Archive for the
‘Live Events’ Category

Neg Earth Lights supplies lighting, rigging and control systems for Bon Iver’s 2022 European tour.  

American indie folk band Bon Iver toured Europe in Autumn 2022 equipped with lighting, rigging and control from Neg Earth Lights. Described by the industry as transcendent, artful and interesting, their unique use of lighting and stage set up caught the attention of fans across the globe.  

The rig consisted of 5 V-shaped flown truss equipped with (new this year) Ayrton Cobras, alongside Martin MAC Vipers, Martin MAC Aura XBs, Martin VDO Sceptron and more. Mirrors supplied by White Void were hung below the flown truss and were manipulated throughout the show to reflect light from the floor to create unique lighting effects.  

Bon Iver’s 6 band members were raised on platforms lined by LED battens Martin VDO Sceptron, creating the effect of highlighting each of them throughout the show. The floor package boasted 151 lighting fixtures, all of which were involved in reflecting light around arenas across Europe.  

The band played London SSE Wembley on the 25th & 26th of October, just a short distance from Neg Earth Lights, and a few Neg employees went to see and photograph the show. Taylor Swift unexpectedly took to the stage with Bon Iver to perform Exile and Skinny Love which caused further excitement to fans.  

Neg’s Digital Marketing Manager, Tanya Kanani, witnessed the event, saying “It was clear that fans had long awaited this moment. The energy in the arena was exhilarating. Each song evoked emotion and energy. The lighting was spectacular. The effect produced by the clever use of mirrors created reflections and an incredible glow as coloured light rays bounced around the room, dancing rhythmically to the beat.”  

Neg’s Project Manager, Damien Jackson, explains how great it was to see the tour happening, “The tour had been delayed twice previously due to COVID so it was great to finally work with Production Manager, James Dean and Lighting Designer, Michael Brown again.”  

Production Design: James Dean 

Lighting Designer: Michael Brown 

Photo Credit: Ruth Medjber 

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 

After a very long 8-year wait, audiences of over 400,000 descended on Dublin’s Croke Park in September to see country singer Garth Brooks perform.  

Lighting Designer, Robert Peterson, enlisted the help of Neg Earth Lights to illuminate Garth & 400,000 fans over 5 shows.  

Over 1000 lighting fixtures including 140 Chroma-Q Color One 100 X IP65 and 212 Martin MAC Aura XB LEDs created the country singer’s set. We also provided truss, power, distro, control & network, and atmospherics.  

Lighting Designer: Robert Peterson  

Photo Credit: 8 Ten, Inc.

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The fifth Laver Cup tennis tournament was held at The O2 arena in London over the weekend.

As 103 LITEC Exe-Rise hoists – with a combined lifting capacity of 118,000kg – supported a multi-truss system populated with over 340 lighting fixtures, eager spectators watched Team Europe take on Team World.

Lighting fixtures including Ayrton Domino, Khamsin and Wildsun S-25, Robe Forte and Spiider, and SGM Q-8 Flood Strobes illuminated the iconic black court.

Screen, Production and Lighting Design: Toby Harding

Production Manager: Ade Barnard

Local Production: Paul Southernwood

Production Rigger: James Wright

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Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets has been touring the world in 2022 with lighting, motors, network system and control consoles from Neg Earth Lights.

The band, led by legendary Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, are lit by a varied rig including Clay Paky Scenius Unico, Sharpy Wash, and B-Eye K25, Martin Aura XBs and Robe Robin Spikie LED WashBeams.

Designers Patrick Woodroffe and Paul ‘PK’ Kell aimed to reproduce Pink Floyd’s liquid light shows from the 1960s. Using laser projectors combined with the traditional technique of mixing oil, water, printer ink and dyes on two transparent, concaved, clockfaces the team created unique imagery and reactions each time.

The oil mixing is performed live under camera each night and projected onto the custom backdrop via Neg’s media server.

Paul Howling, Lighting Operator for the forthcoming US tour, previously led video integration and oil mixing, recently handing the reins over to Rachel Axton.

Check out Rachel’s demonstration of liquid light here.

Lighting Designer: @paul_pk_kell & @patrickwoodroffe1

Production Manager: Pat Baker

Lighting Operator: Paul Howling

Video Operator: Paul Howling & Rachel Axton

Oils: Rachel Axton

Photographer: @will_ireland_photo

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Returning to Edinburgh Castle’s Esplanade after 3 years, The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo performed with the theme Voices under lighting designed by Adam Bassett.

Working closely with Technical Production Advisor, Keith Duncan, we provided over 427 lighting fixtures, 6.5km of cable, 8 distro racks, fibre network system and GrandMA3 control system.

Lighting Designer: Adam Bassett

Technical Production Advisor: Keith Duncan

Photos: The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

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