International – John Featherstone and his daughter Hailey Featherstone, both of US-based visual design studio Lightswitch, have imagined the stunning lighting design for legendary film composer Hans Zimmer’s current “The Next Level” world tour. Hailey is out on the road as lighting director, together with 225 x Robe moving lights and 13 x RoboSpot Systems, among other lights.
Robe was a go-to choice for John and Hailey, picked for the consistency and quality of the products that are helping achieve the desired creative results.
John’s journey with Hans Zimmer started five years ago, and he relishes the opportunity and creative scope of working with such a masterful artist on his live shows. For this tour, Zimmer wanted to shift the musical direction away from being orchestral-based which is often associated with his iconic film scores, and back to his roots in the German electronic punk and synth underground scene.
“It needed to be distinctively a Hans show but different,” explained John, who reveals that it was a complex brief. While there are still plenty of performers onstage, to reflect the creative and cultural shift that Hans desired, they wanted it to look more industrial-looking, clubby and raw for those harder musical moments of the set, whilst still having the capacity to open out to the big epic looks for the sounds that have defined Zimmer’s career.
John emphasises that everything they do on lighting is in support of the music and in enhancing that unique Hans Zimmer live experience. “It is a highly collaborative process with Hans himself, art director Derek McLane, screen video producer Tom Bairstow, MD Steven Doar and FOH engineer Colin Pink.”
The impressive stage set is over 20ft tall, 40ft deep and 56ft wide and includes a huge, fully functional, modular synth which dominates the central space. An African choir, brass section plus other musicians, vocalists and performers come on and off the upper set levels for much of the show, with Hans and his core band anchored down below.
The whole picture is backed by a large upstage LED screen, and another screen forms a header above the front of the stage.
To cover the full depth and dimensions of the stage set and capture all the dynamics and mood of the environment, John and Hailey needed their lighting rig to be carefully placed, and to have super bright fixtures that could stand out from the screen surfaces.
They opted for advanced, front, back and side trusses, with four large automated ‘pod’ trusses vertically aligned across the central stage area.
The 50 x iFORTE LTXs are rigged on three trusses – rear, front and advanced – giving horizontal coverage across these three eyeline perspective points.
John explained that while on the previous tour they had leaned into MegaPointes, but this time they wanted to transition to something more modern with a similar feel and excellent colour rendering that was a ‘canon’ style fixture. “We wanted a light that was evocative of what we were doing before but with a really big, beautiful beam and a good zoom,” stated John.
Hailey added that the iFORTE LTXs are workhorses. “We needed a versatile, punchy and theatrical light,” she said, noting that they wanted everything to be acting and moving on a singular plane for the first half of the show, with the iFORTE LTXs helping to create this slick sheet-of-light look.
They are also used extensively for specials and big moments throughout the concert, and while 50 is a relatively expedient count for a show of this stature, used intelligently and with purpose, they provide more than enough drama and eye-candy.
The 14 x standard iFORTES are rigged at the sides in the stage left and right roof side trusses and on the downstage area and were again picked for their ‘heavy lifting’ capabilities.
These were the only viable side light positions, and again the spec was for a fixture with a “highly usable and full” zoom range, according to John. In fact, on all the iFORTES and the ESPRITE LTLs they capitalise on the zoom to shape and define the stage.
These side lights were essential in building the softer and more theatrical looks for specific moments in the music, “Hans’ music is very emotive and expressive; whatever the style he is playing, there is this massive dynamic range that needs accenting appropriately,” commented John.
Hailey thinks that the band and all the various artists move well and fluidly through the show, so this dance style lighting side lighting helps incorporate this into the action as well as providing some elegant sculptural high side looks.
There are 13 x iFORTE LTX FS (Follow Spot) fixtures on the rig.
Eight are on the front truss, two on the downstage edges of the two upstage side trusses and two on the upstage section of the two outer over-stage pods … plus one upstage centre high up on the ‘Mothergrid’– each running on a separate RoboSpot BaseStation, with the operators positioned – usually – in the stage right wings.
European and UK lighting contractor Neg Earth Lights (NEL) has built special rapid-deployment dollies for the BaseStations.
When in ‘follow’ mode, the operators are running the iris and dimmer channels with all other parameters controlled via the lighting console, including a global master dimmer, and Hailey is still calling the whole show.
John and Hailey both agree that the flexibility and ease of use of the RoboSpot system are a great asset to the tour. They love being able to choose between a number of different follow spots, and that the lights can be reintegrated into the main rig whenever their follow spotting duties are done.
They appreciate the excellent LTX CRI and quality of light for this specialised purpose.
iESPRITE LTL is a new Robe fixture launched in the last year, and 76 of these are rigged on the four over stage pod trusses. Arranged in two rows of 9 per pod, and they are used for many and multiple functions with the automated pods effectively forming the backbone of the lighting rig.
As with the iFORTE LTXs, they underpin this design and are the base of all the more environmental and structural looks of the show. Through judicious use of colour and gobos, the iESPRITE LTLS help take the audience into a cinematic world during movie score moments in the set.
Originally, when John and Hailey started this design, the LTLs were filling a role that was envisioned as MegaPointes, but when the iESPRITES became available, they knew it was a good decision. “We absolutely love their intensity and adaptability, and they have this MegaPointe-like beam that morphs brilliantly into more theatrical, zoomed-out gobo looks … without losing any brightness. A really impressive fixture!”
Hailey adds that the iESPRITE LTLs have “a super-usable zoom range – and we are really pushing them hard and utilising a lot of tricks.”
Both agree that the homogeneity of the colour palettes across all the Robe ranges is a huge advantage generally to matching fixtures.
Like many, John and Hailey still like MegaPointes, and 25 of the 29 on this show are on an automated truss just behind the top of the back riser.
This MegaPointe truss has low and high positions. It moves from its lower ‘home’ position to a really high trim where the light beams can peep over the downstage screen or edge of the stage adding big-lensed excitement and edginess ‘crowning’ the overall look. The same MegaPointes extensively light the choir when they are onstage.
The remaining four MegaPointe fixtures are utilised to light the spectacular aerial performer who flies above the audience in a mirrored suit created by ‘Be The Discoball’ during a rendition of the famous “Interstellar” soundtrack created by Zimmer for the 2014 movie.
Finally completing the Robe elements of the rig are 43 x Tetra2 moving LED battens which are an essential part of the floor package, lining the edges of each stage level, adding to the postmodern techno look, and perfect for producing some spectacular sheet-of-light looks. They are also helpful for expanding the notion of space in larger venues.
The challenges of lighting an evening with Hans Zimmer are keeping it looking constantly fresh, interesting, and surprising – the same goals that have made evolving this show so enjoyable for John and Hailey.
It is a long show with an intermission, and video content does not run for each number, so pacing the lighting and visual effects is the magic formula, parallel with Zimmer as he builds out the space musically with a flow of mini sinfoniettas collaged from symphony-length pieces.
“The energy levels ebb and flow,” elucidated John, “We tend to leave plenty up our sleeve for the second half.” The screen is also used sparingly, almost like a scenic animation … so the whole arc of the show is well-paced and carefully curated, leading up to a big rock finale.
Apart from that, for John and Hailey – one of two daughters who have both followed John’s industry career path – this is their second major father-daughter large touring venture, which is very cool.
John concludes, “This tour is a big extended family on the road with many people I love both personally and professionally. The music is incredible, it touches people very deeply and profoundly, and it’s a real honour to be part of the team delivering this vision in a live setting.”
John and Hailey worked with Chris Herman as co-designer and lighting programmer. Zach Boebel is lighting director on-the-road and also calling the spot cues together with Hailey.
The lighting crew chief is Jonathan Shelley Smith, and across the touring techs across the two EU legs of the tour are Sam Blakemore, Sam Morley, Stephanie Felstead, Bram Depaepe, Rachel Axton, Jonathan Sellers, Lyle McNally, Paul Howling, Cian Green, Davide Palumbi, Beatrice Banionyte and James Gould. They are working closely with the automation team comprising Euan Odd, Kimi Bennet and Giovanni Mota.
The tour director is Michael Weiss, production director is Jim Baggott, and Mark Botting is the head tour manager.
Photos @ Suzanne Teresa
