamic, so he
created an elaborate video set and a highly versatile lighting rig which
includes 142 moving lights and 17 LED strobes together with two MDG theOne
stadium hazers and 10 Kilometres of DMX-controlled RGB LED tape which is
lighting the set very effectively.
When it came
to control there was no discussion or hesitation from either Cunniffe or Matt
Jones who is out on the tour as lighting director – grandMA2 it was!
Cunniffe has
been using the grandMA platform since the 1990s and has also personally
invested heavily in the brand. Jones has also been using grandMA for some time,
including on the concluding Australian and New Zealand legs of the last Ed
Sheeran tour in 2015 when he first came on-board as lighting operator.
On this one
they have 1 x grandMA2 full-size, 1 x grandMA2 light and 2 x MA NPU (Network
Processing Unit) which are all networked. Jones runs the show from the grandMA2
full-size with the grandMA2 light running in tracking backup. The MA NPU supply
additional parameters and the DMX is processed via three Art-Net nodes.
The show is
all run completely ‘live’ in the true spirit of the artist, who likes to have
the freedom of changing his set spontaneously, which keeps Jones – and the rest
of the show crew – constantly on their toes whilst ensuring that each
performance is unique and special for fans. The media servers running the
playback video material are triggered by Jones from the grandMA2 which is
configured to provide with a series of ‘stab-buttons’ that fire assorted
lighting and video cues that are used as accents throughout the show.
Jones has
many ‘likes’ when it comes to grandMA2. He emphasises that the cloning process
is becoming increasingly streamlined which is very useful for sections of the
tour where they have to utilise different fixtures. “Macros are also a key
feature that allow some of the day-to-day processes to be simplified into a few
keystrokes,” he commented.
He also
loves using the Layouts view to give a “very helpful” visual representation of
the physical rig in front of him. It is features like this which save precious
moments which are critical on the road, especially when they are doing load-ins
and shows on the same day.
Jones has
been using grandMA in his work for 10 years, in fact since he left school in
Australia and became a lighting professional. He recalls that as a teenager,
when he first found out about the operating system he wanted to learn it
“soonest” and took every opportunity to do that. He liked the system so much
that he also invested personally in his own grandMA2 light in 2011.
Some raised
eyebrows when he purchased such a high value piece of kit he recalls, but he
was delighted with the decision that has “paid off in more ways than I could
have ever imagined,” he commented. Talking about MA generally, he says,
“grandMA2 is without doubt the current industry standard for lighting and
visual control”.
The consoles
and control system for Ed Sheeran is being toured worldwide. The grandMA2 and
MA NPU are Cunniffe’s and the lighting system as a whole is being co-ordinated
and supplied to the production via Mike Oates and Ryan Hopkins at UK-based
Lights-Control-Rigging Ltd (LCR), the tour’s equipment and crew supplier in
combination with SES in the US. Alex Passmore worked closely with Cunniffe and
Jones in programming the show during the rehearsal period.
Sheeran
closed the 2017 Glastonbury Festival in the UK in spectacular style with a
show-stopping performance, headlining Sunday night on the Pyramid Stage in his
only festival appearance of the year and now embarks on the first US leg of the
tour. It visits the Far East and Asia in October and November and there are a
record-breaking 19 stadium shows currently booked in New Zealand and Australia
for March 2018.
Ambersphere
Solutions is MA Lighting’s exclusive distributor in the UK.
Photos: ©
Photo: Ralph Larmann
