Archive for January, 2023

Neg Earth Lights are thrilled to have been the supplier of the lighting, rigging for Lewis Capaldi’s 2023 European tour, where he performed his latest album ‘Broken by Desire to be Heavenly Sent’ released in May this year. Neg Earth had previously worked alongside the world-famous Scottish singer on his 2022 tour debuting his chart-topping single Forget Me. In this 2022 tour, Neg provided the lighting, rigging and automation. 

Neg Earth’s impressive fixtures joined Lewis Capaldi on stage during both his 2022 and 2023 tours. The performances featured the most innovative of fixtures within their categories, which were ingeniously intertwined with one another for a breathtaking back wall that left fans amazed. One of the features used for the back wall display was the Ayrton Karif LT, a 300W beam-spot luminaire that was alternated with the  JDC1 LED Strobe. This dynamic strobe, doubles as a high-powered blinder, making this fixture the perfect addition to a bold and beaming back wall. Neg Earth Lights also supplied GLP Impression FR10 Bars’ for the stage. This 60W LED bar was placed on trusses, controlled using a Kinesys automation system, and placed behind a digital screen showing ever-changing shapes for the audience to view. This was positioned above the singer, with the beams of light powering over the artist and the band, capturing the emotions of each song.  

Cassius Creative, the design team, developed the style of the back wall, with Dan Hill from the team expressing, “Surrounding the contemporary, solid architecture of the video monolith which housed the array of FR10 battens, we wanted a surrounding environment that could both enhance and reinforce video content on the monolith and action on stage – as well as having the power and scale to silhouette the monolith; and create a void of negative space the column of light from the FR10’s could appear from.” He continued, “The curvature of the back wall allowed us to create a seamless array of fixtures to do this, the JDC-1’s maintaining the contemporary feel and shape of the monolith; with the Karif’s creating textural beams to cut through other stage lighting, and dynamically change the aesthetic of the stage as required.” The team and crew at Neg Earth worked closely in collaboration with Cassius Creative throughout to ensure that their desired vision incorporating a curve angle, fixture spacing, and atmosphere was brought to life.   

Credits:

Lighting Programming: Cassius Creative  

Lighting Director: Franki McDade 

Camera Director: Phil Woodhead 

Video Design: Studio Flint  

Video: 4wall 

Photography: Projoe Photography 

Automation Operator:  The Motion Labs 

Production Manager: Nick Lawrie 

Tour Manager: Scott Smythe 

Staging: All Access Staging 

Set Fabrication: The Next Stage UK 

Scenic LED: LED Creative LTD 

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Neg Earth supported Sinclair / Wilkinson with their vision for the lighting design on this tour. One of our favourite looks was the ‘starlight’ design in which the team at Sinclair / Wilkinson used a star cloth as a backdrop and placed Astera AX3s on a black hi-shine floor to create this look. Wirelessly powered and controlled, the AX3s were integral to achieving this effect. 

During conversations in pre-production, the need for an impactful, flexible but simple feature was discussed. Use of our prefabricated pods was quickly suggested to the design team and approved. In total, 4 pods were placed upstage of the band, forming an arc around them. Martin VDO Sceptron were rigged within the pods creating the linear effects we see throughout the show, with GLP FR10 Impression Bars placed at the base to provide additional lighting effects. The lighting pods not only satisfied the design criteria but also provided further opportunities for the design team to integrate them into the pageantry of the show. One example was the addition of a gauze to the front of the pods which was used to great effect to soften the output from the Sceptron at the beginning of the show. Once removed it revealed a more dynamic and defined look.

Working from the drawings from Sinclair Wilkinson, our Fabrication Team designed and built a touring solution that allowed for the lighting elements to be pre-rigged during prep and travel ‘ready built’ during the tour. This not only allowed us to replicate the look quickly and accurately at each show it also provided opportunities to add lighting in other areas.   

“A really exciting part of this job was working with fabrication to find an appropriate rigging solution for the Sceptron on the pods. It allowed for creativity and was a great example of the cohesion between all departments at Neg.  

It was quite challenging to fit these massive pods along with everything else into the designated truck space, but it was a good opportunity to see how a great truck plan is done.  

Goldfrapp was a really good example of the thought that goes into a design to ensure the integrity of the show is maintained in different venues that are vastly different in size, and how that extra thought pays off.” Says our Neg Project Co-Ordinator Jasmine Williams.  

Some of the other fixtures used included 18 Ayrton Diablos and Martin Mac Aura XBs.  

Lighting Operator Neil Holloway says, “Once Again Neg Earth pulled it out of the bag and gave us a great solution to touring this, while the pods were very large, the rest of the system and components were all kept fairly small for scalability as this tour went through many manners of venue.  

This tour I discovered Ayrton Diablo properly, and they’ve absolutely blown me away, such an incredible feature set and Output for such a small unit. 

The AX3 around Alison where a stroke of genius from Sinclair / Wilkinson and gave an immense amount of depth to the show, I worked very closely with SW and mainly Luke Rolls on this project and I think we were all very pleased with where it ended up.  

 Once again, a massive thanks to Neg for being fantastic as usual. 

Another big thanks to hard working techs Tom Bexon and Holly Brightman.”  

Lighting Design: Sinclair / Wilkinson 

Gauze: Alligator Dynamic Drapes 

Photography: Neil Holloway