Aussie icon John Farnham is celebrating 25 years of his all-time bestselling Australian album, Whispering Jack, with another return tour. This time he performs an opening unplugged set of familiar hits, followed by a full serve of the 1980s album that really changed it all.
When lighting designer Chris Newman began planning the tour he wandered down to PRG’s Melbourne warehouse to check out their latest gear and he came across the Vari*Lite VLX LED wash luminaire.
“I knew PRG had lots of new fixtures but I didn’t want to go down the LED track as I didn’t think they were a great light source,” admitted Chris. “They’re a good point source but I’ve never been that happy with the colour you get from LED fixtures. However, when I saw that they were a Vari*Lite fixture I thought that if anyone was going to get it right it would be them.”
The result was that Chris didn’t have to be strapped into a chair and forced to watch the PRG guys demonstrate the VLX fixtures in fact he came away thinking that they were a pretty good fixture!
“They’re a fairly lightweight fixture which is ideal for this tour as we are playing theatres where weight is critical due to fly systems,” he noted. “They’re very bright and have good colour options with a much wider beam than other wash fixtures. They are also very quiet to run which is important as the first half of the show is acoustic or semi-acoustic. Their power draw is not as low as some LED fixtures but that’s not a problem in this situation.”
For the Farnham show Chris is using thirty-two Vari*Lite VLX luminaires positioned overhead and upstage to deliver a stage wash.
Photos: Troy Constable
www,jands.com.au
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