EDM producer, DJ, and singer Alexandra Margo Sholler is Alison Wonderland, a classically trained musician known for her event like live shows where she often jumps between spinning the tables to singing right out in front and brings out her classical instruments to enliven the show.
Earlier this month, Alison Wonderland performed her Temple of Wonderland at Colorado’s legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre where her two back to back nights completely sold out.
Melbourne-based lighting designer David Fairless of Colourblind travelled to the US with the rest of the Alison Wonderland camp saying it has an honour for him to be able to work on this show.
“The show has been in the pipeline for a few months, I am so thankful for the tireless work from Sounds Australia and Alison’s team to get me here,” he commented. “This is the darkest time for everyone back home in Australia and my thoughts have been with my colleagues and loved ones throughout the whole process. The hardship they and the industry are under has been huge but there is a light at the end of the tunnel now and I hope everyone can get back to work as soon as possible.”
This was a one-off show that was created solely for Red Rocks although they are hoping to grow the look behind the scenes and develop it further for a headline tour next year – hopefully seeing it travel around the world.
Alison Wonderland puts a lot of trust in her team and sees them all as creatives who can come to work together on the show. From working together for years, Alison entrusted David with the show and had not seen one lighting cue until they debuted the show at Red Rocks!
Ben Dalgleish was the show designer and David designed the lighting as well as being the programmer and operator.
“Ben created a very striking stage design that used the depth of LED screens and staging elements to create an overall image that opened the door for creative content looks as well as lighting looks,” said David. “We worked well together on aspects of the show to make sure that video and lighting both had their hero moments but also cohesively worked together throughout to give us the outcome we desired.”
Some highlight moments from the design were when lighting and video content matched so perfectly it seemed as if beams of light were coming through the content onto the crowd.
“It was great working with another lighting designer where we could work off each other in creating the best looks for the show,” added David. “I really wanted to go for something powerful. Something that compliments the stage design but also has a strong identity. You know me, strength in unity is always what I aim for!”
The way David designed the show was something that you could recognise from one photo but also opened up the ability to create complex programming looks that aided him in adding in all the tricks he has learnt over the last few years.
“Alison is very particular about her whole set, how it flows, what sounds are louder than others and how she even mixes between songs,” remarked David. “This was our challenge as we were constantly adapting to last-minute changes, some up until a few days before the show. It was a challenge but a welcome one as Alison was able to play her ideal set and provide the crowd with a mind-altering experience that we could respond to with lighting and visuals.”
According to David, the rig was massive, easily one of the biggest Red Rocks had fitted onto that stage. He says they had the pleasure of working with Brown Note to supply video, lighting, rigging and audio and All Access Staging to provide the stage deck and the motorised DJ lift.
Lighting
76 x Martin Axioms
34 x GLP JDCs
42 x GLP X4 20 Bars
11 x Robe Fortes
13 x Chauvet Strike 4 blinders
12 x Elation SevenBatten 72s
16 x Hazers
6 x Smoke Machines
2 x MA Lighting grandMA2 Consoles
Video
50 x Roe CB8
112 x Roe Vanish
102 x InfiLED ORER
1x 7m x 2m LED Floor
There were 17 LED surfaces under their control.
“I looked at the design in two layers; in front/ around the blow through video wall and behind the blow through video wall,” continued David. “Moments where there is uninterrupted video while still having an outer layer of lights to push into the crowd was the ideal situation when programming. This lent itself to a spot/beam type show where in fact I only had one hybrid fixture type. Breaking up those sections is what gave me the most dynamic range of effects and looks.”
The programming was started from scratch for David who hired a grandMA2 lite console, a pre-vis tower and a CDJ with his laptop running ShowKontrol. He then spent 10 days straight (with a gig or two thrown into the middle) programming the whole set.
“Cue by cue, temp by temp, swop by swop,” he added. “It was a huge undertaking and something I tirelessly worked on for weeks leading up to the show. Executing the show to timecode via ShowKontrol with some sections of busking was the most effective way to do the show. A lot was going on and I had a lot of fun coming up with looks that I had to figure out how to program. It was a welcome challenge as it pushed me harder to grow and evolve my skills.”
The video was created by Human Person, Ben Dalgleish and Ian Valentine’s company. They had an army of content creators, D3 programmers, Notch editors and even a flash APC for Ben during the show to control drops and add intensity to the show. It was a huge undertaking for their team, and they pulled off an amazing show. There were some truly fantastic looks and transitions that used all three layers of the LED design seamlessly.
Photos: Alive Coverage
