Mother Nature unleashed her fury at Paul Kelly’s Making Gravy concert in The Domain, Sydney, testing the resilience of punters, crew and gear!
The Chameleon crew faced the merciless elements with professionalism and aptitude, ensuring the show happened for the thousands of soggy fans.
Lighting designer Daniel-Joseph Gordon, aka Gordo, was given creative freedom by the artist ensuring the stage was well lit with plenty of light on the key people. To do this, Gordo opted for a Martin rig including 35 x MAC Auras, 16 x MAC Viper Profiles, two MAC Viper Performance and seven MAC Encore Performance WRM. Added to the rig were also 13 x 4-lite Molefays.
“As this run is only three shows, it didn’t make sense to try reinvent the wheel and so I just adapted the design from our last run,” commented Gordo. “I have a standard top wash, side wash and Auras at the back. I also had Auras on the very ends of the trusses so I got a top side wash resulting in backlight from an interesting angle, much more theatrical. Playing around with different angles from which to light people keeps it fresh and interesting while maintaining the lights levels you require for an act like Paul.”
Gordo’s front truss held the MAC Encore Performance WRM fixtures which received a pounding deluge of rain yet never missed a beat. Eight MAC Viper Profiles were on the floor with the remaining eight flown.
The two MAC Viper Performance projected the Making Gravy logos onto the sides of the tent roof.
“The front wash on that roof is pretty toppy but because of the rain, the band got moved substantially upstage to keep their equipment dry which helped my cause greatly!” said Gordo.
FOH Gordo ran a High End Systems Hog 4 console.
“Thanks to Levi, Lewis and Alex from Chameleon for maintaining the rig under very trying circumstances,” added Gordo.
Kait Hall, lighting designer for support act Angus & Julia Stone, added a couple of MAC Quantum Profiles to her set and an MA Lighting MA2 fullsize console.
The gear returned to the Chameleon warehouse looking a little disheveled and wet but after some tender, loving care, went straight out onto another gig.
Photos: Ashley Mar
