Lighting designer Brian Livingstone
asked Entec to supply full lighting
production and crew for the
current Belle & Sebastian "Dear
Catastrophe Waitress" tour.
It's the second time the Scottish
band - who have a devout cult
following - have toured production.
Brian has crewed for Entec in
the past, and picked them as
suppliers knowing first hand
their commitment to service,
the quality of the equipment,
and the teamwork and dedication
he could expect.
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He also thinks Entec is a good sized
company - personal enough to be able
to speak immediately to the relevant
people, and large enough to have the
resources for the excellent kit and
support.
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His lighting rig is compact
and versatile, consisting of
10 V*L2000 Spots, 8 V*L2000
Washes, 4 bars of 6, 12 ETC
Source Fours and 12 James Thomas
Pixelline 1044 battens - which
were the main special effects
lights. Brian also took the
Pixel battens on the USA leg
which ran through October/November.
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The
conventionals are all placed on a front
truss, while the rear truss is used
for the effects style lighting, housing
4 Washes and 4 Spots. The balance of
the moving lights are rigged onto four
vertical onstage truss sections with
T-bars. With up to 12 artists onstage,
it's sometimes a tight squeeze in the
smaller staged venues.
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The busy stage also has certain
creative advantages when it
comes to lighting. He uses a
lot of rear lighting and moody,
highly effective silhouetting
of the performers, with beams
shooting though from upstage.
His lighting oeuvre maximises
strong, bold saturated single
colour blocks and strong duo
colour mixes. It's simple but
effective, and appropriate to
the bands pastiche style of
performance.
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NOW fixtures
Brian decided to make a pyramid
shape with the Pixellines, commenting,
"I wanted to give the stage a nice
geometric element, and the Pixellines
were the ideal fixture". Four are
hung off scaffolding pipes cantilevered
off the upright towers, two are clamped
to the truss, two outrigged on scaff
from the rear truss, and four are
rigged horizontally on the floor and
strapped to the side fills.
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He picked Pixelline because,
"It's always good to have a
'trick' up your sleeve" and
also because he wanted to use
them while they are the NOW
fixture of the moment! "They
are great" he enthuses, "You
can get completely insane effects
with them". For the show he
uses them to bring architectural
definition to the stage, and
for a variety of chases and
some stunning mesmeric 'flip'
looks. They're never run at
full intensity because they'd
be completely blinding!
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Brian
controls the show using an Avolites
Sapphire console, which he finds good
for busking, an essential function of
any control surface for Belle & Sebastian
as the band never play the exact set
list, and the show is full of spontaneity.
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Brian works closely with his Entec
lighting team mates - John Lahiffe
and Alan King. Sound - an EAW
KF750 system - is supplied by
Perfect Beat Audio, mixed by Roger
Lindsay at FOH and Stuart MacInnes
on monitors.
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