TOTAL PRODUCTION INTERNATIONAL LIVE EVENT DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY • DECEMBER 2018 • ISSUE 232
DAVID BYRNE
The unorthodox virtuoso embarks on his most ambitious production to date.
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DECEMBER 2018 #232
PRODUCTION PROFILE
RICK ASTLEY: RENAISSANCE MAN Touring his first arena production in decades, the ’80s pop icon-turned-recluse has emerged from his dark years to complete a remarkable career transition. Mark Cunningham reports…
RICK ASTLEY
There was always more to Rick Astley than the shy boy who shot to fame with Never Gonna Give You Up and string of Top 10 follow-ups. As well as possessing one of the richest baritone voices to ever grace the charts, he had already learned the ropes of live performance as a pro drummer well before becoming a product of the Stock-Aitken-Waterman pop machine. Frustrated with the business, however, he retired in the early ’90s to concentrate on family life, keeping out of the public eye for the next 10 years. Returning to the live scene through ‘80s nostalgia tours, his fortunes soon changed for the better when he decided to mark his 50th birthday by recording the aptly-titled 50, playing every instrument himself. One of the biggest sellers of 2016, the self-written album saw Astley become a household name all over again. But this time, it was on his terms. Certified platinum, the album’s response contributed to over 100,000 ticket sales last year, resulting in his first full production tour since the late ’90s, which coincided with 50’s successor, 2018’s acclaimed Beautiful Life. The boy from Newton-le-Willows did good. With support from soul star Gabrielle, Astley’s October-November tour spanned 18 dates in both arenas and theatres across the UK, reestablishing him as the consummate modern showman – a charismatic performer with impeccable vocal delivery and a rare human touch, as well as a brand of humour that would be at home in Northern clubs. Resisting any pressure to launch his set with a blast from the past, he bravely kicked off with the new single, Try, and – as with so many of his more recent songs – was rewarded with a rapturous ovation. Covers were also thrown into the mix: Astley managed to make George Ezra’s Shotgun his own, twisting it imaginatively around Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Al, thanks to an incredibly tight band. Much of the success of this latest tour can be attributed to awardwinning production manager Tony Gittins who, fresh from Depeche Mode’s Global Spirit tour, accepted (SJM’s) Simon Moran’s invitation to jump onboard. “Simon and Rick’s film producer wife Lene Bausager are the co-
managers behind this new resurgence,” said the PM, “and I was delighted to accept the job not least because Rick is such a hugely talented guy and so rewarding to work with.” Astley had already toured North America this year before a run of European shows. Gittins, who worked closely with Tour Manager Julian Hickman and Stage Manager Reuben Warnes, said: “As soon as they returned, everyone piled into LS-Live for two days of production rehearsals and then hit the road straight away with the first date at the SEC Armadillo in Glasgow on 25th October.” A variety of venue sizes, from Manchester Arena to Southend’s Cliffs Pavilion, saw Gittins’ team scale the systems accordingly. The PM explained: “We identified A, B and C versions of the rigs, and it was sometimes a bit of a shoehorning exercise. Nevertheless, the show’s looked great everywhere we’ve played.” Travelling in four TRUCKINGBY Brian Yeardley trucks and three crew and band buses supplied Beat The Street, the Beautiful Life UK tour also saw Gittins working with HSL (lighting), Universal Pixels (video) and Popcorn (catering). One of the companies he inherited from previous Astley tours was Hampshire’s BCS Audio, whose package included an L-Acoustics line array system. Powered by the brand’s LA12x and LA8 amplifiers, processed with Lake LM44’s and LM26’s, and configured daily by FOH System Tech Oli Crump, the complete system featured main left/right hangs of 16 K2 boxes, 2 outhangs of 12 KARA, 4 ARCS infill cabinets, 12 KIVA lipfills and 16 KS28 subs. “I don’t have complaints about any of the current major line arrays but K2 is my preference,” claimed Kevin Sefton, the former pro musician who turned to engineering in the ’90s, and became Astley’s FOH Engineer in 2015. “They are very ‘musical’ loudspeakers and the mids are particularly good especially on pop shows when you have to drive it. If you can get detail settled down in the mid-range, the mix just seems to sit better.” In the smallest venues, the KARA element became the main PA while 50
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RICK ASTLEY
at Hammersmith Apollo, the resident K2 rig the convenient option. One of the constants, however, was Sefton’s Avid Venue S6L console, a recent upgrade from his former Profile. Supplied with a 32D control surface and 192-channel engine, it was outfitted with both the MADI-192 and WavesWSG option cards, and Waves Server One and Multirack licences. “With the S6L,” explained Sefton, “I have everything a Profile gave me before but with better sound and more user-friendly features that interface with Waves, which is a fantastic transition. We’re running at 96kHz so that’s increased the clarity to some degree but it’s really about functionality and how much it won’t interfere with my workflow. I’m very much a musician mixing bands rather than a technician, and that’s the way I approach a gig. It’s a very personal thing – I need the desk to be my instrument, not my office and the way this desk allows me to organise the show means that I’m hardly ever having to change layers.” BCS also provided a Mac Mini-based AVB / ProTools system for recording and virtual soundcheck. Sefton continued: “The way the desk integrates with ProTools makes it especially useful for virtual soundchecking because I can instantly access a multitrack playback on a touchscreen. It’s not life changing but it is very handy.” Sefton looked after around 44 inputs on the S6L, including some supplementary BV and percussion tracks from an onstage Ableton DAW under Tori Lucion’s control. He said: “It always makes life easier if you’re working with a great band, and these musicians are impeccable on all counts. There is occasional processing at my end but what comes off the stage is largely what you’ll hear through the PA, only louder.” When Astley’s European dates began in early September, he changed his vocal mic from a Shure Beta 58 to a DPA d:facto 4018 supercardioid model at Sefton’s request. The engineer, who has also been Gilbert O’Sullivan’s FOH mixer for 15 years, clarified: “In some small venues,
everyone is crammed so close together and a 58 wouldn’t help because of the risk of audio bleed. The d:facto is a much better option in those conditions. We still have Beta 58’s for our BVs [Dawn Joseph & Lauren Johnson] but I knew from using the d:facto in the past that it would be a good fit for Rick. It offers a little more definition and is gentler on his voice – and what a voice it is!” A fan Audix mics, Sefton positioned several of the brand’s D-series models around Simon Merry’s drum kit along with Neumann KM184’s for overheads, a Shure SM91 inside the kick drum and an SM57 underneath the snare. There is also a DPA 4099 miniature mic reserved for a marching snare cameo. Sefton receives a self-mixed stereo feed from keyboard player Rob Taggart while guitarist Adam Evans’ output comes directly from his Two Notes Torpedo modelling system. Jay Cox’s bass is DI’d but Sefton took some time over its FOH processing, as he explained: “I like to have a bit more control over the bass, rather than simply relying on the source, and the amp modelling software within the Waves package is one of the great advantages I enjoy. Jay is happy with his stage sound and he trusts me to get it right in the house. I wouldn’t entertain that approach with a guitarist but bass is the foundation of the sound and it needs to be rock solid. “I also like to have left, right and sub control at the desk. Some engineers aren’t quite as concerned but it’s just another of my preferences. It’s just part of achieving the objective of putting out a great sounding show, and if I’m not satisfied myself, I don’t expect anyone else to be.” MONITORING Sefton was joined on the crew by Monitor Engineer Samantha White, whose remarkable achievements over the last 10 years have included a variety of roles with Mariah Carey, Nicole Scherzinger, Natalie Cole, Jay Sean and 52
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RICK ASTLEY
Above: Lighting & Show Designer, Andy Hurst; Video Director, Ben Farrey; FOH Engineer, Kevin Sefton; Lighting Operator, Mark Jones-Roberts; FOH System Tech, Oliver Crump; Production Manager, Tony Gittins.
Girls Aloud. She had just finished a tour with Emeli Sandé when she entered Astley’s orbit. She explained: “There was definitely a plan to take things to a more substantial level with the 50 album and that’s when I was asked to mix monitors. I’m really glad they did because it’s such a lovely vibe – everyone is super cool and Rick is a sweetheart.” White’s console was a DiGiCo SD10, supplied with an SD Rack and backdated to run Waves natively. “It’s been DiGiCo all the way since I started with Rick and the SD10 is the ideal desk for me in this situation even though I’m maxing out the matrix. People may differ but I see very little difference between the functionality of SD10 and the SD5, except the SD5 weighs a tonne and has nowhere to put a laptop or a shout speaker.” Running 56 input channels and generating 32 outputs, White presided over 10 channels of Shure PSM1000 IEMs. “The stage is a wedge-free zone,” she noted. “JH Audio was already supplying in-ears to me for Nicole Scherzinger, so we did a deal for Rick and everyone is now on JH apart from one of the backing vocalists. We also have a dedicated ‘guest’ stereo IEM send that can be macro’d across any output. “Although we have a couple of L-Acoustics SB15P subs, our drummer Simon hardly has them on. He just relies on his Jerry Harvey Audio JH 13 ear molds and that’s enough for him. He doesn’t even like using a buttkicker, unlike our keyboard player, but he does have a preference for a crazy amount of kick drum in his mix.”
“The Aston mics sound great and they’ve give a new dimension to the IEM mixes,” said White. “The Starlights have a laser that helps with accurate targeting and I put them heavily in anti-phase so they sound very wide. When you introduce the Spirit centre mic – which is in phase – and time align them, the difference is astounding. “They are blended into a stereo group on the monitor console where it is fed into everyone’s IEM mix via a ControlGroup for overall level, and I have a Waves C6 multiband compressor keeping control of the dynamic range.” Although a prolific monitor engineer, White spent many years at FOH, notably for Mariah Carey. “I think FOH mixing is more creative; it’s like painting a picture whereas mixing monitors is like bricklaying. What the artist wants is ultimately what needs to happen, regardless of what you as an engineer thinks. “Having now spent a while on monitors, it’s also been interesting to see how the so-called ‘shout’ system has evolved into quite a science. We have up to 10 tech mixes on this tour and it’s ridiculous what you can do on the SD10. I’m activating the equivalent of an Excel spreadsheet before I even start on mixing the band, and I can achieve it all on the same desk using smart keys.” DESIGN Renowned for his work with the likes of The Prodigy, Chase & Status & Pendulum, Andy Hurst was the Lighting and Show Designer behind the Astley set, which presented an impressive blend of LED sources to form an unusual ‘chocolate box’ concept, given shape by GLP impression X4 Bar battens along the perimeter. “There was no brief for the design to start with so I looked to Rick’s new album for inspiration,” Hurst commented. “The idea for the box came from a movie reference really – ‘life is like a box of chocolates’ [from Forrest Gump] – and a box of light is where we ended up. “I have used video and lighting in similar ways many times, having
AMBIENCE The required content of an IEM mix can differ wildly from one artist to another but many, like Astley, prefer to integrate an audience feed to avoid a sense of isolation. To deliver a crisp ambience mix, White used a selection of Aston microphones – a matched lef t/ right stereo pair of Starlight pencil cardioid condensers and a Spirit, a large diaphragm studio condenser with switchable patterns. 54
RICK ASTLEY
THE SHADOWING PRINCIPLE Throughout the Beautiful Life tour, Samantha White, a proud ambassador of the Women In Live Music movement, created the opportunity for aspiring females to join her in monitor world as part of the Shadow Me Women incentive established on Facebook. “We want to introduce women who want to get into the industry or are already active within it but want to access a different aspect of the business,” she explained. “The idea is for a member of crew to put themselves forward as being on tour and able to welcome someone to join them and oversee the role in a working environment. No money changes hands but there’s also no expectation of free labour. “We’ve done this all over Europe and try to get someone for each venue, so that almost every day we have a ‘shadow’ come in. They are given an in-ear mix and they see the soundcheck. The shadow can stand with me, ask questions, look around and learn things, be involved as much or as little as suits them, and apply the experience as they choose.” At Hammersmith Apollo, White was joined by Gertie Steinacker who, having gained experience in production, is now pursuing live sound. “I’ve been on a few shadow shifts now and it’s been very valuable,” she said. “I usually work much smaller shows so it’s interesting to see how live sound is handled at a higher level. Shadow Me Women is a really cool organisation run by women for women, and I’ve met some very helpful people through this who lead by example.” fb.com/groups/ShadowMeWomen
Below: Shadow, Gertie Steinacker.
video above the front truss for IMAG and a screen at the back with a lighting rig above it, but this was going to be different as I wanted the look to be connected as if it was one structure unfolding. We started with more Kinesys motors, allowing the rig to move more, but we also had to be on budget. Therefore, while in WYSIWYG programming, Mark and I agreed that we could get away without the lighting rig moving so we decided on the final optimum position for the back screen and rig, with just had the front screen moving.” Hurst left the lighting operation and programming to Mark JonesRoberts with whom he attended Croydon School of Art & Design over 25 years ago. “Mark and I have remained friends ever since, and he has become a well-known LD in his own right [Levellers, The Specials, Shane Filan], so I was delighted when he agreed to take on this project.” At Hurst’s request, Jones-Roberts went to Copenhagen to witness
the working chemistry between Astley, his band and the audience, while familiarising himself with the artist’s latest material. “Rick loved Andy’s design,” he said. “His only concern was that he didn’t want the show to have an ‘80s flavour. That’s understandable because he is a modern artist with excellent contemporary songs. There is, of course, one very ‘80s number that we light in full colour – She Wants To Dance With Me – and it’s very vibrant. The rest of the show Andy wanted us to keep the colours to a minimum, using one or two colours, even his most popular number from the ‘80s, Never Gonna Give You Up, which we lit in blue and white to great effect.” The flown rig comprised 48 Martin by Harman MAC Viper Spots, 63 Martin by Harman Sceptron 1000mm linear LED tubes, 35 GLP impression X4 Bar 20’s and 2 X4 Bar 10’s, and 12 Philips SL Nitro 510C strobes. On the floor were 13 Martin by Harman Viper Performances, 44 additional
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RICK ASTLEY
Sceptrons on the front of the drum and keyboard risers, 15 Claypaky Sharbar LED effect lights, 12 Martin by Harman MAC Aura XB on 2m of upright scaffolding, and an extra 15 Philips SL Nitro strobes. Jones-Roberts explained their deployment: “Generally speaking, everything is regimented into blocks of three, six and nine fixtures. The Sceptrons make their entrance mid-show and really come into their own for the brief disco portion of the show with matching tube graphics on the lower and upper screens. Otherwise, they are used quite sparingly, like many of the other fixtures. It’s a gradual build. We have the Vipers in rows of six with Sceptrons in between them in three banks of three. The Viper Performances on the floor give us a neat corridor of light that Rick moves in and out of at the start of the opening number. The Sharbars are in a row at the back to add a little sparkle and fill the stage with multi beams on a couple of numbers, while the Nitros provide an attractive glowing wash to blend the lighting and video. They act as Molefay with the added ability to mimic the main stage colour. “Our rig for Hammersmith was our A rig which we discovered would be the best system to fit most of the venues on the schedule, thanks to the work of our amazing tour rigger, James Heath. For the three smaller dates, we cut it down to a B version, losing two of the horizontal trusses which got us down to 30ft wide, but it still looked impressive.” Assisting Hurst with the finer detail of his design, Astley and his wife / co-manager Lene, offered some input with content ideas that the designer believes worked very well. He elucidated: “I wanted the show to unfold from the beginning and Rick agreed to start on his own, downstage of the screen, with his latest single Try. It gave us a great way to start the show. Holding things back, the first songs feature only lights [one box frame of IMAG for the front truss]; the next four numbers concentrated on video graphics to a black screen. We then use all the screens for She Wants To Dance With Me, showing all the 3D Sceptron tubes but only for a lighting effect without giving the rear screen away until the next song, Beautiful Life, when we go to
full video.” Since Peter Barnes and Vince Foster encouraged Hurst to investigate High End Systems’ Wholehog 2 console in the ’90s, he has remained a loyal Hog user. “It does everything I need it to do and they have always given me great support over the years,” said Hurst, whose feelings are mirrored by Jones-Roberts. “I was briefly tempted to cross over to MA,” the latter commented, “and I do like the MA2 but it involves a lot of button pushing before you get anything out of it, whereas both Andy and I already have the muscle memory, so I didn’t have to think about where anything is.” The choice of console for this tour was the Full Boar 4, the mid-level console in High End’s Hog 4 family, which more than earned its place during programming sessions at HSL’s premises in Blackburn. “Andy and I had a very short period in which to get this show prepared in WYSIWYG, and it made sense to work on a desk that we both knew inside out. I’m running 14 universes on it and the Sceptrons and X4 Bars are eating the channels!” Headed by Ian Stevens, the lighting crew also included techs Jake Jevons, and Ethernet / Hognet / dimmer man Andrew Whittaker. Representing HSL as Project Manager, Jordan Hanson said: “After working previously with Tony Gittins on Depeche Mode, to have the chance to work with him again, and Andy Hurst, who designed the show, has been great. It’s a fantastic show and Andy’s design is incredible.” Of all the show scenes to choose from, both Hurst and Jones-Roberts appeared to favour the opening sequence. Hurst observed: “The start of the show sets the tone for the whole performance and watching it unfold for the audience is my favourite thing.” Jones-Roberts agreed: “I’m very, very happy with it. The full-on, syncopated strobe look behind Rick completely blows the audience away. But there are some other dramatic moments such during Angels On My Side with the regimented Viper beams and Sceptrons tapping out the underlying beat. Shivers, at the end of the main set, is when the front screen comes down behind the band and we back light them with the X4 Bar 20s. It’s simple but so effective. 56
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RICK ASTLEY
“The great thing has been repeatedly hearing the phrase, ‘Wow… I didn’t expect that of a Rick Astley concert!” – for me, that has summed up the whole tour.” VIDEO Originally a lighting programmer, Ben Farrey (né Miles) eventually specialised in video after several years as a media server tech. A regular member of Coldplay’s touring crew for 10 years, Farrey was pleased to break away from editing content for the band’s new concert film to tour as Astley’s Video Director. “I came into this quite late,” he said, “by which time all the video content had been sourced so I went to work on manipulating it with some colour grading and other processes to make it sit within the set. Some content is from Rick himself. Shotgun has a time-lapse of a journey across the US that I edited so it worked as a slick backdrop for the song. “Despite budget restrictions, I think we’ve all worked together to produce something of substance, making the video look like set pieces. One of the things that makes this interesting is Andy Hurst’s idea of housing the content within different styles of 3D frame, using the outlines of the LED fixtures to help connect the 2 screens. They were always keen to get someone like myself to fill the screens, without knowing too much in advance about what the screens would be doing.” Provided by Universal Pixels, the screens themselves were two 12m wide x 4m high sections of Leyard CLM10. “It’s a brilliant product and in a couple of the songs we use its semi-transparency as an effect by shining light through it,” commented Farrey. “The Leyard’s incredible light weight has also been a very important factor, given the smaller venues. I don’t know if we could’ve rigged a screen in half of those places! When we scale down, all I really have to worry about is reorganising the mapping so that I can proportionally reduce the image.” Farrey’s colleagues in video world were programmer Robin Haddow, Video Engineer Joe Makein and Hammy Patel who ran cameras. A total of four cameras were in use – a 40x long lens at FOH, a pit camera and 2 onstage robocams – with Farey taking the uncommon step of cutting the visuals within a disguise 2 x 4 media server, using an MA Lighting grandMA2
lighting desk wing as a trigger to activate cues as one might for a theatre show. He said: “We’ve deliberately ensured that this was a very compact system and have taken an unconventional route that required intensive programming. The server has a 3D work surface that allows me to visualise everything. In order to preview and cut the cameras, I set up some virtual screens in that 3D world. I’m more familiar with larger systems, but it’s quite fulfilling when you approach something in a different manner, and this has given us the intended results.” After many years of working with Phil Mercer through XL Video, Farrey has finally enjoyed the opportunity to team up with him through Universal Pixels, the company he founded two years ago. “I’ve been very impressed with the quality and preparation of the kit,” he commented, “and they’re all good guys who approach the job correctly. It’s been a real pleasure.” True to his word, Astley never really gave us up. Admittedly, he ran around and deserted us for a while, but his astonishing return to the mainstream has been the stuff of fairytales. It was inevitable that he would end each show with his ‘rickrolling’ chart-topper, leaving everyone in the best of party moods. Astley will be back on 20 December to headline The Ultimate Christmas Party, a BBC Children In Need fund-raiser at The O2, with Tony Gittins in the PM’s chair. The star reverts to his core crew when he is special guest on Take That’s 30th anniversary tour. Meanwhile, Mr Gittins will have plenty on his hands as he prepares to spice up his life with a notable reunion that is reportedly the fastest selling tour ever, according to Ticketmaster. TPi Photos: Andrew Benge, Mark Cunningham, Oli Crump & Samantha White www.rickastley.co.uk www.hslgroup.com www.unipix.tv www.bcsaudio.com www.popcorncatering.com www.beatthestreet.net www.brianyeardley.com 58