Coldplay’s The Music of the Spheres tour kicked off in March 2022 with a ground-breaking array of changes to the traditional touring model. The goal was to reduce the carbon footprint by 50% compared to Coldplay’s 2016-2017 tour, A Head Full of Dreams. Consequently, the entire lighting rig is now LED or laser-source.
For the Australian tour, the bulk of the staging and lighting equipment came from Upstaging, with Chameleon Touring Systems supplying an array of moving head fixtures, some of which were new to the tour. In total, five trucks were used to transport Chameleon’s gear between the shows.
Chameleon debuted their recently purchased Elation Proteus Brutus with 24 placed behind the band. The Proteus Brutus is an extremely bright IP65-rated LED Wash FX fixture that offers high-intensity wash and effects in any environment. Lighting director Shaheem Litchmore commented that they usually have Proteus Maximus, but he was keen to use the Proteus Brutus as their replacement.
“I’d never heard of it until the Australian run, but I was asked if I wanted to try them, and I was all for it,” he added. “They’re pretty great and really like rock star lights. They’re awesome. They’re very bright, powerful lights with a good edge. They’re exactly what we needed.”
72 x Ayrton Perseo, the multi-function luminaire with an IP65 enclosure rating, were also supplied, with 24 x Perseo positioned on top of the upstage LED wall ‘moonrise’ and 48 x Perseos dotted around the four delay towers. Chameleon also supplied 32 x Ayrton Domino on the downstage shelves and 10 x flown Domino for side light.
Four towers of 8 x Chauvet Professional Color Strike M IP65 rated motorized strobe/wash were positioned across the main stage for audience light.
Chameleon supplied a major rigging package for lighting and video including 96 x Chain Motors, Motor Control and 84 metres of black truss.
Chameleon also shipped all the Ayrton Domino, Elation Proteus Brutus and Chauvet Strike M, as well as GPO distribution, to New Zealand.
Sooner Routhier designed the lighting, the production designer is Misty Buckley, and Shaheem Litchmore is on the road as lighting director.
Chameleon Crew
Lewis Gersbach – CTS – Crew Chief
Justin Twible
Harley Parker
Harrison Pavey
Tom Uttendorfsky
Matt Davies
Harrison Drew
