Client Liaison embarked on a travelling exhibition tour this August visiting Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Entitled Expo Liaison, it was a 7-hour long journey of Client Liaison curated entertainment including some very special guests such as John Farnham!
Client Liaison have cornered Australian late 80’s / early 90’s corporate culture and run with it as a theme of their entire existence. Hence the stage still rocked an office theme with two giant water coolers, and a reception desk – just on a grander scale.
With a truss design echoing Melbourne’s city buildings, lighting designer Rowan Denny laid the fixtures throughout to emphasize that corporate look. Martin MAC Auras toned the truss and washed the stage whilst Robe Robin Spiiders were the main fixture used throughout the show, contrasting with the MAC Viper Spots and Claypaky Sharpys.
“They’re a great fixture, incredibly bright and very versatile,” said Rowan. “You can take them from a giant wash, which was very handy with the low trim height in the venues, to a very tight beam. Then you have that flexibility to reduce all of that down to individual pixels or the centre eye of the fixture, and still use that as either a beam or kaleidoscope look.”
The MAC Viper Spots were used to pick up different band members and dancers throughout the show, as well as some big beam looks over the audience. Claypaky Sharpys did what they do best providing shapes and beams to explode into many of the choruses.
“That’s how many of their song structures work, you really burst into them,” explained Rowan. “The Sharpys also provided large shapes as well as small intricate looks.”
Rowan felt that the last Client Liaison tour lacked onstage eye candy to fill vacant space and so this time around he looked for a fixture that would complement the industrial design of the stage. He opted for Ayrton MagicBlade FXs, using truss and pipe to make a 3 x 3 grid with them.
“They were brilliant at filling the space,” added Rowan. “They did big fan looks upwards, then all came in to be focused on a centre point downstage – basically running colour and intensity effects through them. They could give the look of movement without there being any actual movement.”
Late in the design process, the band decided that they would like LEDs embedded in the risers but it was too late to actually install them into the risers. Rowan suggested using GLP impression X4 Bars which were then lined across the back of all of the risers as well as on the stage.
“When zoomed right out, they filled the space with light adding a really nice colour to the stage,” said Rowan. “Or I could zoom them in to create great beams with an intensity effect running through them.”
TMB Solaris Flares provided big block colours to fill the space and big bright flashes when required with Rowan impressed by their intensity. Studio Due CS-4s helped with a retro 80’s big rock show feel.
Forty ShowPRO QUAD 18 LED Par were sprinkled throughout the site lighting up various tents and stalls, with a couple lighting up the water coolers on stage.
For control Rowan used an MA2 full size, chosen for its’ time code ability and powerful performance.
The photos were taken at Sydney’s Luna Park where Rowan says the Chameleon guys were great and although they were under the pump, nothing was an issue for them.
