Robbie Williams

Heavy Entertainment

 

When it comes to pop, there’s no bigger star than Robbie Williams.  Appropriately titled The Heavy Entertainment Show, Williams’ latest worldwide stadium tour kicked off in Manchester at the beginning of June. 

 

The stunning set, created by legendary stage designer, Es Devlin, is framed by two giant Lichtenstein Pop Art ‘pow’ cut outs. 

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Although this is Devlin’s first collaboration with Robbie Williams, ER Productions’ Andrew Turner worked with lighting director Mark Cunniffe and operator Jonathan Rouse on the ‘Let Me Entertain You’ tour in 2015/2016.  

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With the lasers briefed to be as bright as possible, Turner took his cue from Devlin’s design “We immediately saw the potential to populate the focal ‘pow’ shape with lasers, and rigged twenty of our new Kinekt units around its circumference, which really makes it pop”, comments Turner.

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Kinekt, which is an evolution of ER’s Beamburst technology, has exceptionally bright beam quality for a diminutive, lightweight fixture and features an integrated FB4 for added programming flexibility.

On stage, Turner spread twenty of ER Productions’ BB3 units across the stage deck and populated a Roll n Hud lighting truss with twenty Beambursts, creating a wall of beams and diffraction behind the band risers.  A final flourish of laser power was provided by six Phaenon Pro 30000 units, which spanned the entire width of the stage. To highlight the lasers, all-important atmospherics were provided by six Viper deLuxe smoke machines and four Unique hazers.

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Turner also utilised two follow-spot towers, which supported horseshoe shaped trusses populated with lighting fixtures. “We jumped onto this and put eight GLP Burst units on each horseshoe”, he continues.

Although lasers are used throughout the show, key laser tracks include Angels, Feel and Rock DJ, which required the lighting and laser teams to colour match effects with neon content emblazoned across giant screens, creating a show stopping look for Robbie’s former No.1 hit.

“On the previous tour, the big laser number was ‘Feel’ and the same held true this year. Lasers were also used in ‘Angels’ with stripped back programming and strong white beams creating a stand out look for one of his most memorable songs.”

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Marc Webber, co-founder of ER Productions, concludes, “With a large-scale, high profile show like this, an experienced crew goes a long way to ensuring a smooth run.  As always, Andrew has done us proud with his designs and with Ben Couch operating for the duration of the tour, Robbie’s show lasers are in the best possible hands. We couldn’t be happier with how it looks”.