Talented
rising star, singer/songwriter Banks has
cultivated a reputation for being a little bit mysterious which has worked in
terms of building a fanbase with a strongly melodic sound that’s been described
as “dark R‘n’B.
With
second studio album “The Altar” released mid-2016, the touring schedule and the
production values moved up a level, and with that, lighting designer Ali Pike was
asked to add her creativity. Robe Spiiders were the lights of choice for the first
leg of European and UK dates.
Ali chose
Spiiders for a number of artistic and practical reasons – tech’ing as well as
operating on her own, she needed a lightweight fixture that was extremely
versatile and basically a good tourable hybrid floor package.
She received
a few pointers from Banks’ management and creative team, including a preference
for certain colours like red. They also gave Ali some video references to look
at for general stage presentational vibe and ambience.
These,
plus the physical considerations of the tour like stage and truck space, all
informed Ali’s choice of fixtures.
Ali was
curious about the Spiider, researched extensively and talked with some of the Robe
UK sales team, after which she was confident that the Spiider ticked all the
boxes and would be a good size for the venues which ranged from 750 capacity up
to London’s Roundhouse.
As it is
a brand new fixture, she also showed the promo video to Banks’ management team who
were impressed by the versatility and also agreed that Spiiders would be ideal
for their tour.
When it
came to loading the trailer with lights, there was exactly room for 13 Spiiders
and a spare so that’s what she took.
“They did
all the hard work, all the big looks and all the key moments,” she explained.
Banks
prefers subtle front lighting, so that was also a consideration and there were
two dancers onstage for some of the set who needed illuminating in interesting
ways.
The
Spiiders were positioned all around the band risers where they could highlight the
musicians with a more atmospheric and ephemeral treatment, rather than having a
big lightshow onstage. The upstage ones proved perfect for silhouetting and the
stage clothes lent themselves well to back-lighting.
Ali comments
that utilizing the wide zoom she could still create a wall of light effect even
with the lights positioned only 2 or 3 metres away.
Two were reserved
just for key lighting Banks who is very good at stepping in and out and playing
with the light at certain points and each band member was also individually key
lit with a Spiider.
Ali was
happy with the Spiiders’ performance and received multiple comments on the
fixtures from venue house lighting staff and local crews, all of which has been
positive. They were run in Mode 2 as pixel mapping effects were not required in
this show, however Ali still has access to the centre beam.
The music
is dynamic in itself and having the dancers onstage brought additional depth
and movement which also meant that the lighting took on new significance with
more than just a standard band set-up to treat.
She used
the Moonflower effect inventively and spent a lot of time on the first day palletting
plenty of good looks out of this. “I love the way that Spiiders can be effects
one minute, and then you can apply the zoom and can get a pin spot or a wide
beam”. It was great fun experimenting with them and she is “impressed with
what’s achievable”.
The
Spiiders were supplied via award winning rental company Neg Earth Lights, where
Matt Suttle was the account handler. Ali’s
ChamSys console was supplied by Graham ‘Grum’ Leesmith of LeSmurf Lighting.
Ali
really enjoyed the whole Banks lighting experience, “Playing smaller shows with
fewer lights is really challenging, and makes you think more creatively and
‘out-of-the-box’ as you still have to deliver a full show,” she concludes.
http://www.robe.cz
Photos : Lindsay Cave @loosplat
