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Ambersphere supports Stone Roses return

Stone Roses at Heaton Park

31 August 2012

UK - In one of the biggest comebacks of recent times, the Stone Roses chose to work with lighting designer Paul Normandale to design a light and video show to complement their highly anticipated reunion tour this summer.

Amongst other fixtures sharing the stage with the Mancunian band were Clay Paky Sharpys, with the entire show being controlled by the grandMA2 full-size.

"The Stone Roses are a band that focuses on the impact of the music, rather than big production going on around them, and so our challenge was to create a light show that doesn't overwhelm the music but allows the audience, and the band to 'feel' the lighting design connecting to the music," noted grandMA2 programmer Glen Johnson of Lite Alternative.

"We would describe the Stone Roses show as a 'busk show' - it isn't completely pre-programmed. Using the grandMA2 allowed Paul [Normandale] to run the show how he wanted to, and with a degree of flexibility and options. You must have a reliable desk to allow this flexibility and ad-hoc creativity in a live environment and to manually change key lighting elements to reflect the mood and the pace of the music, and the band."

The lighting featured a number of brands, amongst them Clay Paky Sharpys. It was the first time that Normandale had used the Sharpy, and he chose it specifically because he wanted a "bright, tight, narrow vertical beam". He is clear that it proved to be the right choice. "The Sharpy performed perfectly. Against large scale video screens they were definitely bright and offered a different linear look," he says.

"I'm impressed with the size and weight of the fixture, relative to the powerful output, and on the back of the experience I have had with the Sharpy on this tour, I know I will be specifying them again."

See Ambersphere Solutions, Clay Paky and MA Lighting at PLASA 2012.

(Jim Evans)