Integratd were given a brief to lift the energy of the production to meet the energy of Montaigne, and therefore lift the whole energy of the show to new heights.
“So playing with that idea of heights, we wanted to go with an idea that would feel intimate but still fill out the space so we tried to go high which is always difficult in a venue like The Metro,” commented Integratd’s Matt Doherty. “The biggest struggle, like always with this sized tour, is making a finished product that is scaleable between venue sizes in Australia but also works for the budget.”
The main element of the rig were 69 x Martin VDO Sceptron 10, which were used to fill out the space and create a very intimate feeling.
“The Sceptrons helped us create our sense of height and were all mapped by one of our Mac Mini media servers running PRGs Mbox Mini software,” added Matt. “Then we had a total of 12 x Martin MAC Auras, eight on the rear upstage truss and four on the floor, and these were the real workhorse. They were our beam lights in the fast paced upbeat stuff and also our beautiful wash lights in the downbeat somber songs. Also on the floor were 6 x Martin Quantum Profiles to give us the big gobo backlight looks that Montaigne was after. We also had 6 x Claypaky Stormy CC’s which I love the colour and output of, and then also 8 x Duets to make sure Montaigne could see her audience, which is something she’s really passionate about.”
Matt’s favourite moment of every show is always the first blackout when the house goes down and the stage goes down and the entire crowd just erupt into screams.
“That’s always gives me the feels!” he said. “But that’s more of a lack of light moment, my favourite lighting moment would be the song Till it Kills Me where the brief was the lights need to be crazy so that was a lot of fun! The entire song was done on flash buttons – if I took my hands off the console the entire stage would have gone into black out so I was always pressing something! However it got really annoying when keys started popping off the console, I may have got a bit carried away…”
All the gear was supplied by Chameleon Touring Systems.
Photos by Peter Zaluzny
