GENESIS

of 14 K1s and four K2s per side, with side hangs of four K1s and 12 K2s. For certain venues, including London and Manchester, a rear hang of KARA was deployed. For subs, there were eight flown K1SBs per side with 12 KS28 per side on the ground. “We have a large thrust that goes out into the audience in front of the PA, so we set up the PA so that it avoids as much of the thrust as possible, specified with the K2s,” he noted. “On the whole, though, I’m finding more and more that these large PA systems are becoming less susceptible to feedback issues as long as your gain structures are correct.”

Williams gave his two cents on having one of the main performance areas out in front of the PA. “We were finding that there was bleed from the PA down the microphones, which would affect Stormzy’s tempo and timing. We ended up turning down the mic in his IEMs so he heard less of himself and he was able to maintain tempo better.”

To close, Williams talked about the two most important faders on his desk during the show – Stormzy’s vocal mic and the ambient audience mics. Speaking about the latter, Williams said: “I have six ambient mics arranged in pairs and the top, middle and bottom on the thrust. The ones closer to the stage get the whispers, the middle gets the detail, and the top end gets the whole room. All this means that Stormzy doesn’t need to take out his IEMs to feel part of the room and engage with the crowd. I ride that mix during the show depending on what’s going on.”

PLAYBACK DUTIES Holding down playback responsibilities was Max Truphet. “I’m looking after all the backing tracks and timecode for the visual team,” he stated. Joining the first European leg of the tour in 2020, the Playback Tech was kept busy with the camp during a number of streamed performances throughout lockdown as well as the artist’s headline performances at Reading and Leeds. “The first thing I do on a show like this is work on the stems, which in this case come from our Musical Director, Kojo Samuel,” he revealed. “I see playback as the bridge between the band and Stormzy as well as the FOH and visual side. On a show of this size, I’m keeping an eye on timecode and constantly updating any references if there are any changes.

The Playback Technician opted for Ableton, which was run on two MacBooks with a fully redundant system to ensure the show carried on. “Kojo did a great job giving me all the individual stems in their simplest form, which in turn makes it easier for both Raphael and Luigi to treat the playback more as a band they can mix rather than a simple stereo backtrack.” #MERKY Two-and-a-half years is a long time in the world of music, but the crowd reaction to Stormzy’s latest tour shows that the artist is still riding the wave from his Glastonbury 2019 performance. Even after such a long time, ticket holders were still as keen to see what he had to offer. “Every night on this tour, I walk out about an hour after doors and the buzz of the audience is incredible,” concluded Williams. That ‘buzz’ was palpable in London and if the reviews are anything to go by, it was the same case up and down the county. A true flagship production showcase, which proves that even after this lengthy hiatus, the UK live events industry can very much still awe and amaze. www.stormzy.com www.tourmusiclive.com www.productionvalue.co www.tawbox.com www.stufish.com www.timroutledge.co.uk www.suluko.com www.taittowers.com www.negearth.co.uk www.video-design.co.uk www.sseaudiogroup.com/Group www.pyrojunkies.com www.phoenix-bussing.co.uk www.stagetruck.com

GENESIS: THE LAST DOMINO?

Reuniting on stage for the first time since 2007, Genesis’s latest tour is a no-holds-barred live spectacular that simultaneously pays homage to the past while embracing the latest and greatest in touring technology.

Words: Stew Hume Photos: Manfred Vogel

Having first been discussed in 2019, The Last Domino? tour has been a long time coming. With rehearsals halted due to the pandemic, hard work behind the scenes during lockdown meant that the show was one of the first out of the gate when live performances were allowed to restart. Sadly, COVID-19 reared its ugly head once again and put the breaks on the last few dates of the UK tour, but with unfinished business in the UK, the trio of Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, and Tony Banks reunited on stage for Genesis fans again in 2022 for a three-day residency at the O2 Arena. TPi had been following this story for a while, having first met the team behind the production at Manchester’s AO Arena last year, and got to learn how this certified heritage band once again broke boundaries in live production.

LAND OF CONFUSION When the production first hit the road in 2021, and with this being one of the first arena shows to tour the UK since March 2020, the Genesis camp could have been excused for keeping things simple when it came to scale. However, true to form, the reformed trio were keen to live up to their tradition of awe-inspiring productions. For the few that are unaware, the band have helped the development of the touring industry, being early investors in Vari-Lite – in fact, it was the band’s long-time Manager, Tony Smith, who coined the name. And, yes, as you can imagine, a few of the company’s fixtures made their way onto the lighting rig. But more on that later... TPi’s first stop was to speak to Production Manager, Howard Hopkins. Like many within the camp, Hopkins has several decades of service under the Genesis mast and has worked his way through the ranks. “I was never planning to get into this business,” he reminisced. “I was volunteering at an event in Austin, Texas and I met a gentleman called Morris Lyda – the band’s PM at the time. He liked the work I was doing at the event then next thing I knew, I was being taken out on tour with the band. That was in 1986.” Hopkins, like many others on the crew, has bounced between providing services for Genesis as well as Phil Collins’ solo tours. The origins of The Last Domino? can be traced back to Collins’ last time out on the road. “Our last outing with Phil spanned from 2017 to 2019 when we started doing some open-air gigs in Europe – Mike + The Mechanics joined us.” During these shows, Collins did a few Genesis songs with Mike Rutherford joining him on stage. “I think that is where the seed was formed,” mused the PM.

The Last Domino? finally hit the road in September 2021, pushed back a year from its originally planned date. “COVID-19 shut everything down, but later in 2020 we still opted to go into production rehearsals,” he stated. “The justification was that we didn’t want to wait to do rehearsals until this year as there would be a huge demand on studios. This way we could get everything prepared and be ready to hit the ground running when shows returned.” The production brought in The Event Safety Shop (TESS) to create working protocols for the six-day rehearsal period, which involved regular PCR tests as well as remaining in a bubble for the duration. The production then brought these protocols out on the road. “We were also testing all local crew and security and, in a few cases, had to turn people away,” stated the PM. Sadly, despite all these efforts, the tour was ultimately cut short, with one of the band contracting the virus – an illustration that despite all the due diligence, no method is 100% effective. Away from the COVID conversation, TPi asked Hopkins what suppliers had been brought in for this grand reunion. “A lot of the companies we’ve got out with us were also on Phil’s last few outings as well as the last Genesis tour in 2007.” These included Neg Earth, providing lighting and rigging. “Stronghold Productions then supplied our riggers – namely Head Rigger, Stephen Armstrong, with Mike Fowler and Tom Armstrong,” Hopkins confirmed. Britannia Row Productions was brought on for audio, Matrix for Video, TRUCKINGBY Brian Yeardley, and CS UK. Also on the tour was WICREATIONS, which not only provided an impressive automation setup but also acted as the tour’s staging provider. The band set their sights on the US after their UK campaign, with Freight Minds overseeing the mass transit of production across the Atlantic. Hopkins praised the hard work of the others in his wider production team including: Tour Manager, Steve ‘Pud’ Jones; Tour Accountant, Uwe Schmid; Tour Security, Andy Simpson and Luke Warner; and Production Assistants, Michelle Pekrol and Liz Woolnough.

TURN IT ON AGAIN “When it comes to Genesis, as much as it’s about the music, their tours have always been about the enormity of their shows,” stated Hopkins. This wish for the big show has

often meant utilising the latest and greatest technology and The Last Domino? was no exception. As the show moved through its various movements, the stage morphed in front of the audience’s eyes, with automated lighting trusses to a fully automated LED video wall. The production also attached moving lights to the rear of the 12 moving LED columns that made up the back wall to create more unique looks.

The duo responsible for this grand design was Patrick Woodroffe and Roland Greil of Woodroffe Bassett Design. Having sat down with the band and Manager Tony Smith, Woodroffe, the group’s long-time Creative Director, created the concept that incorporated all the ideas from the Genesis trio. Operating the show on the road, Greil walked TPi through the highlights of the rig. “We started working on this back in 2019 with the goal of having it hit the road in Autumn of 2020, which obviously never happened,” outlined the LD. “But throughout 2020, we kept on working on the design and brought all the pieces together during a production rehearsal in LH2.” Prior to the rehearsals, Greil and long-time Lighting Programmer, Marc Brunkhardt had a week in Neg Earth’s wysiwyg suite to finalise all the designs. With all the COVID disruptions, Greil described what it was like to not have the traditional timetable of design, rehearsal, and tour. “We were lucky in that we had four production days before our first show in Birmingham. It was interesting to have such long gaps between our rehearsals and the tour beginning, but we took recordings and continued to make notes on what we could improve on in the interim.”

The LD went on to note some of the design goals. “The thing you have to remember is the legacy of Genesis,” he stated. “They were always one to redefine boundaries and push our industry, in particular investing in technology. As this is a landmark reunion, we wanted to push things again and do something that separates this from other shows.” Both Greil and Woodroffe were aiming to create something modern that was versatile enough to produce many types of look. “Their back catalogue goes back to the early ’70s, so it was important to be able to have looks that matched some of these tracks,” stated Greil. “We wanted to take the audience through a journey of different scenes and atmospheres, which meant it was all about transformation and metamorphosis, thinking of it more like theatre than a traditional live show.”

The LD went through some of the highlights of the lighting rig that made their vision come to life. “The fixture that we’ve put the most faith in is the Claypaky Scenius Unico, with 148 on the rig. We also have numerous Robe BMFLs and, of course, plenty of Vari-Lite VL65000 and VL6000 Beams. The VL65000s are providing us with some big wash looks from the floor, whereas the VL6000s are up in the rig providing some back followspots.” Greil discussed some of the R&D that went into producing one of the more ‘out there’ design features – specifically fitting moving head fixtures to the back of the automated video wall. “We needed a fixture that was bright, lightweight and could work well in this different configuration,” he explained. The fixture both he and Woodroffe landed on was the Ayrton Karif LT. In total, the team mounted 70 of the fixtures to the rear of the video screen panels.

Elsewhere on the rig, the visual team deployed a large number of GLP impression X4 Bar 20s for some more traditional looks, as well as substituting standard Molefays with TMB Solaris Flare Q+s for the all-important audience lighting. So important was this element of the design that the visual department included two audience trusses that were rigged in the middle of the venue. “This means we can integrate the entire audience into the overall look of the show and make the experience more immersive for the crowd,” stated Greil.

Another highlight for the LD was the Hungaro Flash T-Light Pro 85k – a strobe fixture he’d made use of during his last design with German metal icons, Rammstein. “I love these fixtures, and for a certain big strobe effect, there is no substitute.” For a followspot system, Greil and Woodroffe opted to use a Follow-Me system, which was calibrated to 220 fixtures in the rig. However, due to the sheer amount of automation within the show, the designers had to work closely with the Follow-Me team to ensure that no matter where lights were in the physical space, they would still follow their marks. “In collaboration with WICREATIONS, which is providing the automation for this show, we are integrated via the PSN Stage Network, so wherever the pods move, the light beams will stay exactly where you want them.” This was

a big undertaking, although Greil reported how he was confident they would be able to make it work – in part thanks to the support from Gary Yates and his team from Follow-Me. At FOH there was a sea of MA Lighting grandMA2s that were all used by the visual department. Greil operated the show from a full size with another as a backup, with Lighting Tech, Tom Bailey using a grandMA2 Light to work on the show and jump on any issue that may occur, leaving Greil to keep his focus on the performance. Also on a grandMA2 desk was Ellie Clement, who was handling the media servers for the screens. Completing the lighting team for the tour was Lighting Crew Chief Luke Radin, alongside Barry Branford, Neil Johnson, Matt Flood, Jim Mills, Danny Wiseman, Andy Thompson and Bianca Mastroianni.

THE CINEMA SHOW Continuing the video conversation, Clement walked through her workflow that funnelled into the impressive video setup. Having been part of the Not Dead Yet tour in 2019, she was brought into this production in early 2020, just before the pandemic. With the extended hiatus from live events, the video setup saw significant rejigs to accommodate the expanding camera package, which included: a BlackMagic URSA Broadcast camera on a Canon DIGISUPER 90 Long Lens at FOH; three BlackMagic URSA Broadcast cameras, each on Blackcam Robotics track and dolly systems; two Camera Corps Q-Balls, also on a Blackcam Robotics track and dolly system; and a final two static BlackMagic Minicams mounted on the drum kit. “We also moved from disguise GX2s to VX4s,” furthered Clement. “I have three VX4s that operate through a Lightware matrix into NovaStar 4K processors. I also have two MA Lighting grandMA2s to accommodate the way the lighting team wanted to run the show fluidly between lighting and video cues.” Clement worked alongside the lighting team at FOH. “I usually operate from FOH; that is where I feel most comfortable and it’s easier to communicate with other departments.” Unilumen X3 was used for the rear automated screen. “The screen is lightweight and high resolution,” enthused Clement, emphasising the importance of lightness. Pre-rendered content was created by Sam Pattinson and Gilles Maunsell from Treatment Studios. Throughout the show, the video team blended the content with live footage. Responsible for cutting the show live was Darren Montague, Video Director. Having worked on Phil Collins’ The First Final Farewell tour as a pit camera operator, Montague soon cemented himself within the video department and the wider production, holding the titles of Video Crew Chief for Collins’ Not Dead Yet tour in 2017, before finally taking the Director role for this tour. “It’s a production that is highly respected within the industry and one I’m very proud to be a part of,” he enthused. “My brief for the IMAG from Patrick Woodroffe was to make it quite a classical screen cut,” continued the Director. “Classical in a way that the IMAG should represent what’s happening on stage. In simple terms, if Tony Banks is playing a keyboard solo, we need to see it on the screen.” With eight different cameras to choose from, there was no shortage of looks for

Poseidon wash xl

POWERFUL & VERSATILE OUTDOOR LED WASH

Poseidon wash xs

POWERFUL & VERSATILE OUTDOOR LED WASH