Red Hot Chili Peppers

After almost three decades of live performances, the Red Hot Chili Peppers still maintain an energetic on-stage presence that fills arenas and leave fans chanting for more at the end of each set. Appreciation for their distinctive concoction of rock, funk, punk and hip hop reached fever pitch when the L.A. four-piece hosted three nights at London’s O2 Arena as part of a world tour supporting their 10th album I’m With You.
      The influence of new addition, guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, has resulted in a group dynamic that is nothing short of electric, which was clear for all to see as the band commanded the crowd’s full attention. Supported by Flea’s signature slap bass style, Chad Smith’s energetic drum beats and Klinghoffer’s tight guitar riffs, lead singer Anthony Kiedis’ slick rapped verses and melodic vocals went down a storm, proving why the Red Hot Chili Peppers are still one of the most influential bands of their generation.

CREATING ON-STAGE MAGIC
Production Manager, Narci Martinez, is an expert when it comes to getting the show on the road, having been in the live touring business for 16 years. He has come a long way since he started out with small local bands in vans and trailers and can now include Prince, Weezer and ZZ Top in the list of artists he has worked with.
      Martinez came on board with the Red Hot Chili Peppers after working alongside the band’s Tour Manager Gage Freeman on previous tours and being recommended by Weezer’s Tour Manager, Stuart Ross.
      According to Martinez, in addition to the band’s distinctive sound and lively performance, the current Red Hot Chili Peppers’ tour is driven by the custom video elements and visuals such as automated octagonal lighting rings. Featuring 10 different video surfaces - including moving screens, an upstage wall and a video floor - the video presence on the tour was extensive. Footage from multiple cameras and graphics were displayed on the giant upstage wall behind the artists as well as on the dramatic Venetian column of video surfaces and LED floor.
      “There’s a lot of action going on right in the middle of the stage, all based around the band logo. The production highlight has to be the automated video [screen] blinds, that open and close, move up and down, and spin to reveal a wall of ACLs and the clear site lines to 270°,” explained Martinez.
      Pre-production time was very limited, with two weeks of rehearsals taking place at the Forum in Los Angeles before the show was sent to Europe. “Once we arrived in Cologne, we only had three more days to work on the production before the first show,” said Martinez.
      “However, it wasn’t a particularly hard show to package. We chose all our suppliers based on a combination of cost, prior history and gear availability. Tait’s, Premier Global Productions’ and Nocturne’s gear is all packaged really well.”
      The only part that was slightly more difficult, admitted Martinez, was the rigging. “The show isn’t really heavy in relation to a lot of other shows, but most of our weight is concentrated right in the middle and that had its challenges. Our Head Tour Rigger Todd Mauger and John Fletcher from Five Points Production Services did an outstanding job managing the rigging and cable management solutions.”
      Mauger, who worked on U2’s 360° tour, normally uses 10 riggers in the air and two on the floor – with local crew at The O2 supplied by PRG Rigging. “Half of the almost 90,000lbs is concentrated in the centre,” explained Mauger, who works alongside Rigger Matt Rynes at each venue.

HUGE VIDEO PRESENCE
London-based company United Visual Artists, whose stage and content creations have been seen on the tour with Massive Attack and Jay-Z, created the stage design. The company used its real-time production toolkit d3 in the lead-up to the show to pre-visualise the column of eight moving and expanding screens above the band. Although the d3 is still fairly new on the scene, it has been used previously at events including U2’s Vertigo and 360° tours, Massive Attack tours and the MTV Music Awards in 2008.
      UVA art directed some of the visual content for the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ tour too. Once the band had approved the designs, the process became more collaborative and they worked alongside Lighting Director Scott Holthaus.
      “Our involvement was both creative and technical, but ultimately we were appointed as show designers. The band saw a Massive Attack show we designed and liked it, so they asked the management to approach us to see if we were interested in working with them,” said Matt Clark, Creative Director and one of the three founders of UVA.
      “We didn’t really think too much about the technology initially, we were more concerned about the architectural aspects of the design. We then went on to develop the designs with Tait Towers into more realistic solutions. It was the first time we worked with Tait as stage designers, something we’ve wanted to do for a long time.”
      The futuristic octagonal-shaped structure was a true masterpiece for the crowd to observe. Made up on one side of PRG Nocturne branded V-9 high-resolution LED tiles and populated with 14 ACLs on the reverse of every other blade and 196 per blind array, the creative geniuses at Tait Towers were responsible for building the custom blinds, the motion and rigging system and the shell the tiles sat in.
      “The panels move and can rotate 360°. The other aerial element of the stage are the towers we’ve built, which are two ft wide modular lighting towers,” said Carol Scott, Tait Technologies COO for Europe.
      The Venetians, which were a perfect 10ft wide by 10ft tall when closed and 50ft tall when extended, were made up of the V-9 high-res product. Each set of video blinds had four half-tonne Vario chain motors built into it. One pair raised the upper-most louvre and another pair supported the bottom louvre, allowing the blind stack to raise and lower as a complete screen or deploy in slats, explained Tait Towers Project Manager James Erwin.
      PRG Nocturne Video Crew Chief and Lead LED Technician, Mark Woody, added: “I’ve worked on other tours featuring Venetians, but in different configurations. It’s very unique - I’ve never seen screens that lower on top of the band in that way. When they open and close displaying the content mapped onto them, it creates such a strong look.”
      Lighting Director Scott Holthaus wanted an array of warm, ultra low-res pixels or lamps on the back of the video blinds. “We went through every product you can think of trying to find the right mix of cost, resolution, beam angle, weight and electrical load.  The ideal product was an early choice - 28V 50W Par lamps per blind,” explained Erwin.
      When coming up with the concept for the stage design, UVA had free reign and an open brief from the band. The five ft high custom profile 30mm-pitch LED video stage also included a grated drum riser that allows the content to show through.
      “We were keen to create a really strong sculptural statement that was derived from the band’s asterisk symbol. We started with the symbol laid flat out on the stage floor then exploded it upwards three dimensionally to create a strong sculptural gesture,” said UVA’s Clark.
      LED guru and Co-Founder of Tait Technologies, Frederic Opsomer, was integral in making sure the LED product was specified and produced correctly for the LED integrated into the Tait decks. “When UVA showed me the design, we looked at the different elements and specified the products which were sent to the US for integration. The LED decks we manufactured are the same as those used on Batman Live, but are in a different shape and format here because the stage decks are reconfigurable,” explained Opsomer.

ACHIEVING VISUAL HARMONY
Video Operator for the show Leif Dixon - who has worked with artists such as Jack Johnson and Jack White’s band The Dead Weather - first came on tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2004 as a Lighting Programmer. Two years later, he became a band employee and programmed all lighting and video for the Stadium Arcadium tour.
      Dixon’s roles have varied for each band he has worked with, but the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ current production was the first on which he strictly operated video.
      Two MA Lighting grandMA systems were used for the show - one controlling lighting and the other dedicated to video.
      Dixon also selected a Barco ScreenPRO II seamless switcher and  Video Director George Elizondo made use of a Grass Valley Kayak 150C 1.5ME multiformat switcher, which like all other video kit on the tour was supplied by touring video service company PRG Nocturne.
  “On the last Chili Peppers tour, lighting and video were controlled by one system that I programmed. This time around, we have completely separated them so one is responsible for operating lights and the other video,” said Dixon.
      Working with a band of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ profile, who put on incredible shows night after night, makes creating magic on screen an easier task for the video crew. Elizondo knows what a difference this can make, as it is his job to direct the mixture of manned and robotic cameras covering the band.
  Added Dixon: “The video system is very flexible and PRG Nocturne provided a multi-camera system and a full engineering rig that George Elizondo directs. He sends me the typical line cut along with the individual ISOs. I have the ability to route the seven cameras to different screens and blend content. The tour is using a Catalyst v4 Pro media server for video playback and IMAG effects of most songs in the show. We also have a d3.”
      Working closely with Lighting Director Scott Holthaus, Dixon made sure complementary colours were featured throughout the gig and used high and low points to ensure the dynamics of lighting and video reflected each other. “Although there’s a lot of my creative input in the show, I hand over visual direction to Scott who has a relationship with the band,” explained Dixon.

A GRAPHIC SPECTACLE
With such an incredible video structure in the centre of the stage, the content displayed on the screens needed to be outstanding. UVA commissioned Sam Pattinson and his company, Treatment, to produce content under its direction and worked with Producer Lee Lodge to create an LA-specific film. Some of the graphics for the tour were also contracted out to Brainbow in LA, who have produced work for  Blink 182, Pete Yorn and Broken Bells.
      Lighting and visuals experts Dixon and Holthaus enlisted Brainbow to augment the song Emit Remmus with illustrated animations. “Emit Remmus is dark and aggressive and the lyrics sensual and frustrated and the concepts we created were inspired by these feelings. Scott knows the band, their material and the fans well, so we worked with him to dial in the right content,” said Brainbow’s Jimmy Thompson.
    The company is currently adding to the band’s collection of tracks with visuals for the hit Under the Bridge.

LEADING THE WAY WITH LED
The production team made the decision to have no image projection on screens at the sides of the stage because the LED displays in the centre were so effective. Video Crew Chief Woody - a touring visuals expert who has worked with Madonna and Bon Jovi - singled out LED as being of great importance to the whole production.
      Said Woody: “Without image magnification on the sides, the LED is the main way to see activity on-stage enlarged. All of the video acts in conjunction with the lighting and nowadays, it’s becoming increasingly common for designers to have input into how these two elements work together on-stage.”
      As a result of the 22ft by 58ft upstage wall  being constructed from 18 columns worth of PRG Nocturne’s V-Lite medium resolution LED product, it was lightweight for the crew to handle. Explained Woody: “The screen looks incredible for a medium-res tile and they are practical because there are 20 columns that come on 10 carts that are four modules wide by three modules tall. These lightweight frames roll and latch together in rows that are then picked up by five two-tonne motors.”
      To Woody, Tait Towers’ stunning first production version of their 30mm LED video floor is unique because it was developed to withstand walking, or in the case of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, jumping on. The LED floor was built in the same shape as the octagonal screen structure it was positioned directly below. “They are really strong metal and fabricated tiles in which LEDs are recessed. Content is then displayed through the tiles that have been stitched together in the form of the Chili Peppers’ logo,” said Woody.
      A robotic camera hanging above centre stage, operated by Woody during the show, was able to capture a fantastic view of the LED floor. “This was included in the production for the fans seated up high, so they could see an extra element of the stage. When I’m shooting wide and from above, you can see the entire logo with whatever content is playing on it, which looks really cool,” said Woody.

TOWERING STAGE STRUCTURES
This was not Tait Towers’ first involvement in a Red Hot Chili Peppers production, having built elements for their last tour too. The company was not only responsible for producing the LED floor, custom Venetian blinds and the automation to allow them to change shape and evolve throughout the set; the rolling stage was also Tait’s handiwork.
      All elements were designed and manufactured in Tait Towers US headquarters, where Project Manager Erwin liaised with lighting designers, set designers and video providers to co-ordinate the designs into tour-friendly items.
      According to Erwin, Tait’s greatest service to the production was the ergonomic value the gear provided the crew. “In addition to making the coolest scenery around, we keep smooth installation and sensible packaging as design ideals, not afterthoughts, so the road crew loves our stuff as much as the audience. Scott and the creative team get a hell of a bang out of the 30 axes of automation in the air on this tour,” Erwin added.
      Everything was designed specifically for the tour and the configuration of the screens was unique to the show. Said Tait’s COO Scott: “One of the differences between us and other companies is our delivery. When we offer to build a set, it’s packaged and labeled so when it rolls off the truck it can be built quickly, seamlessly and systematically.”
      Stage Manager Phil Dannemann agreed: “We chose to go with Tait because they are the best. On the Stadium Arcadium tour they made a lot of things for us and on other tours I have worked on I’ve used Tait products. For the entire build, you are probably looking at about an hour as it goes together really quickly. We were also pleased with the service that Transam Trucking, Beat the Street and Rock-It Cargo provided.”
      Dannemann has been in the touring industry for 29 years, during which time he has worked with music A-listers such as Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith, Foo Fighters, and REM. Overcoming different variables in each venue is a challenge that he enjoys: “We didn’t carry our own stage on Stadium Arcadium, instead using local stages that were set up ready for us. For this tour, we carry our rolling stage with us, which has video decks in it in the form of the Chili Peppers’ symbol, which we call the asterisk.”
      Dannemann decided to use Tomcat and Tyler GT brands of truss because they stack, roll in and out easily and there are fewer cases because the lights remain in the truss.
      “This equals less truck space, which means less money. It’s all about the packaging when you’re touring because you’re trying to save as much money as you can,” he explained.

DYNAMIC LIGHTING
More than half of the two decades Lighting Designer and Director Scott Holthaus has worked in the lighting industry, have been spent touring with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The master of illumination first got involved with the band when he worked on Jane’s Addiction’s 1997 Relapse tour, which bassist Flea was a part of.
      The main concept behind the lighting on the current world tour was to keep everything tall and vertical. Explained Holthaus: “At certain points, when the video screens come straight down, the look of the show is very telescopic. We went really horizontal and wide on the last tour, but this time I wanted to go as high as possible.
      “We worked with the structure of the video to make it appear as an architectural piece as opposed to screens. We wanted to get as much texture out of it as we could and because of the configuration of video screens, we had a huge animal to be reckoned with. It’s a giant asterisk of screens and you can’t get too wacky or asymmetrical with the lighting - you pretty much have to bounce off it.”
      Four of MA Lighting’s grandMA consoles - with two as back-ups –  were chosen for the show, partially because Holthaus and Video Operator and Programmer Dixon were familiar with how they operate and found them easy to control. “Leif is an integral part and has really grabbed the ball and run with it on this tour. He helps a lot with the lighting in terms of pre-vis too and he’s a real technical guru,” said Holthaus, who this year alone has been on tour with Jack Johnson, Queens of the Stoneage and Blink-182.
      Now that the band is well into their tour, most of the show’s lighting is programmed, compared to the beginning of the tour when around a quarter of the set list was organised this way. “There were very short rehearsals and we only had so many programmed songs at the beginning,” said Holthaus.
      “Our goal is getting it all into some kind of syncopation so we have a manual cue stack that we add lighting flavour on top of. You can’t completely busk it because there is so much motion that you’d never be able to use all those lights to their full advantage on the fly.”
      All lighting kit and trussing was supplied by US-based vendor Premier Global Productions, including a total of 100 Elation Impressions, which were positioned in arrays of 18 to blast the audience throughout the performance. “As well as being low amperage and really fast, they are LED, which is great for effect lighting. There are a million configurations and different movements and they can be made to look like an architectural piece on stage,” said Holthaus.
      A further 78 Clay Paky Sharpys were placed on the ground, behind the upstage video screen, on top of the six torms and in the middle of the octagon. Explained Holthaus: “These are on separate trusses so they can move independently. Since there is structure to the video, we wanted to have things sneaking around, poking through and being obstructed - not just lights out in the open.”
      Holthaus, who is a fan of Martin Professional MAC 2000’s, having used them on previous tours, chose to include 50 of the fixtures, positioned all over the trusses to accentuate the three automated octagonal lighting rigs on-stage and make them into a halo. “There are also 20 across the back floor that create a nice silhouette and some across the side corners, which are called shin busters,” said Holthaus.
      A total of 40 Martin MAC 3000’s were positioned in the circles, behind the screens and on the floor, along with 48 Atomic Strobes, attached on the top and bottom of the torms. An additional 1,340 ACL bulbs were placed on the back of the video screens, which were used during some of the band’s hits. “On Higher Ground, the screens turn and spin around to open up like a Venetian blind that is head to toe with ACL bulbs,” said Holthaus.
      For around 15 years, Holthaus has controlled the intensity of the followspots whilst on tour. “Every band member gets a truss spot on each side that is held by the followspot crew. I have massive control over the key lighting and I prefer doing it this way because you can really pick people out. We have front of house spots too, but having control allows me the artistic ability to create beautiful body moulding,” explained Holthaus.

A CONNECTION BETWEEN BAND AND AUDIENCE
With the band allowing FOH Engineer Dave Rat a tremendous amount of flexibility over the gear he operates, he opted to use a Midas H3000 analogue console for the past few tours. Said Rat: “I really enjoy the control I get with analogue and the H3000 has a very powerful yet logical layout offering me full control with nothing hidden behind layers and menus.
      “I’ve used digital consoles and find them very awkward. I want to see everything always. I mix with no board lights and no computer screens and do all the system EQ in the analogue domain. This allows me to sweep a single glance across the FOH setup and know everything about the system.”
      Rat started working with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1990 after getting to know the band through his company Rat Sound, which was the PA vendor for many of their West Coast shows. “I am pretty much the second Sound Engineer they have ever had,” he said.
      Since Rat is familiar with the audio gear selected as well as the range of venues the crew will experience, he does not require much pre-production time. However, he spends time with the band in rehearsals learning new songs.
      At FOH, the core band has 24 inputs from the stage and then another 12 for the piano, keyboard and percussion channels. Rat chose an L-Acoustics K1 system, KARA side, underhung and centre hangs and 32 SB28 subs on the floor, with all of the processing done through the L-Acoustics LA8 amps.
      When on tour, Rat likes to stay in the analogue domain as long as possible: “My house / system EQs are inserted - some BSS 960 EQs and Meyer Sound CP10’s are on the mains and KT DN410’s on the subs. After that, the sound is sent directly to the system amps that have the processors built in. I use no EQ in the system processors other than the factory preset.”
      Whether working with digital or analogue equipment, Rat prefers to dial everything up by hand: “The Peppers are a very dynamic and spontaneous band so having presets to dive into is the opposite of the direction I like to go. I see my position as a conduit or connection between the band and the audience, so my focus is to mix in real-time with them on the fly. My console settings stay almost exactly the same and each day I just re-tune for the different venues. I can easily tune using a stereo CD or iPod,” he explained.
       Providing he has the correct set-up, Rat finds the band are enjoyable and fluid to mix. “That said, I did have to mix them using a digital console several times and I found it stressful as many of the very simple things I rely upon were either not achievable or required a lot more effort,” he added.
      A few songs in the set have distinct vocal effects, which are produced in a variety of ways. Keyboard player, Chris Warren, creates the vocoder from the song By the Way on stage. “I grab the distorted tremolo for Monarchy of Roses from the monitor engineer and then generate the remainder with the Eventide H3500 I have out front,” explained Rat.
      Each night, a stereo mix plus live mics are recorded and the crew carries a Pro Tools engineer who records a multitrack and mixes it down the following day. The Audix OM7 microphones have been used by the Red Hot Chili Peppers for quite some time. On the current tour, alongside a trio of OM7’s, an Audix D6 and Shure Beta 91 were used on the kick, a Shure Beta 98 and SM57 on the snare and a further three Beta 98’s on the toms. For percussion, four Beta 98’s, two Royer R-122’s, a pair of SM57’s, a Sennheiser Omni-Lavalier wireless mic and a Neumann U89 were chosen.
      Commented Rat: “I like Beta 98’s on toms, snare top, bass mic and several of the percussion instruments. A pair of AKG C5600’s covered the cymbal underheads and a Neumann U89 handled the ride / cowbell. On guitars I use two Shure SM57’s and Telefunken M80’s. I really try to keep the mics close to whatever they are picking up to reduce the amount of room sound bleeding into them.”

WARM ANALOGUE SOUND
Freelance Monitor Engineer Timothy Engwall chose to use the same mixing console as Rat. The Midas H3000 desk fit the bill because it offered plenty of inputs and outputs and produced just the sound needed. Said Engwall: “The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Rat and myself are all fans of the warm analogue sound.”
      Before coming on tour with the band, Engwall was already familiar with guitarist Klinghoffer, having worked with him when he played alongside Gnarls Barkley. Engwall had also spent time working with Rat on a variety of tours.
      Throughout the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ set, some of Engwall’s mixing is done on-the-fly, which was mostly used for solo levels, effects and various percussion instruments. All of the mixing desk’s 24 AUX outputs were used, along with four matrix outputs, the mono master, stereo solo, PFL and various direct outputs.
      The band relied on a combination of in-ear monitors and wedges for their stage sound, with Future Sonics’ mg6pro being the IEMs of choice. While Klinghoffer relies solely on a pair of EAW MicroWedges and side fills, the rest of the band members use in-ears augmented by sound from wedges and fills. Upstage, another pair of wedges could be found, containing bass, guitar and a second vocal. A pair of Rat L wedges for kick, snare and some vocal, along were placed downstage centre for lead singer Kiedis and Rat Trap side fills were positioned on the sides of the stage.
      A further pair of EAW MicroWedges were positioned downstage right for bassist Flea, containing the full band mix and his vocal. EAW’s MicroSubs and another pair of their MicroWedges were used for drummer Smith. These were dedicated to the full band mix with plenty of kick, toms and some snare.

TONALITY ON TOUR
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have used L-Acoustics speaker systems on previous tours and it was chosen again for the current production because it could be found worldwide. It was also selected because the crew believes the K1 / Kara combination is the best sounding PA. “It has outstanding, controlled coverage, both in the horizontal and vertical planes, the captive and rigid rigging make it a pleasure to fly and the sound quality is amazing. Add to that, the increased output and the fact that vocals seem to jump right out of the PA, and you can see why it was an easy choice,” explained FOH Audio Technician Jim Lockyer, who works for the California-based Rat Sound.
      Choice of sound system was also based around tonality and what interfaced best with the main PA. Said Lockyer: “Because the boxes are lighter on the side hangs, it allows us to use a greater amount of speakers, which gives you control of where you are concentrating your energy.”
      The main PA comprised L-Acoustics K1, which were positioned 16 per side, with six KARAs used as underhangs. An additional cluster of six KARAs was then placed in the centre. Side hangs were made up of 18 KARAs per side and L-Acoustics KUDOs were used as upstage fills.
      The audio crew selected 32 L-Acoustics SB28’s to be used as subs on the floor, which were arranged 12 per side, with two clusters of four in the middle and at the front of the stage. Delays were comprised three clusters of six K1’s.
      As the main system is where most of the horsepower is, the biggest array was needed facing forward. “The KARA boxes are 10° so you can get more vertical coverage in the sides of arenas opposed to the K1, which is a five degree box and lends itself to longer throws,”  said Lockyer.
      Rat Sound provided the FOH package, complete monitor audio package and power for the show, but on the European leg of the tour, the main PA, side hangs and stacks and racks were supplied by Czech Republic-based company High Lite Touring. When the band continues on to the US dates, Rat Sound will provide the full audio kit again.
      “The entire PA system is powered by L Acoustic LA-8 amplifiers, which are very energy efficient, powerful and sound great! They are networked together to give us the ability to monitor input and output signals, control delay and gain, and adapt the system on a day-to-day basis, as we often do. All this can be accomplished on a wireless tablet at FOH or anywhere in the venue. So as we go from arenas to smaller venues, or change the sub configurations, the changes to the rig are easily done and replicated,” said Lockyer.
      “The beauty of the K1 is that with the KARAs underneath you can make an array smaller and still get good vertical coverage. We have quite a large lighting rig that consumes a lot of the weight that’s allowed for us to hang in a venue so we had to come up with side hangs that were a little bit lighter to try to distribute it a bit better. The KARAs are extremely powerful for such a small box.”

KEEPING THE CROWD SAFE
The security operation at the O2 Arena was two-sided, with Director of Security, Jason Ledbetter, taking care of the venue security and his partner Dave Sauter handling personal security for the band.
      “With this size of tour, it is essential to have two people heading up security because there are a lot of people we deal with,” explained Ledbetter.
      “I liaise with the head of security for the venue beforehand and plan what we need in advance. Once we arrive, I make sure everything is secure for when the band turn up, the dressing rooms are set up and passes are distributed in the backstage and stage area.”
      During the show, Ledbetter is also in the pit making sure the crowd is safe and they get medical care if needed. Once the show is over, his team focuses on securing the band’s dressing rooms again and making sure they have a smooth transition out of the building.
      Said Ledbetter: “For each venue we can have a couple of hundred security staff. This tour has been pretty easy as most of our crowds are younger kids - it’s not like Metallica or Slipknot where you have crazy mosh pits. The only issue we have encountered has been when there are thousands of fans it becomes hot and people can start passing out.”
      The security team travels with Mojo Barriers, which were chosen for the ease of assembly and high levels of safety. At some venues, a secondary crowd barrier has been used in the middle of the floor to separate the crowd and ease tension up the front. “We were not able to do it here, so instead we used a rounded barrier to ease the tension to the side instead of directly in the middle,” explained Ledbetter.

MANAGING A TIGHT SCHEDULE
Despite the epic scale of the show, particularly its visual elements, the time in which the crew had to turn initial concepts into a reality was limited. Production Manager Martinez admitted one of the main demands was managing the tight schedule from concept to delivery in just three and a half months. He explained: “There were a lot of custom elements to this show and we relied heavily on gear availability and manufacturing time.
      “In addition, the other challenge was specifying the local support for the show and trying not to understaff or overstaff on the road. But within four load-ins and load-outs, my team was able to get the show in and up in four hours and down and out in two to two and half hours every day and with very conservative labour calls daily.”
      With a dedicated crew and state of the art equipment, a production that would live on in the memories of fans came to fruition. It’s no surprise the crowd at the O2 was eager to see the rock giants in the flesh, as they have been absent from the UK touring scene since the 2006 Stadium Arcadium string of live shows. With the hiatus from touring leaving followers keen to be part of the band’s unique live experience once again, the team pulled out all the stops to create a show that mirrored the energy, passion and impact the band have every time they take to the stage.
TPi

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