Multi
award-winning, multi-talented, chart-topping singer songwriter Paolo Nutini recently
played a concert at Millennium Square in Leeds, UK, right in the city centre,
for which the production (flown) lighting rig of Robe BMFLs, Pointes and
LEDWash 600s was supplied by locally based Zig Zag Lighting for event promoter
Futuresound Events.
Paolo’s
lighting designer Jason Hyne brought his touring specials package in ‘underneath’
this, and combined the two lighting rigs to create another stunning and
dramatic show that thrilled the 7000 enthusiastic fans at the sold out show.
Zig Zag
works regularly with the promoter and is familiar with the 14 metre square and
10 metre high stage / roof system which is owned by the council. It has only
limited weight loading, and Nutini’s production with its strong video elements
required the accommodation of their large touring LED screen. So by the time this
was installed, the weight left for lighting fixtures was tight!
So … Zig
Zag needed to come up with a dynamic lightweight solution that also didn’t consume
too much power … and Robe was the answer!
The 25 x
BMFL Spots, 15 Pointes and 13 x LEDWash 600s, plus binders and strobes, were rigged
on four lighting trusses sub-hung from the roof – all within the limits – to
give Jason his full rig spec. Zig Zag also flew the LED screen from a semi-box
of Supertruss, all of this together required 24 points of rigging.
It was
the first time that Jason has used BMFL Spots, and he was extremely happy with
the results. “They are very bright and the optics are excellent,” he commented.
He’s used
Pointes before and said, “It’s another great and very flexible fixture”.
Talking
generally about Robe, he feels the brand has “Moved forward leaps-and-bounds in
recent years, and really put some serious R ‘n’ D into optics and ensuring the units
are fast”.
He added
that he particularly enjoyed working with Neil Hunt and the Zig Zag crew of Tom
Clifford-Loynes, Damian Courage, Tom Rawlinson, Jon Morris and Gareth Lonsdale.
“They
were fantastic – really efficient, knowledgeable, helpful, great characters and
fun to be with – I could not ask for more”, and he also thinks Neil has made a
shrewd move investing in the Robe kit!
From a
rental company perspective, Neil was among the first UK companies to purchase
BMFL Spots after their launch in Autumn 2014. He states, “I bought the BMFL
Spots because `I was confident that they were a fixture of the future as well
as a unit product that could satisfy and even surpass whatever might be on a
rider”. He’s not looked back, and the BMFLs have been working constantly,
generating much interest.
Jason
used his own ChamSys Maxi Wing compact console to run the show.
He’s been
working with Paolo Nutini for the last four years and in that time the music
has more recently gained a more soulful and serious edge, a mood-shift that he
emulates in his style and approach to lighting the show.
http://www.robe.cz
Photos
by Mark Parker
