Cliff Richard and the Shadows 2009-2010 tour

Lighting and video designer Derek Jones specified a Jands Vista S3 console to provide lighting, IMAG and video control for the 2009 / 2010 Cliff Richard & The Shadows international tour. The sold-out tour recently completed shows at major UK and European arenas, and re-commences in February for a series of dates in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

When Derek discussed the choice of control console with UK and European tour lighting supplier, Lite Alternative, they suggested the Jands Vista S3. Having jumped between using many other consoles, Derek thought it would be a good opportunity to experience for himself the Vista’s graphical based approach to programming. On the strength of trying the free Vista demo software and then using the S3 for a one-off corporate show, he purchased a console to use for the tour.

Derek commented: “I felt very comfortable using the console, particularly the timeline editing function, which appealed to me having used timeline based editing for video editing. I was a bit nervous about the idea of using an unfamiliar console on such a major tour for the first time, but after trying the desk with success on a corporate show and a few hours of the tour rehearsals, I felt completely at home with the Vista.”

Having worked separately for both Cliff Richard and The Shadows over the past ten years, Derek was keen to design a show which suited both acts’ visual style, so he incorporated a mixture of traditional and high-tech show elements.

Derek wanted a multi-functional scenic / IMAG backdrop to save on truck space and provide a dynamic above-stage show replay system which would give the audience a central view of the IMAG. He specified a 13.5m wide by 4.5m high PixLED screen, supplied by XL Video UK.

For the lighting, he opted for a goalpost truss surrounding the screen featuring MAC700 spots and MAC2000 washes, 19 ETC Source Four fixtures and additional floor-mounted MAC700 units. Video came from a Catalyst media server. The Lighting, video and live camera feeds were all triggered from the S3 console.

Summarising his experience of the Vista, Derek commented: “The Vista has served its purpose very well. I feel very much at home with it. Because Vista is very software based, I can use any of the hardware options that Jands have to offer and still feel that I’ve got a full console in front of me.rdquo;

Lighting designer Matt Arthur used a Jands Vista T2 console to provide lighting control for the recent Mark Ronson UK tour.

The Brit award-winning solo artist returned with his formidable live show for a string of UK dates, with an array of special guests performing all of his hits against the backdrop of a 10-piece band.

LD Matt Arthur had been impressed by the Jands Vista’s capabilities after seeing it used for last year’s Keane arena tour, so decided to try it out for himself on the Mark Ronson tour.

Production meetings led to the idea of re-creating a 60s style TV show set, so the band were placed on a series of risers in a V shape, ranging in height from 0.6m to 1.5m. To give the lighting a suitably retro feel, Matt’s design incorporated some 5K Fresnels retro fitted with LED fixtures inside. The set also featured all red drapes, legs and swagged borders to give it an old school feel.

The tour lighting rig was supplied by Lite Alternative and included Martin MAC700 spots split over three trusses, TW1s on the front truss and MAC250 washes on the floor, with the retro fitted 5K Fresnels on the back truss. The rig also included five 1.5m wide by 4.5m deep Mi-Trix panels upstage, arranged in a 60s theatre style fan shape and sub-hung off the back truss using 250kg Lodestars. All riser fronts were also covered in Mi-Trix panels. Video elements and content were handled by Stevie Marr, with all equipment supplied by XL Video.

Summarising his overall experience using the Vista, Matt commented: “The Vista is very powerful and its potential is huge. I particularly liked the easy way to swap fixtures in and out with the generic fixture model… a breeze. The second day was local lights with my desk and specials, and the feature worked very smoothly. The fact you can bring fixtures in and out and have very minimal re-programming to do is a godsend. I also liked the console’s programmer window, as it gives you a really good idea of where everything is and what it’s doing. I will definitely be considering the Vista for other tours.”

Lighting Designer Chris Reade has specified a Jands Vista T2 lighting console for the current Dierks Bentley Throttle Wide Open US Fall tour, supplied by Bandit Lites Inc.

Known as the hardest working guy in country music, Dierks Bentley’s tour schedule has been at full tilt over the last four years. The multi-platinum singer/songwriter returns for an arena headlining tour, spending the next four months focusing his attention on connecting with his fans in larger venues.

Tour lighting is provided by Bandit Lites Inc. and Video by MooTV. The tour is managed by Todd Ortmeier. Production staff include Crew Chief Chris Hallman and Lighting Technician Dave Langford.

LD Chris Reade has worked with a diverse range of leading rock and pop artists, most recently providing design and/or programming for Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez and Aerosmith. Although Dierks Bentley is Chris’s first experience working with a country artist, the partnership has been very successful, with him taking on lighting duties for a fourth consecutive tour.

Chris admits to having been a die-hard user of another console and pretty set in his ways before seeing the Jands Vista, so he wasn’t really looking to change consoles when he decided to see a demo while prepping the rig for the recent Dierks Bentley Summer tour.

He commented: “My first impressions of the console were fantastic. I was concerned about the learning curve, as I have done things a specific way for so long. I was impressed with the graphical layout and the visual timing features per instrument and per capability of the instrument. All without using a keypad. I was also impressed with the cloning features and duplication of instruments.”

On most consoles, changing or ‘cloning’ a fixture type involves substantial re-programming – a job that can take hours. In contrast, the Vista’s generic fixture model feature records the actual target look on stage so when the user changes a light, the console compares the abilities of the lights and works out how to achieve the same look on stage – even if the new light doesn’t have identical features.

This particular feature really impressed Chris during the demo, as he knew that he would be walking into many unknowns as far as fixtures were concerned on the upcoming Summer tour of festivals and fairs. He therefore wanted a desk that could keep up with these daily changes, and would enable him to easily incorporate the Bandit Lites rig he was prepping as a supplement to whatever the festivals provided.

Having had a great experience with the desk and been impressed by the Vista’s support backup, Chris decided to continue with the console for the Fall tour. He commented: “I continued with the Vista because I knew it could handle whatever I threw at it programming wise, including video. Also, the support for the Vista is amazing. By far the best I have ever received by any company. A giant thank you should go to Darryl Ross of A.C. Lighting Inc.”

This year’s Fall tour features bigger and better production values, with a new stage set featuring a 45′ wide horseshoe shaped half circle and 24′ wings on each side of the stage, making it 100′ wide. A ‘B’ stage has also been added in the crowd. Video was also added to stretch the overall visual element of the show to match the new set. The lighting design is asymmetrical in nature, with multiple truss moves during the show that give the performance a different vibe with each position.

For the lighting, Chris mixed some old school ideas with new ideas. His design features a lot of color temperature looks using filters and different light sources, and even some diffusion in par cans for a really washed out look – one effect features tight moving lights beams cutting through a big washed out incandescent look.

Chris found programming the Fall tour on the Vista hassle-free, and was able to make changes very quickly to the overall look and feel when the band changed the structure of the songs in the set. An important part of Dierks’ performance is leaving the door open for spontaneous moments every night, where he can really connect with the fans and make them feel part of the show. It was therefore crucial that Chris could respond very quickly to these moments with the lighting.

Chris commented: “The Vista made this easier to obtain. Everything is right in front of you, you can see what is happening with each instrument in every step of your cue list visually, and making changes when you can make such fine adjustments is a breeze. Also, if I made a mistake editing cues, I could just ‘undo’ my mistake and do it correctly. This feature works well. I also like looking at my plot visually on screen instead of having to remember user numbers. I use about 4 different layouts for this show to let me see different parts of the show on screen. Adding video to my cues was also easy using the generic fixture model. The timing between the video elements and the lighting elements are seamless.”

The main rig for the Fall tour consists of 18 MAC 2k Profiles, 8 MAC 2k Wash, 20 MAC 600 Wash, 14 Atomic Strobes, 4 2k Fresnels, 72 Par 64’s, 78 Element Labs Versatube HD’s, 4 Spotlights, Jands Vista T2 console and High End AXON video server. Everything is controlled from the Vista console.

Summarising his experience using the Vista, LD Chris Reade commented: “I know the Vista can do what I need in any situation. I also know that if I need help, it’s there. My peace of mind is fantastic using this console, and the learning curve was not as intimidating as I had previously thought. Once you dive in, you’re hooked. This is how all consoles should be modeled in the future. If you’re using another desk you’re missing out on something important. You NEED to check this desk out.”

The Dierks Bentley Throttle Wide Open tour is scheduled to continue well into 2008.

LD Jeff Lava specifies a Vista T2 for Paulina Rubio’s 2007 tour.

The 2007 Love, Light and Sound tour to promote the top-selling Mexican pop artist’s latest album, Anarda, commenced in February with dates in Europe, followed by a March tour of Latin America. The show is currently playing 29 dates in North America and then returns to each region for more Summer and Fall dates.

Tour LD Jeff Lava was hired to take over programming and directing duties after the rig was designed by Barry Halpin in January. When it came to choosing a control console, Jeff decided to check out the Jands Vista after hearing good things about it from a colleague who’d recently used it on a tour.

One of the features that really stood out to Jeff during a demo was the Vista’s generic fixture model. On most other consoles, changing a fixture type involves substantial re-programming – a job that can take hours. In contrast, the Vista records the actual target look on stage so when the user changes a light, the console compares the abilities of the lights and works out how to achieve the same look on stage – even if the new light doesn’t have identical features.

Jeff knew that this feature would really help him out on the European and Latin American tour dates, where due to the logistics of transporting equipment, the only thing he was taking with him was a console, so he hired a Vista T2 for these dates from Steve Nance at US-based Integrity Productions.

He commented: “One of the main reasons that I got the Vista was because we were going to Central America with only a desk. In countries like El Salvador, Columbia and Spain we gave them my plot and I rarely got the specific light I was asking for at most of the venues – I knew that I would get what they had, which was difficult. Language was also a barrier and though sometimes we would fly the rig the day prior to the show, often we had to wait until the last hour to set up the show, due to transportation issues.

The cloning feature of the Vista was superb – I walked into a venue, got their patch list and within twenty minutes I’d have my show converted with their lights. It was a big relief to know I could always rely on the Vista’s generic fixture model and didn’t need to re-program the show’s 380-odd cues from the start everyday. The only thing I would do is touchups. It was an extra 30mins a day, but after the fixture swap the show was 90% there.”

Jeff also found this process of making show changes ‘on the fly’ each day was made even faster and easier by the Vista’s timeline editor, as he was able to review every aspect of the show’s programming visually on a timeline and then go straight to any point in the show where he wanted to make edits.

The main rig for the European and Latin American tour dates included 40 Martin MAC 2000K washes arranged upstage, downstage and on the floor, 30 MAC 2000 Performance fixtures arranged on 6 curved trusses hanging over the band, and 100 LED fixtures hanging on the upstage truss in blocks of 10.

The current North American leg of the tour uses a permanent rig and Vista console provided by Richard Willis from Bandit Lites Inc., and was programmed by Jeff in the visualisation suite at Bandit’s headquarters in Nashville, TN.

Other lighting equipment used for the North American rig includes XSpots, MAC 600s, Atomic Strobes, 4Light Moles and a Catalyst media server also controlled by the Vista console to run the 100 LED fixtures.

Having now experienced using the Vista under the very different production conditions of Latin and North America, Jeff realized how much easier the console was making the process of adapting his show around the daily challenges of touring.

He commented: “We are playing several Casinos on the US tour. There are going to be times when we can’t load in because a lot of the venues have house-lighting rigs hung. Also, sometimes there are more fixtures in the grid so I can clone them into my show. The Vista is a great way to expand your show without re-programming the show every day when you come into a situation like this.”

Another aspect of the Vista that Jeff was really impressed with was the level of support he received from Jands and A.C. Lighting.

He commented: “Tech support was amazing. When we were in Medellin, Colombia, the lights at the venue were replicas of moving lights that didn’t have profiles. After emailing A.C.’s Fred Mikeska and the Vista support crew, I had the profiles re-written and emailed to me, and the show was quickly up and running.”

Summarising his experience using the Vista, Jeff commented: “I’ve used most lighting desks and Jands have come up with a console that is very different to the others – they were thinking out of the box when they conceived it. The Vista is an easy and fast desk that helps out the lighting programmers and directors. The slogan when you start the desk up – think visually, work visually – is true. We are visual people and we think that way. It’s about time a company made a console that helps us lighting designers out. I will definitely be using the Vista in future.”

Bandit Lites

Lighting Designer Shailesh Gopalan and Programmer Becket Tundatil carried a Vista S3 system for the Indian star’s tour of North America.

India’s Top Film Composer And One Of The World’s Most Popular Musicians, A R Rahman is the pride of his nation, having sold more than 100 million albums. The 3rd Dimensional Tour kicked off on the 27th of May 2007, taking in 9 cities across North America.

Lighting equipment for the tour included

• 30 x Mac 2000
• 12 x Mac 600
• 8 x Mac 2000 wash
• 20 x Source Fours 750′
• 14 x Par 64
• 2 x DL2 Digital Light
• Led Curtain

Lighting Designer Rob Sinclair has specified Jands Vista T2 and S3 consoles for award-winning UK band Keane’s current world tour.

The 16 month tour to promote latest album Under The Iron Sea began last Apriland has incorporated every size of venue, ranging from intimate club shows to arenas. The shows culminate in August with festival headlining slots.

Keane embarked on the North American leg in May, which includes dates in LA, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Portland, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, District of Columbia and New York.

LD Rob Sinclair has enjoyed a highly successful working relationship with the band since taking over lighting duties – something which is mirrored by his partnership with the Jands Vista console since its launch back in 2004.

Rob commented: “I absolutely adore the console. It’s made my life so much easier and more productive, and makes me look like a much better LD than I really am!”

For this tour, Rob’s brief from the band was to make the stage look as cluttered as possible and give it a sense of space and depth. Rob worked with video pioneer Kevin Godley, who came up with the concept of a forest of aluminium vertical poles with light shining through it to give the set a very 3D perspective.

The rig for the US leg was supplied by Chicago-based Upstaging Inc. and is a scaled-down version of the European arena show. Featuring MAC 700 spot and wash moving lights along with a mixture of Airstar balloons, conventional fixtures and Atomic Strobes, the rig also includes a Kinesys motor control system using custom Pantographs specially built for the tour by Blackburn-based HSL Group.

There is also a strong video element in Rob’s design, which consists of a mixture of abstract images and live close-up feeds from four remote cameras. Three Catalyst media servers supplied by UK-based Scenographic provide the custom video content, which was made for the tour by Rob and Tom Palliser from Whitehouse Pictures.

The wide popularity of the band has meant the production has visited a variety of venues in Europe, North America, Asia and South America.

In this respect the Vista’s ease of use and time-saving features, such as the generic fixture model, have really helped Rob deal with the unpredictable nature of playing completely different size venues from night to night and the challenges of using locally sourced rigs.

He commented: “After having such a good experience with the Vista on the last Keane tour it really was a no-brainer when it came to choosing a desk.”

Commenting on the increased benefits with this tour he added: “I did the first date a year ago and am still using the same Vista show file from day one, it’s just grown and grown with the tour. I only need to work on a song once and the console keeps it. If I’m using new fixtures I just change fixture types.”

Rob’s also been impressed by the overall user-friendliness of the console, leading him to control absolutely everything you see on stage with it, including the camera close-up shots which he cuts from the Vista using a preview monitor.

In addition to using a Vista T2 as the main production console, Rob has also been using a Mac-based Vista S3 to cope with some of the more intimate shows where the lighting was supplied locally.

As with previous Keane tours, the Vista consoles were supplied by UK-based Lite Alternative, who Rob has worked with for many years.

Lighting the team introductions for the NBA playoffs in a 442,000 square-foot arena provides some unique challenges. Kevin Stirling recently posted, on the Light Network, about his experiences with Vista and using VNC for remote control.

Reprinted with permission. Photo by Darryl Ross

“Just thought I’d take a moment to gush…

DaVinci-Fusion, Inc and I brought the Vista to Sacramento’s ARCO Arena for player introductions at games 3, 4, and 6 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs. There would have been more shows, but when you lose you take your toys and go home.

The Vista, of course, performed flawlessly and poetically again this year, but that’s not the point of this post. I wanted to make it clear how thrilled I was with the performance of the Vista under VNC control over a wireless router during programming, install, and rehearsal.

My console sits in the farthest upper reaches of the arena: Northwest corner, catwalk, 90′ above the deck. While affording a bird’s eye view, this position also creates issues with line of sight during programming (scoreboard obscures at least 15% of the house), so invariably some base foci are difficult to verify without multiple long walks around the catwalk. In the dark. At 3 am. Pinned on Rockstar Juic’d. You know how it is.

This issue is avoided with one ride down the freight elevator, and a stroll through well-lit hallways back into the darkened arena where I’ve set up my lappy running VNC at the scorer’s table. There I get full access to Vista’s desktop and, in one short session, fix all the spots I previously couldn’t see. Update some presets. Fix some cues that don’t look as cool from the floor as they did from the air. Run the show again from another perspective. Ah, freedom.

All that says nothing of the time I save on load-in. I used to set up the console once downstairs to verify the rig pre-fly, and then again upstairs with the rig at trim. Now there’s only one set-up upstairs; control is verified from the deck pre-fly and at trim via PC.

Nor does it tell of the assured smiles and dulcet tones I receive from our client, the Kings’ Director of Event Presentation, when I can sit next to him during his rehearsals and be present for all discussions of content not necessarily transmitted over comms. Additionally, if I’m on the floor, my sales manager can talk to me and still collude with the powers that be. That makes him feel better. That, in and of itself, makes my life easier.

In short, don’t be afraid to VNC your Vista. I ran that sucker wireless at a good 500′ range in a building filled with steel and other wireless systems running rampant. Lag was sometimes noticeable, but not prevalent. I didn’t feel secure enough to run the show from the lappy due to the lag, but it may have worked. More experiments with same are forthcoming.

VNC your Vista. Make a love connection.”

Lighting designer Paul Normandale and programmer Rob Sinclair (pictured) chose the Jands Vista for the recent international tour of BRIT-award winning band Keane. We asked them why they chose the Vista.

Rob Sinclair: “Adding and removing lights to suit each venue was a breeze: the copy, paste and extract features alone make it worth switching to the Vista. But quite apart from its unique features, the desk performed faultlessly throughout the tour and was a true pleasure to use”.

Paul Normandale: “As any programmer will tell you, the worst aspect of any tour is constantly re-programming the desk to suit every house rig. The Vista’s generic fixture model was very impressive – it just took our fixture data and adapted it to each rig. The amount of time we saved was significant”.

Visitors to the MINI Stand at the 2004 Birmingham Motor Show were treated to a truly unprecedented light show, courtesy of Essential Lighting and the revolutionary Jands Vista console.

EL’s Managing Director and Lighting Designer Martin Locket (right), together with Moving Light Programmer Martin Seymour (left), were looking to do something totally different with this show:

“The Jands Vista opened up lots of new possibilities. We were able to create all sorts of effects such as multiple offset wipes incredibly quickly. We had 300 cues in an eight-minute show, and some of those we would simply never have attempted on any other console.

If you want to create a truly innovative show without hours of number crunching, the Vista is the only console for you.”

Click on thumbnails for more images