After the successful tour of the UK and Europe, “Bat for Lashes” Lighting Designer, Ali Pike had a few words to say about the tour and in particular, the ice lighting “Super Tubes” from Beadlight.

“I came into contact with Beadlight for the first time at PLASA 2009 after mentioning to a friend from Avolites that I was looking for 'sparkly' things for an up coming “Bat For Lashes” tour. The Super Tubes had caught his eye earlier in the day so he pointed me in the direction of Beadlight’s stand.
I was impressed with the video content incorporated with the unusual 'glittery' filter on the tubes and felt they would add the bit of sparkle I wanted for the stage but in a subtle way.
I got talking to Alan Oliver (Sales and Marketing Director, Beadlight) and although he explained that the tubes and control system are designed for permanent install into venues, he was keen to allow me to road test the tubes in a concert environment.
Beadlight provided us with tubes and spares, and a media unit and power supply.
I had discussed with Alan prior to the tour the sort of effects we were after. As the show was based around the idea of different weather conditions these included cloudy skies, rain effects, and night skies. Beadlight loaded appropriate content onto the media server and provided me with a list of what channel each look was on.
With the help of Neil Holloway who was systems tech on the Adlib provided rig, we attached clamps and added IEC connectors to make the tubes more road friendly.
I had chosen to incorporate the tubes on 8 individual scaff bars spaced evenly in a semi-circle around the band. Although the tubes are intended in an install environment to be located directly next to another, the video content was still effective despite the spacing of the tubes. I was impressed from the first time we fired them up with the fantastic light output we were getting from them.
I found the media server incredibly easy to use, simply patching in as dimmer channels onto my Avolites Pearl Expert, and then experimenting with RGB mixing and altering the speed of the different video content to get a variety of impressive effects.
The tubes quickly became one of the most magical lighting elements of the show. I think what I liked most about them was that they looked great from every angle, and worked blended in with different stage looks or gave a mystical glow to the stage when used alone.
We used the tubes for the whole of the Bat For Lashes UK production tour, but then kept hold of them and took them out to Europe for some more intimate gigs.
Here I found the tubes invaluable and very flexible. In some of the much smaller venues where I was unable to put up the band's backdrop I simply set up the tubes at various heights creating a wall behind the band which I either used as block colours or ran video through, bringing the stage to life.
It was easy each day to create new looks on the tubes and to add it into my show as required.
I would definitely consider using the beadlight Super Tubes again, and would love to incorporate different formats of the product, such as the panels, into future designs.
I found the media server incredibly easy to use even for a first timer, and yet with enough flexibility to give me the looks and effects I was after.
I thoroughly hope to see this product again in the touring market, and look forward to working with beadlight in the future.”

Ali Pike can be contacted at ali@concert-lighting.co.uk

Posted : 24/03/2010 17:18:04

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