TAKE THAT

What followed that tour was the mega-successful release of an all-new album, Beautiful World, containing a startling collection of very mature pop hits, including ‘Patience’ and ‘Shine’ — all of which belie their previous boy band image.

Their more recent single, ‘Rule The World’ (from the movie soundtrack of ‘Stardust’) is a standard in the making and an arguable challenger to their old mate Robbie’s ‘Angels’ as an all-time great. Naturally, many of the new songs have made their way into the new set, and the show is all the better for it.

“The Beautiful World album and tour are about who Take That are now, as opposed to the reunion tour which was all about nostalgia. The success of both leaves us feeling confident there’s a long future ahead,” commented production manager, Chris Vaughan, when we met him at one Take That’s five sold-out shows at Birmingham’s NEC Arena.
”It’s a far more sophisticated show without a lot of the pantomime elements that came before, and it has more of a style about it that’s reminiscent of a lot of the big American acts. The Beatles medley has finally gone, which I’m very happy about!”

The highly functional set, which along with its associated mechanics consumes seven of the 20 trucks, was designed by Ray Winkler of Stufish (the Mark Fisher Studio) with whom Vaughan had successfully worked on Muse.

“The band promised they wouldn’t have a B stage this time around but as the design progressed, sure enough, we introduced a 9m diameter, hydraulically-driven B stage which I have to say provides some fantastic moments.”

Indeed, one of the more memorable scenes of any production in TPi’s recent memory occurs during this B stage sequence. Beautifully executed and very much inspired by the magic of Cirque du Soleil, the outer trussing section flies up to create a platform for dancers to perform upon and throw confetti on to the audience, while an LED globe drops down to create some serious impact.

The video content this time is often very CGI-flavoured with onedotzero particularly excelling itself on the ‘Overture’ intro, ‘Beautiful World’, ‘Patience’, ‘I’d Wait For Life’ (superb underwater footage) and ‘Never Forget’ in which the band and a succession of cast members walk through a video fan screen, and appear ‘on the other side’ as characters in the projected footage.

The bold, club feel of both the music and video imagery of ‘Give Good Feeling‘ injects an electro-dance element to the show, giving plenty of scope for the large cast of dancers to strut their stuff — Welly Locoh-Donou, a dancer with plenty of theatre experience, is particularly mesmerising. Possibly due to the maturing process, however, the boys seem better suited to the emotionally-charged power ballads these days and have mastered the art.

It now seems crazy to think that when Take That reformed last year for their first tour in a decade, there was nervousness within the camp about how well it would do. When the tickets sold out in record time, it caused knee-jerk reactions all the way down the chain of management and production teams, and promoters.

This tour, however, has benefited from the time to plan well in advance, with special attention given to the production packaging to ensure that the constant back-to-back European shows would be more comfortably achievable, and enabling an identical production to tour around Europe and the UK.

Said Chris Vaughan: “Most of Europe’s big 16-20 truck tours are pop acts in residency for some time at each venue. This is certainly the first time in at least a decade that I’ve been running a tour of this size on a normal single date European back-to-back schedule. On the whole, it’s generally the large U.S. artists like Madonna and Justin Timberlake who take on similar logistical challenges, and that’s after a few months of honing the production around America. I am very pleased with how quickly the crew gelled, and the production fell into place.”

Vaughan decided to reverse the normal way of building the production. He explained: “We have two teams of riggers flip-flopping between venues. Each team has four hours to complete a pre-rig of 125 points before we come in with sound, video and our Stealth screen. The bunkers that include monitor and backline world are built mid-morning, and lighting is one of the last elements to be assembled.

“We leapfrog equipment that’s relatively cheap to rent — empty trussing, rigging and cables — to ensure that when the 18 universal production trucks arrive we have the basics: points, power and breakfast already in place. Our amp racks are all packaged into carts that arrive in one big lump; the cables all drop from the speakers straight into the tray at the top of each cart. These all contribute to a tidy three-hour load-out, but most importantly a mere five hours for load-in.”

Taking good care of his crew is a priority for Vaughan, who said: “It’s important for the crew to have a good breakfast before they start work at 7 or 8am, so we also leapfrog a small catering team from Eat To The Beat, who look after us amazingly.”

STAGING
Brilliant Stages built the main stage to Ray Winkler’s design. Measuring 60ft x 38ft, it had to realise the creative brief and be tough, practical and workable enough to survive a 49-date road tour including a three week back-to-back section in Europe. As Chris Vaughan said: “Having Brilliant build the staging was critical, not only because their work is always beautifully built but also the way they package during manufacturing with regards to moving things very quickly.”

The initial structural design was planned meticulously by Brilliant’s CAD department to meet this criteria. At 2.25m high, it offers full access to an underworld that includes dressing and quick change rooms, stage mechanics, props, technical areas and the video world bunker.

The whole construction is built using heavy duty castors, assembled away from the lighting rig, and then pushed into place once the lights are flown out. On breakdown, it flat packs into dolly-sized sections designed for convenient truck loading and road transportation.

Either side are hidden bunkers for concealing monitor world and backline techs, each with a sightline to the stage through sloping louvred panels.
Completing the stage area at the front is a lower thrust platform, 1.5m high, and accessed through bi-parting stairs from below. This features in-built propane flame-throwers and a lighting shelf for moving lights and to provide adequate safety space between the pyro effects and the audience.

The set consists of six rolling risers of varying heights which lock together to form a ‘Giant’s Causeway’ on which the band and dancers perform. Each riser has a mesh front fascia and diffusion gel to aid backlighting. The risers are bolted together in clusters for fast assembly and are lightweight and designed to be forked off and dismantled remotely.

In addition to the main construction, Brilliant Stages also implemented the design concept for some of the specialist effects. The two hydraulic lifts were designed by Andy Edwards of 3D Design as were the travelator units used in the aforementioned ‘video fan’ effect during ‘Never Forget’ which entails two 6m x 1.5m travelators operating with the band walking upon them. They are set into the stage whilst the two hydraulic scissor lifts nearby feed scenery on to the downstage section.

Brilliant also devised the best method and materials for making a 12.2m walk-through Japanese fan — out of overlapping sections of white stretch lycra — which receives projections for the final effect. This emerges from and folds back into the stage, acting as both projection screen and a stage partition which the band can pass through with ease.

A 35m suspended flown catwalk was required to access the B stage. This is flown in so that Take That can sashay up a ramp to the walkway, traverse half the length of the arena, and alight on to the B stage via hinged steps to the secondary stage.

The B stage was built by Total Fabrications in consultation with Charlie Kail, including a lower level lift for the piano, with mechanics designed by Specialz, and a turntable on the outside for rotation of the band, and then outside of that, the aforementioned trussing circle with performer walkway.

The clever bit was that the whole stage had to be low to avoid obstructing site lines and still be able to accommodate the piano below and bring it into view. The staging elements were all dealt with by head carpenter George Osbourne and a team of seven, helped each day by 26 stage hands.

Summit Steel co-ordinated rigging for all departments and supplied over 110 chain hoists to the main system, 100 hoists to the B system in Europe and 28 points of Kinesys automation.

The project has been co-ordinated for Summit by Jon Bray, whose history with the band also dates back to the 1990s. Bray has worked closely with the tour’s production riggers Jez Craddick and Phil Broad, and all of the main suppliers.

One of Summit’s major tasks was to produce a comprehensive rigging plot that covered the requirements of all technical departments and that realised Stufish’s ambitious set design. The logistics of working out how all 56 tonnes of it could all be flown and moved entailed some serious maths and extensive discussions!

A TUTCH OF MAGIC
TPi’s November issue of Total Production was newly published when we arrived at the NEC, and ebullient lighting designer Simon Tutchener was being ribbed by various other crew members for his prominence in the London Fashion Week article.

Tutchener had loaded his suitcase and grandMA desk out of the final show of LFW and headed straight to production rehearsals at the start of the TT tour, without so much as a pause for breath! “I like working at that pace — it’s good for keeping the brain very much engaged and focused,” he said.

The LD worked closely with Take That’s show producer, Kim Gavin — the two have collaborated since the first TT tours in the 1990s — and this time around also with set designer Ray Winkler of Stufish to define the essential look and feel of the stage space. Tutchener entered the creative process once some of the basic conceptual decisions were already made, and these gave him an inspirational starting point.

The Beautiful World show is noticeable for its slickness, dynamics, maturity and great entertainment, and once again, lofty production values were also at the centre of the mix.
When Tutchener first saw the set, he was immediately knew that an angular approach would work, and therefore made the over-stage trusses triangular in shape. Being a theatrically-based show with plenty of action, there were also lots of places and events that had to be lit, so he needed a diverse selection of lighting fixtures with a good range of effects and focusing positions over the stage.

There is a 60ft semi-circular grid upstage with four follow spots and masses of moving lights upstage of the Element Labs Stealth screen panels. In between the seven drops of Stealth are four vertical trusses, populated with moving lights, and then two wings in front of the mid-stage curtain measuring 24ft wide and 30ft deep, also rigged with lights over the triangular trusses at the front.

Out front, the B stage set up is deliberately elaborate, offering every bit as much entertainment and production value as the rest of the show. A circular mother grid — with lights — supports a 6m spherical truss, also rigged with lights. A 25ft diameter round truss embedded into the base of the B stage lifts up, and this and the smaller truss engage in a series of fluid dancing moves together.

Both circles are on a Kinesys motion control system and used to create what Tutchener called, “classic Kinesys interactive sine wave shapes” for one section of the B stage performance portrayed by our front cover photo. The dancers also climb on to a special platform on the larger circle, posing, gyrating and throwing confetti on to the audience as it lifts and drops.

The B stage action is completed with a 2m diameter Barco MiPix LED globe hung at the centre, supplied by XL Video and made from 2,000 MiPix modules and 20 control boxes. This is also governed by the Kinesys system.

The largest portion of Tutchener’s moving lights are Clay Paky-branded, some specially purchased for the tour by lighting contractor PRG Europe, and described by Tutchener as “bright, bullet proof and really impressive”.

He uses 40 Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1200s on the wings plus another 60 scattered across all the other truss positions including the D truss at the back, on the verticals and above the B stage, and most pieces of metalwork on which he can physically hang a light!
Eighty Martin Professional MAC 2000 Washes are distributed around the rig, and there are 32 Vari*Lite VL2000 Spots on the floor and under the stage. Spotlights are six Lycian 2kWs out front plus four truss spots. The trusses are toned with JTE PixelPAR 90s, and there are also around 30 PixelLines built into the set.

The only conventionals within Tutchener’s lighting plot are two vintage 1940s searchlights which are moved manually at the start of ‘Shine’, towards the end of the set. Tutchener had first seen these when on a fashion shoot in Paris, and just had to incorporate them into the show.

They were supplied by Jim Laws Lighting based in Suffolk, which specialises in restoring and reconditioning antiquated lighting instruments. One was a genuine World War II naval searchlight, complete with new 2kW halogen light source; the other was a more recent body made by a Mr. Barber, and so nicknamed ‘Demon’ by Laws.

The critical element to these lies in the silvered glass parabolic mirrors at the back of the housing which sends the light through the lens in a straight line, expanding only to about 2-3m spread at 100m, maintaining its intensity and unique quality of light.
Tutchener runs the show off his grandMA desk which appears to be joined at his hip these days. As well as lighting kit, PRG supplied 13 crew for Europe and 10 for the UK, chiefed by Nick Barton, all of whom were praised by Tutchener for doing a great job.

The LD’s lights obviously have to compete with the high impact background of the Stealth screen, which if run at full would have completely obliterated anything in its path, so Tutchener and screens director Richard Shipman had to reach a happy medium.

Breaking with previous Take That tradition, Tutchener decided to dispense with lighting the catwalk leading to the B stage, which he felt was becoming a little clichéd. Instead, it glides in virtually unnoticed in the dark, and the next thing anyone sees is the band ‘floating’ on it surrounded by thick smoke, cut through with a laser scanning up and down.
Along with legendary band reunions, recent times have witnessed a healthy renaissance for laser effects and they were provided for this show by Greenwich-based ER Productions, who entered the TT equation after working with Tutchener on another project. ER supplied two white light full colour Arctos Arc 10 10W units each side of stage, with two high powered green Omicron 8W units in the centre.

These are all high powered, air-cooled YAG lasers and controlled from a Pangolin system at the side of the stage. ER also supplied six Gem ZR33 smoke machines and AF2 fans, controlled from a Eurolight lighting console, specifically for use with the lasers.

BOYS ON FIRE
Following on from its involvement in last year’s Take That tour (and the Take That-themed theatre musical Never Forget), Le Maitre is again back on the road with the boys, fielding a wide range of pyro and special effects manned by events manager Tim Haddon and technician Danny Terry.

The show starts on the B stage with two minutes of low smoke from a G300-powered FreezeFog Pro, adding drama to the ‘Overture’ performed by a string quartet and opera singer Laura Jayne Smith, before Take That open on the main stage with the ‘election rally’ setting for ‘Reach Out’. And when the boys step down from their lecterns, Tim Haddon fires six truss-mounted Le Maitre confetti cannons.

The main action comes, as one might guess, in ‘Relight My Fire’ which has been re-styled by show designer Kim Gavin to resemble the sacrifical voodoo scenes from the Bond movie ‘Live And Let Die’. The song, which also segues into Gnarls Barkley’s ‘Crazy’, begins on the B stage with top-hatted featured vocalist Lloyd Wade who brandishes a La Torcia torch with a skull on top to make it appear like a witch doctor’s voodoo stick.

When the focus returns to the main stage, Haddon, poised at his LightProcessor Q12 and Q24 controllers, cues a set of Dragon effects and then 12 Le Maitre flame heads in sync with each cymbal strike at the start of the song. Near the end of the song, the big gag comes when the boys set themselves on fire — an idea that they suggested themselves!

Mark Owen’s top hat, Gary Barlow and Howard Donald’s jacket sleeves, and Jason Orange’s leg all go up in flames which, in normal circumstances, would be cause for major alarm, but Haddon’s got it under control.

“I fill a reservoir in Mark’s hat with butane for each show and it’s fitted with four of our igniters. He has an ignition button on the brim of the hat but he couldn’t accidentally activate it until I’ve transmitted a coded signal simultaneously to all four boys.

“The effect is pretty amazing although for obvious reasons it lasts less than a minute before the flames naturally die out. Should it all go wrong, which it doesn’t — they’re all wearing protective Nomex on their clothing, anyway — we have CO2 jets in the stage that the boys can just step into, and as a further safeguard there are two security guys in the pit with CO2 extinguishers.”

The final sequence for Le Maitre involves more low smoke and CO2 jets for ‘Rule The World’ as the LED globe lands on the B stage.

“In our game, safe practice is a given,” said Haddon. “Nothing is left to chance and so every part of our system is re-programmed, checked and re-checked before each show.”

MULTI-FACETED VIDEO
XL Video supplied the majority of the video kit including over 200m2 of Stealth screen, six Sony DXCD 50 cameras, a Kayak HD PPU, new Barco FLM18 HD projectors, three Hippotizer digital media servers, the MiPix globe... and crew. The camera/PPU/I-Mag package was supplied in conjunction with Blink TV, and the Stealth direct to production, with the tour project managed for XL by Des Fallon.

The 1,237 tiles of Element Labs Stealth — “a real revolution for video,” claimed Chris Vaughan — are hung in seven columns and primarily receive time-coded playback footage output from Richard Shipman’s Hippotizers, plus some I-Mag feeds from the six-camera mix (two at FOH, two in the pit and two hand-helds on-stage) directed by Matt Askem.
Creative Technology has partnered with XL on this project, providing a portrait format, high resolution Mitsubishi OD10 screen at each side of the stage, tech’d by Ray White. The ‘Mitzis’ (waterproof 5000 Nits outdoor modules) receive I-Mag images plus some graphics and playback from the media servers. Their standard configuration was as 24 modules per side — eight high, three wide — but to deal with the NEC’s slightly low ceiling, the hang in there was seven high.

It’s the first time Shipman has “flown solo” with Hippotizers. They were newly purchased by XL and specifically chosen in this case for their HD capabilities. Shipman’s very impressed, particularly with the timeline functionality of the system. Two streams of live camera went into the Hippos on SDI cards, allowing Shipman to use two Magic DVEs to size camera images for the Stealth.

Shipman and his colleague Andy Tonks worked closely with XL Video Belgium to design custom dollies for transporting the seven drops of Stealth, enabling its rapid deployment, and optimising the load-ins and outs. The screens are flown on motors, and concertina neatly into and out of the dollies which sit below them at the sides of the stage, complete with all the processing in the base. The Stealth is tech’d by Tonks, Steve Clarisse and Bill Dixon.

The Hippotizers are controlled by Green Hippo’s latest Zoo Keeper software, and the show playback content stored on them — a mixture of vivid and subtle graphics and CGI animations — was specially produced by Sam Pattinson at onedotzero. All this footage is fitted exactly to the size and shape of the screens. One Hippo is running PixelMAD software for pixel mapping additional video content to the Stealth, and the MiPix globe also buzzes with the Hippo treatment

Two channels of HD (1290 x 1080 pixels) I-Mag are run to the two Barco FLM18s which are feeding two projection screens on outer perimeters of stage left and right (there is a pair of additional LED screens sandwiched between these and the Stealth on-stage). The projection element of the show is looked after for XL by Paul Berry.

Five additional Barco projectors (two at one side of the catwalk and three at the other) are flown on their own truss midway down the arena. The three are used to project on to a mid-stage drape for the show opening sequence, while the two project on to the ‘video fan’ drape that comes up from the floor for ‘Never Forget’.

Working for Take That’s production as video crew chief and logistics co-ordinator is Kes Thornley. Engineering the system is XL’s Wolfgang Schram who designed the Kayak PPU run by Matt Askem and uses a 32 x 32 matrix for outputting to screen. Via the Kayak’s E-Mem, four different feeds go out to the four I-Mag screens (two projection, two LED), and the desk is programmed to allow the routing of four different pictures to all four surfaces as required.

AUDIO
The B stage influenced an unconventional arena location for FOH engineer Gary Bradshaw’s mix position. Shifted to the right of centre, Bradshaw is mixing the band on his preferred DiGiCo D5 Live digital console.

“It’s a trade-off. Whilst it would be perfect to be central when mixing the main stage sets, it was such a hassle last year when I was underneath the B stage riser and couldn’t really hear what was going on. I got by through a mixture of guesswork and stored settings from soundchecks. Given the choice, I prefer being out to the side, especially as Al Woods [system tech] checks around the arena as my ‘remote ears’.”

Al Woods explained his approach for this tour: “I’m working a little differently this time owing to the fact that I got hold of a rack-mountable 1U computer and I’m using a VPN network. I’m still using XTA AudioCore and WiFi system, but I’ve set up the VPN Windows network to the PC from the tablet.

“It allows me to look at Smart and any programme that I have running in AudioCore while I’m walking around the room with a microphone, adjusting the system timing. It’s made it a lot quicker to set things up on the European leg — I don’t have to keep returning to the desk to do my impulse measurements to time front fills.”

The backbone of the audio infrastructure for this tour is largely similar to what was fielded at Take That’s arena shows in 2006. Capital Sound Hire remains the supplier, the Martin Audio W8L line array continues to be the system of choice, and there are D5 consoles at both ends of the multicore. It’s only some of the detail that is slightly different, advised Bradshaw.

The Brummie engineer had considered using the half-size D5 Remote desk to mix the show, with a view to miniaturising the FOH position. “You still have a D5 backstage and the two are connected via CAT 5 cable, and it’s a good way of working in a number of situations. Trouble was, the input list kept growing to a point where we couldn’t fit everything on the Remote — I’m currently up to 63 inputs — so I went back to my usual desk!”

He added: “I still very much love the D5 and with the exception of a pair of Yamaha SPX 2000 outboard multi-FX units for some vocal reverbs, I’m using all the internal processing, comps and gates.

Although slightly scaled down for the NEC show we attended, the tour’s complete PA spec includes a main flown rig of 32 Martin W8L cabinets, 12 W8LS and four W8LD downfills, with 32 W8LCs and 24 W8LMs flown at the sides, and — on the ground — 12 WS218X subs and 12 W8LMs. The FOH drive rack is loaded with XTA wares, notably a GQ 600 dual 31-band graphic EQ and loudspeaker management handled by 10 DP 226s and four DP 224s.

Due to a more substantial performance on the B stage for this tour, its dedicated PA has been expanded to six large hangs consisting in total of 24 W8Ls, 24 W8LCs, 12 W8LCDs and eight WS218X subs, with processing from an XTA GQ 600 and seven DP 226s. Said Bradshaw: “Because we now have more space under the B stage, we’ve been able to put in some subs. Plus, I’m not sitting underneath it like last year so I can hear it, and it’s sounding great!”

MICS & MONS
On stage, there has been a switch to Sennheiser for all the microphone and wireless systems. The main vocal mics are Sennheiser UHF SKM 5200s with Neumann KK 104 capsules on EM 3532 receivers. Backing vocalists use Neumann KMS 104s and there are two singing dancers who use Sennheiser HSP4 headset mics.

Guitars are miked with Neumann TLM 193s and Neumann U87s are used for drum kit and percussion overheads. The main percussion mics are a pair of MKE 2 lavaliers taped to the back of percussionist Karlos Edwards’ hands. The rest of the drums are covered using Neumann KM 184s and Sennheiser e905s and e908Ds. An e908B is also used on the sax. In addition, there are 13 G2 instrument packs and 16 G2 300 Series in-ear monitoring systems.

The wireless kit is connected via Sennheiser’s NET 1 networking system, said radio technician Guy Gillen. He explained: “With the NET 1 we can monitor every possible parameter of what’s happening with each unit — from signal to battery power — throughout the whole show. If you need to re-programme to comply with a new city, you just type in a new frequency, press ‘store’, hold the unit up against one of the IR [infra-red] transfers, press the channel and it transfers all the informations and syncs together. Simplicity itself.”

Bradshaw is himself very pleased with the change. “The band have done a deal with Sennheiser, similar to the one that George Michael had on his last tour. As always, it’s been really good. The band noticed immediately that the mics and in-ears were different. We didn’t say a word, but Gary Barlow spotted the change straight away, and said, ‘Wow, what’s this, it sounds fantastic!’. I think they’re the best mics you can get, the support is always first class, so we’re very happy in that respect.

Steve Lutley is again mixing monitors on his D5 and generating 13 stereo in-ear mixes, six mono IEM mixes for strings and others not dependent on stereo, as well as sending out to a Martin LE700 wedge for guitarist Milton McDonald when he is on the main stage.
“Obviously, he reverts to the in-ears when he walks to and from the B stage,” said Lutley, who is using a separate stage box to Bradshaw’s.

“I’m running the D5 to capacity this time and we’ve even got into using the matrix to run things like the [Martin W2S] drum and percussion subs. Like Gary, I also have a small complement of outboard gear. For acoustic guitars, I decided to insert SPX 990s for reverbs rather than use the onboard ones which I reserve for the vocals.”

BUFFALO BOYS
Chris Vaughan is pleased he took the decision to bring in Buffalo Power Services. He said: “Around 18 individual power sources are required from each building, and it works for us to arrive and find that all the power is there and labelled up. Tom Davidson and Ray Anderson from Buffalo have really done us proud — sometimes it’s been a luxury to have them but we’ve been up against it a few times, they’ve got us out of a hole and it’s been money well spent.”

Other key players include ET Travel, GLD (backstage furnishing), Beat The Street (buses) and Transam Trucking.

Although it’s been an enjoyable tour for band and crew alike, there was one situation in Italy that Chris Vaughan would like to see radically improved for the benefit of all incoming productions. He told us: “Local stage hands have ceased to exist in Italy. I wouldn’t go so far as to utter the phrase ‘illegal immigrants’ but the entire crew on our load-out at the Milan Forum were Romanians who didn’t speak Italian, let alone English. It wasn’t safe, they didn’t know what they were doing and we couldn’t communicate with them.

“Unfortunately a lot of things went missing. That led to a lot of frustration and I’ve yet to get to the bottom of it. We certainly weren’t charged any less for such a poor crew.
“Putting that type of labour force in contact with a multi-million pound production was not to anyone’s benefit at all. Our Italian promoters tell me that this just how it is in Italy at the moment — frankly, its irresponsible. Tours require experienced stage hands, not cheap labour. It was a relief to get to the next show in Vienna!”

The tour was due to end in Manchester on December 23 after a massive 11-show residency at the MEN Arena, preceded by eight at London’s O2 — such is the level of the band’s revived popularity.

One might assume that the summer of 2008 will see Take That appear in a number of large European outdoor venues with an expanded version of this production. According to Vaughan, however, there are no current plans for live activity in the coming 12 months, and that the next Take That world tour will not be until 2009 at the earliest. It obviously pays to have a little Patience.