Formed in London in the late 1970s, Spandau Ballet are
an English band, part of the ‘new wave’ of
UK pop inspired by the New Romantic movement, who became one of the most
successful groups to emerge during this era. Their debut single \”To Cut a
Long Story Short\”, which reached No. 5 in the UK in 1980, was the first of
ten UK Top 10 hits, including a No. 1 single \”True\”, a No. 2 single
\”Gold\”, and two No. 3 singles: \”Chant No. 1\” and \”Only
When You Leave\”. The band split in 1990 and reunited in 2009.
Recently they played their “Soulboys of the Western
World” world tour with a lighting and stage design by Patrick Woodroffe.
The lighting was operated by lighting director and
programmer Roland Greil using 2 x grandMA2 full-size consoles and 4 x MA NPU
(Network Processing Unit) which were controlling nearly 130 moving lights and,
amongst others, 315 LED panels.
Says Roland, “It was our intention to have a straight
and elegant design that could provide theatrical as well as Rock’n’Roll looks.
Therefore we focused on using only three different types
of moving lights, amongst them Clay Paky Mythos and Philips Vari*Lite VL3500
Washes. that offered the flexibility we needed. Furthermore, the grandMA2
system was a great choice and proved once more its advantages and power,
especially when adapting the show to various different lighting systems in the
given timeframe during the summer shows.”
The associate designer was Terry Cook, the lighting
crew chief in the UK and Italy was Olli James, the lighting crew chief in
Germany was Stu Lee and the summer shows lighting crew chief was Damo Coad. The
lighting technicians on the road with the tour consisted of Dave Prior, Stu
Lee, Craig Mc Donald, Dana Read and Foxy. PRG supplied the lighting and
PRG-Nocturne the video equipment. Chris Hillson was the video director and Mel
von der Decken the video racks engineer. John Martin worked as production
director. Phay MacMahon and Danny Spratt were production managers.
Ambersphere Solutions Ltd is the distributor of MA
Lighting in the UK.
Photos: © mhvogel.de
