Snow Patrol

PRODUCTION PROFILE

SNOW PATROL

The Northern Irish five piece marked their illustrious return to UK arenas – after a five-year hiatus – with a new album under their belts, much to the delight of fans. TPi’s Stew Hume was on site at Manchester Arena to speak to the band’s crewmembers in what turned out to be quite the family reunion…

SNOW PATROL

You won’t be hard-pushed to cast your mind back to a time when Snow Patrol dominated the UK music scene. With hits including Open Your Eyes and Chasing Cars, they are arguably the most recognisable standard-bearer of noughties UK arena rock. Their music also has a place in contemporary pop culture, synonymous with countless emotional climaxes in film and TV both sides of the Atlantic. But for the vast majority of this decade, the band have taken an extended hiatus from the music industry. This seven-year break clearly hasn’t dampened the demand from fans who faced the temperamental January weather to fill Manchester Arena to welcome back Snow Patrol.

“The reception for this run has been phenomenal and every show feels like a triumph,” commented Tour Manager Neil Mather, a few hours before the band were due to hit the stage. “People have been waiting for this show for a long time and the band have really found their groove,” he added. The same clearly applies to the touring family, many of whom picked up where the band left off in 2011, taking up their old roles and jumping back aboard the bus. Mather started with Snow Patrol in 2005 but some crew members have been in this camp for 20 years, creating a “really nice family on this tour.”

Robin Scott, who has one of the longest relationships with the band,

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once again sat in the Production Manager chair. Scott’s history with the band goes all the way back to the late ‘90s in Glasgow’s famed King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut. “I had been working for there a number of years while the Snow Patrol guys were also living in Glasgow,” reminisced the Scottish PM. “I got to know them when they were starting to take off and were looking for a tour manager. I had never tour managed a band in my life but a mutual friend suggested me for the job.” Scott toured with the band for a number of years before taking some time off the road. “That didn’t last too long,” he laughed, as he recounted how he re-joined the band back in 2009 as Production Manager, a position he has held for every subsequent tour.

The PM was on tour with Lorde in New Zealand at the tail end of 2017 when he first got word about the return of Snow Patrol. “We started doing some warm up shows in April followed by a tour of Ireland,” stated Scott. “Then we headed to America to support Ed Sheeran’s American leg.” During this run the band’s long-time LD, Davy Sherwin began producing looks for what would become the headline show while Scott began to put all the pieces in place for the suppliers.

For the tour, Scott called upon Adlib for audio, Lights Control Rigging for lighting, Universal Pixels for Video, BPM SFX for lasers, Brilliant Stages, Beat the Street, McGuinness Trucking and Popcorn Catering. Many of the suppliers had long working relationships with both Scott and the band. “I have known Mike Oates from Lights Control Rigging (LCR) and Phil Mercer from Universal Pixels for a number of years,” stated Scott, before complimenting the companies’ services. “The same goes for Adlib, which I’ve used a number of times over the years and BPM SFX which I’ve employed for pretty much every EDM artist.”

The PM said most of the faces on the crew were familiar explaining he brought back the veteran backline crew early on, alongside FOH Engineer Nigel Pepper, Show Designer Davy Sherwin and Production and Tour Manager Assistant Kim Gray. “My main additions on this show were our Stage Manager Johannes Soelter, Donny Macdonald, our Head Rigger, and our video team consisting of Robin Haddow and Jon Shrimpton,” said Scott.

SHOW DESIGN Show and Lighting Designer, Davy Sherwin, talked TPi through the aesthetic origins of the tour, saying it began with a discussion with singer Gary Lightbody in early 2017. “It was just us chatting about some ideas over a cup of tea. I then collated all that information and, mixing in my own ideas, I went off and started drawing.” Following the initial planning stage, Sherwin and the rest of the Snow Patrol crew headed state-side to support Ed Sheeran, a period which the LD was incredibly grateful for as it gave him plenty of time to design the band’s UK headline show. “Designing while still being on the road meant every couple of days I could go into their dressing room and show them what I had been working on and get immediate feedback,” enthused the LD.

The design was laid out to create an “immersive experience for both the band and the audience,” explained Sherwin. “My aim was to make everyone feel they were in the show together.” For example, Sherwin was keen to

create a projection ‘box’ surrounding the band with content being played on all four sides. The front, stage left and right sides of the box were created by gauze roll drops and the large LED backdrop from Universal Pixels acted as the rear wall.

Leading the automation and set elements were duo Callum Short, in his role as Set Carpenter and Jonny Chandler, the Automation Engineer. “Originally the tour was set up to have one person handle all the set elements,” began Chandler. “However, due to the scale of automation and the size of set, we bring in another crew member. This means I can concentrate on the automation and Callum can give me a hand, then when its up in the air I can help him to get the other staging elements into place.” Seven modified roll drops acted as an Austrian Drape, supplied by Brilliant Stages. As a regular freelancer for the staging specialist, Chandler commented how the package provided was in-keeping with the latest “off the shelf automation package” which enabled simpler integration of staging elements.

Stage Manager, Johannes Soelter talked TPi through the day-to-day load-ins for the show. “For this tour there are certainly a lot of individual elements,” began Soelter. “Like a lot of modern tours, the lighting rig is pre-built on the truss so it’s a case of rolling them in and hoisting them out of the way. There’s a lot of floor traffic which requires various marshalling areas.” Each day, Soelter’s morning call was a 7am marking of the floor with a collective local call of 38 hands and 15 riggers. “It’s a sizeable local crew but the whole tour has progressed well,” stated Soelter. “Some of the smaller venues were interesting in terms of storage but the local staff were all incredibly helpful and accommodating.”

Load Cell Rental was asked to complete a weight report of the rig for the tour. “Robin is a repeat customer of ours,” stated Colin Luke. Barret and Luke used 30 wireless Broadweigh load cells at Production Park during rehearsals and completed an insurance backed report to ensure the tour and all future venues know the actual weights of the show. “This included recording the dynamic weights of the show during automation use to ensure a full picture of the loadings was achieved,” commented Luke. “Due to distribution of the weights needing to be monitored a load cell hire was taken for the duration of the tour.”

VIDEO AND VISUALS From design conception, video content was always at the forefront of the conversation, alongside the unique video design which included the projection ‘box’. The tour’s video package was supplied by recent TPi Award winners, Universal Pixels (UP). LD Davy Sherwin continued: “Content ideas would be created in a few ways, typically Gary would come up with an idea or vague concept for content without placing it with a specific song.” Sherwin then called upon content creators Atticus Finch to help realise a selection of these looks. The other major visual elements were facilitated by live camera feeds and real time effects via Notch and disguise gx2 media servers. “It’s an element the band were particularly excited to implement,” commented Sherwin, saying the work of Notch on the projection drapes were a favourite with the artists.

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Production Manager, Robin Scott; Stage Manager, Johannes Soelter; Media Server Technician, Robin Haddow; BPM SFX’s Adam Murray, Cobain Schofield, Cosmin Barbuceanu & Katie Strickland; Assistant Lighting Programmer, Jake Humphries & Show Designer Davy Sherwin.

Leading delivery of the video content was Robin Haddow, the tour’s Media Server Technician who was situated at FOH. “While Davy was working on the designs during the Sheeran tour, we held several conference calls with our Video Director, Jon Shrimpton, giving our input on what we thought would and wouldn’t work.”

Haddow is well-versed in utilising the Notch / disguise combination, having familiarised himself with it on an Ellie Goulding tour some years earlier. “With Snow Patrol, we’ve moved away from some of the more stereotypical looks people tend to use Notch for, such as camera fades, opting for more generative content.”

Haddow spoke candidly about the challenges of creating the ‘boxed’ video look aesthetic. “One of the main concerns was that the lighting rig might be too bright for the projectors to produce a clear image, but Davy brought down the lights to give clarity to the projection surfaces.” Four Panasonic RZ31K Projectors were used for the video box effect - two flown portrait over stage, two flown landscape, stacked at FOH.

Meanwhile, the impressive LED back wall was made up of 10mm Leyard CLM panels, all of which were provided by UP. Haddow, who dubbed the vendor’s gear as “fantastic”, told TPi: “I have known Phil Mercer (co- Founder, UP) for a number of years and it’s great to be able to continue our relationship with his new company.”

The Media Server Technician also discussed the benefits of being situated out at FOH alongside Sherwin. “I think it’s really important as during the show, it’s difficult to communicate and there is so much you can take from a person’s facial expression. For a lot of the show, I’m riding the level of the LED to match the lighting. This means if Davy thinks it’s too bright, he can simply shoot me a look, and I’ll know what he needs.” Video Director Jon Shrimpton dealt with four manned Sony HDC-1500Rs and four Agile ARC360 Lites. “I have used the Agile cameras previously on Robbie Williams,” he commented. “They were originally developed to be used for yacht races which makes them incredibly durable for life on

the road. Their weather-proofing in particular has been incredibly handy through the years.”

Shrimpton explained that his main prerogative as a director is giving fair airtime to all band members on stage. “As is the way with most bands, the singer often gets the most attention, but I always want to make sure everyone gets their face on the screen. For our second song, I set up an ISO shot of the five band members, each of which are streamed simultaneously onto the back wall. It’s a great little moment to re-introduce the guys to the back of the crowds after some time away from the spotlight.”

For control, Shrimpton used a Snell Advanced Media Kula 2 ME vision mixer, with six independent outputs into the two disguise gx2 media servers.

“As well as getting great support and picture toys from Universal Pixels; we’ve also been fortunate to have an incredible video crew,” concluded Shrimpton. “We have Video Crew Chief Joe Makein, Video Engineer Piotr Klymckek, LED tech, Eoin Mc Brien, Projectionists Marcus Wareham and Tony Whitehead and Head of Cameras, Gordon Davies.”

LIGHTING Sherwin continued to map out the visuals by outlining the lighting rig for the show. “Originally the goal for the rear LED wall was to have lighting fixtures in between the gaps in panels,” said the LD. “However, we found it didn’t translate very well for video content.” The solution chosen by the Show Designer was to use a 10mm LED product and rig a lighting system behind the panels which could shoot through. The fixtures in question were GLP impression X4 Bar 20s along with a range of BPM SFX laser fixtures – but more on them later. Sherwin praised the X4 Bars, of which they had 130 on the rig, saying, “I tried to be quite clever with the X4s and not just produce long straight lines. I really only started using the X4s last year and it’s been great to use them in this format on an arena stage. The whole look of the show is centred around the rectangular box which is created with the

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projection drapes as well as the X4s creating the defined lines. They are the perfect light for defining the shape.” Also on the rig were 22 Claypaky Unicos “to give be some backlighting for the band and occasionally for gobos”, 24 Ayrton Magic Panel FXs and 10 Martin by Harman MAC Auras. Sherwin also deployed 8 Unicos on the front truss for key lighting the band with 4 Robert Juliat 4K Lancelots at FOH for spots. Reflecting on his creation, the LD explained how this design has been the net result of all his other projects from recent years.

For control, 2 MA Lighting grandMA2s were deployed. “I’ve got Jake Humphries working as my assistant programmer on this run,” stated Sherwin, complementing his righthand man. “He’s an extremely clever and fast programmer. He knew exactly what I was looking for when he first saw the renders. He’s worked for me as a tech for several tours but this is his first time sitting out at FOH with me. He’s doing a great job.”

To close, Sherwin commented on the support received by supplier, Lights Control Rigging. “I’ve known Mike Oats (owner of LCR) for 20 years or so and worked with him a number of times. Even prior to starting LCR he used to source gear for me for some of my regular acts including Travis and Wolf Alice.”

LASERS BPM SFX added the final visual element to Sherwin’s show concept with a selection of laser effects. Coincidently, owner of BPM SFX, Adam Murray, was visiting Manchester Arena and TPi got to sit down with him to talk about this project.

“Our first contact with Snow Patrol was with PM Robin Scott who we’d worked together initially on the juggernaut Swedish House Mafia production when he was PM,” commented Murray. “Since then we’ve kept that relationship going with numerous acts over the years since then. In my opinion he is one of the elite PM’s in the industry, so we were thrilled to get the call on Snow Patrol .” He continued: “For starters, working with Davy has been a pleasure. He had this amazing creative from the off, but allowed us to pitch in

ideas and opinions on what would work with the show to achieve his concept and looks.”

BPM SFX provided three main groups of laser effects for the tour. The first was a roof rig consisting of 5, 15W Kvant Lasers. The second was a rig set up behind the LED backdrop made of 4, 8W Kvant Lasers. Finally, marking one of the newest editions to the BPM SFX offering, were 6 Wahlberg Winches, housing 18W laser animation OPS Colour projectors. “We brought in the Wahlberg Winches this year,” said Murray. “With our sector of the industry growing, we are always looking to provide new offerings for clients and automation is one such element.” The BPM SFX team first came across the Wahlbergs while working in a residency in Ibiza and began talks with the view to including them in the fleet. “When they are not being used they can be sent back in the roof,” said Murray. “We’ve spent three months on R&D trying to ensure the data and power are in one slick package. The Wahlberg’s control system has come on leaps and bounds and we’re excited to see where it leads.”

The idea of every visual element having “their moment” was one of Murray’s biggest complements to Sherwin as an LD. “He never wants to put everything on at the same time,” said Murray, adding, “Every element gets its time from the video, to the lasers and lighting.”

Overseeing the laser setup for the show was Cosmin Barbuceanu, Head Laser Tech and Operator, and Cobain Schofield, Laser Stage Technician. “The show is timecoded and each look is controlled via a Pangolin Beyond,” commented Barbuceanu. “In total we are running the lasers on seven tracks during the set. What’s interesting is that we are using the lasers on the builds of some tracks rather than on the traditional ‘drops’.” The BPM SFX team should be particularly proud of a look designed for the chorus of What if this is all the love you ever get? - where lasers in the roof projected the lyrics onto the front facing gauze. “It’s actually in the band’s handwriting,” stated Barbuceanu. “It takes a while to produce this look as you basically have to trace by hand and add that effect to the Beyond – it’s very manual but looks fantastic.”

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Tour Manager, Neil Mather; Automation Engineer, Jonny Chandler & Set Carpenter Callum Short; Video Director, Jon Shrimpton; Monitor Engineer, Jamie Hickey; Adlib’s Sam Proctor.

Newcomer to the BPM SFX team, Schofield had originally worked in the lighting world for the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Everything Everything and Passenger. “I’d always watched the laser people do their stuff and was curious how it worked so I’m really happy to be involved in the Snow Patrol production,” mused Schofield.

AUDIO In collaboration with audio supplier Adlib, FOH Nigel Pepper and Monitor Engineer Jamie Hickey ensured the band sounded their best each night.

The PA in question was an L-Acoustics K1/K2 system. Discussing the finer points of the rig was Adlib’s Sam Proctor, who described a main hang of 14 K1s per side with 4 KARA down fills and 8 K1SBs flown behind, as well as 12 K2s flown on the side and 4 KARAs. These, he explained, were used for a centre cluster to “prevent the need for in-fills, keeping the front of stage clear of speakers” as per the request of the design team. On the floor were KS28s which were in 7 stacks of 3 to provide even coverage. Also, for the eager barrier-dwellers, one L-Acoustics X8 was deployed. Powering the system across the board were L-Acoustics LA12Xs. Proctor oversaw all the array processing during the tour. “We are lucky enough at Adlib to have a database of most of the large venues in Europe which gives me a head start when we are loading in first thing in the morning.” Proctor utilised the L-Acoustics Soundvision software for tuning the PA each day. “I’ll tend to fly stage left with Aaron Briggs flying stage right along with Neil Dodd who is overseeing subs and fills. We’ll have the system tuned up and ready for Neil at FOH to listen between one and two pm.” For FOH control Pepper utilised a Midas Pro X along with his collection of outboard gear, which travels with the Engineer for each show.

Jamie Hickey, Monitor Engineer and one of the few newcomers to the Snow Patrol camp, talked about his entry into the touring family. “I already knew some of the guys on the tour including Graham Hunter, our Drum Tech, and FOH Engineer Nigel,” began Hickey. “Over the years, Snow Patrol have had some big names take care of their monitors - people I really look

up to in the industry - so it’s a bit surreal to be in this position. It’s certainly big boots to fill.”

The engineer went on to describe his mentality when dealing with monitors. “There are a lot of audio guys who will say they can do both FOH and monitors, but for these guys they really need a specialist monitor engineer who can provide what they are looking for. Essentially, I’m playing the role of a musical butler, tending to each member’s specific need.” The engineer elaborated on the “specific tastes” of each musician and “what they like to hear, all the way down to the type of click track.” To help cater for the band’s every need, Hickey opted for a DiGiCo SD7. “I haven’t specified anything else for the last six years as I know it will be able to produce anything an artist might request. It’s the most flexible format I have ever come across and the support you get from the company is second to none.”

The engineer was using the SD7 with the Stadius 32-bit mic pre amp. “It’s made a significant tonal difference. They are still fairly new so I’m bringing it with me around the world on this run and installing it in my SD racks on various continents – it’s already racked up a fair few air miles.”

For the on stage sound the band and crew made use of Jerry Harvey Roxanne moulds with wireless transmission courtesy of Sennheiser 2000s. “I’ve got Terry Smith out with me this year helping oversee all the RF for the tour,” commented Hickey, praising the work of the tour’s wireless guru. “He’s brilliant. He really has his work cut out for him each day with all the RF emissions from other departments and externally. But he’s all over it and has been a real saviour during this tour.”

For microphones the audio crew opted for Sennheiser 5200s with a DPA d:facto capsule used for Lightbody’s vocals. “We tried several brands during our rehearsal period and this was the best combination for mics,” enthused Hickey. “Running analogue with the 5200s gave us the lowest latency which, for me, as an engineer is always of utmost importance. If you have an issue with latency on a digital model at the source then you’re already on the back foot before you start using plug-ins. Personally, I’m using Waves plug-ins – specifically C6 Multiband Processor and Vitamin Sonic Enhancer

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The Popcorn Catering crew serving up yet another culinary delight.

– which create latency, so I want as strong a source as possible. Gary is particularly orally sensitive and picks up on the time difference, so I want to get it as close as possible to real time.”

But the engineer was quick to point out that some of the most important mics in his rider were the ones pointing at the audience. This included pair of Rode NTG1s, in conjunction with a pair of Sennheiser MKH416s and a 2 AKG 414s. “We have a lot of sing-alongs which I ride throughout the set. One of the main mics is one I have almost exclusively for Gary on the downstage so he can have some banter with the audience between songs.”

For guitars and bass, the band opted to use Kempers rather than traditional amp and cabinet setups. “This was the band’s first run on digital amps,” stated Hickey. “It took a lot of work as you can’t simply pull them out the box and start playing.” The two guitarists opted for rather different setups, with lead axe man Nathan Connolly utilising a large ground control system interacting with his racks while Gary Lightbody opted for his tried and true collection of Boss pedals which have been faithfully at his feet for years. Hickey, while on the subject of backline, commented on Johnny McDaid, the band’s guitar and keys player, who’s set up would boggle the mind of the most savvy tech. “It’s a fusion of playback, monitors and his own performance space. He controls his own monitors via an iPad with me sending him MADI streams from the desk.”

The Monitor Engineer concluded by discussing the service he and the rest of the team had received from their supplier Adlib. “The first time I worked with them was back in 2012 while I was with Amy McDonald. Since then I’ve worked with them a number of times and I’m always impressed with the service. You always know the people they send out will be knowledgeable.”

LOGISTICS Away from the show floor, TPi caught up with Lead Caterer of Popcorn Catering, Simon Reynor. For the run Popcorn supplied a team of five crew to keep the Snow Patrol family fed. “We’ve got an on-going relationship with

Robin Scott, having worked with him on several projects,” stated Reynor. “We’ve not been given too many special requests on this run although we always try to keep up with on-going trends. For example on this one we have made a special efforts to provide more vegan options.”

“I’ve known Wendy Deans from Popcorn since the days I worked at Tea in the Park,” reminisced Scott. “She is always my first choice when it comes to tour catering.”

Moving the conversations on from lunch to logistics, the PM outlined some of his suppliers of choice to get the band from A to B. “Trucking this run has been provided by McGuinness,” said Scott. “I’ve crossed paths with them a few times over the years and have always been impressed with their services.” Also on the road with Snow Patrol were Beat The Street. “You know it’s always a good tour when the black busses turn up,” joked the PM, speaking of the admiration he has for this trusted bussing company.

With the stage set, the Northern Irish quintet emerged to raucous applause from the Manchester crowd who had clearly been eagerly awaiting their return for the last five years. This grand reunion which had brought together familiar faces both on and off the stage, certainly went over well with the thousands in attendance with the excitement and joy of the band coming over throughout the night. And with a busy 2019 ahead of them, this is clearly only the beginning of Snow Patrol’s return to the spot light. TPi Photos: Bradley Quinn and TPi www.snowpatrol.com www.unipix.tv www.adlib.co.uk www.lcr-rental.com www.loadcellrental.com www.brilliantstages.com www.bpm-sfx.com ww.mcguinness.eu www.beatthestreet.net

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