On two balmy nights in March, New Order played on the Sydney Opera House Forecourt for two sold-out shows.
From their beginnings in Britain’s post-punk scene to their pioneering synth-pop and dance era, New Order have maintained their status as one of the most acclaimed and influential bands ever.
Lighting designer Andy Liddle began working with New Order in May 1981, following Jon Holt’s departure to collaborate with UB40. Nick Jackson at Birmingham-based production company LSD asked Andy if he was interested in lighting ‘a bunch of manc’ shoe-staring bastards’ as no one else there was, so he jumped at the chance!
Andy’s original brief came from Rob Gretton, the band’s manager, until his death sadly in 1999.
“Blue, white and no flashing!” remembered Andy. “Although I suspect this may have been a legacy from Ian’s epilepsy. The blue? Well, Rob was a Manchester City fan, but who knows?”
For seven years, Andy’s lighting ranged from 5 to 26 shades of blue and white until, according to Andy, the band discovered ecstasy while recording an album, ‘Technique,’ in Ibiza.
“Suddenly, the shout for lively went up and out!” said Andy. “I still based the design mainly on blue and white and slowly incorporated more colour over time.”
Today, the visuals for New Order are the work of a trio: Andy, Paul Bird and Colin Clarke. Paul incorporates timecode into the newer tunes featuring a digital look of four rows of 12 GLP X4 Bar20s. Top laserist Colin Clarke, a fanatic for his art, arrived in 2022 and has added significantly to both old and new material, bringing a lot to the table.
Andy has tried to keep three distinctive looks from the past years for the current tour. Stripped down early slow fading static lighting through to late ‘80s, trying to mimic VL2’s transitional colour flashes blue-BLUE in ’89 by going between fix to mixed colours in Robe MegaPointes.
“My biggest challenge was daylight!” commented Andy. “The positional programming gets a lot longer, but I enjoy the afternoons of light, encoder and configurations of beams within different venues each day, even if it’s outside the SOH at 37ºc!”
Harry the hirer provided the touring lighting floor package, with Andy adding that the excellent Jye Duncan was overseeing it. LUX handled the flown rig in Perth, while Harry’s did Melbourne and Brisbane, and Chameleon was at the SOH Forecourt.
The bulk of the rig is 36 x ROBE MegaPointes, described by Andy as light, bright, fast and great workhorses the world over. Added were 48 x GLP X4Bar20 battens, masterfully timecoded by Paul Bird. 12 x Robe BMFL WBs used for mid-air arial fx under the lasers. Lastly, there were 16 x GLP JDC1s, 16 x Moles, and six ETC Source4s, three aside 1-2m in height, that have been there since 1981.
“Originally, this show, with the three of us, was created in 2022 for ‘UNITY’, a US and Canadian alternating headline arena tour with Pet Shop Boys,” said Andy. “Based on previous periods in the band’s history, with Paul time coding GLP X4s and stealing a couple of bits of mine (that I would usually forget…) whilst shouting ‘back off!’ when Colin’s coming in with lasers and myself ‘bashing at buttons’, as Birdy puts it, also dealing with keylight, moles, strobes, anything with a pan in the most manual of ways …”
Paul Bird has known Andy for many years, as he used to regularly work from a desk in a local hire company’s office, where he started working after University in 2011.
“Eventually, he sent me out to cover a tour for him in the States in 2018 and then to tech for New Order,” explained Paul. “Then we added timecode and pixel-mapped battens to the show, and I jumped onto another console alongside him. Andy created the initial design, and we’ve generally developed several looks and colour schemes for each track over the years.
“We run two consoles; I look after all things networked, timecoded, or pixel-mapped – including the GLP X4 Bars and JDC-1s. Andy busks along with an old-school Avolites rollercue over the top. A few tracks are very laser-driven, so we try to sit back on these. For a couple of tracks, however, we let the timecoded GLP X4 Bars drive the primary hits, such as the start of Blue Monday and BLT – I’m there to remind Andy not to touch anything!”
Like most UK crew, Paul found the searing heat and daylight programming problematic. Not seeing the rig in the dark until the changeover on show one gave a limited time to dial in the Source4 key light that Andy likes to use and final touch-up on focus positions.
Andy’s vision for the lasers has always been to utilize detailed programming to pivot on specific elements of the music and enhance the band’s stage presence with impressive visuals.
“Beyond this, there has always been a lot of creative freedom when it comes to lasers on New Order,” remarked Colin Clarke. “From accenting the guitar riffs on Joy Division’s ‘Transmission’ to hitting every beat on the legendary intro of ‘Blue Monday’, the uniqueness and breadth of New Order’s sounds make for a most exciting experience when it comes to laser programming.”
ER Productions supplied this tour’s lasers and included five AT30 scanning heads. Designed in-house by ER Productions, they deliver a punchy 30 watts of power each and boast a solid yet sharp beam quality, making them highly versatile for a tour like this, with the majority of the shows taking place outdoors in city areas, where light from surrounding buildings and streets can spill into the show. Three of the units were rigged to the upstage lighting truss, which trims in reasonably low, perfect for laser looks. The remaining two units were placed on 2m truss towers, DSL, and DSR.
“Overall, it’s a practical and adaptable laser package that always delivers excellent visibility no matter the venue,” added Colin. “The entire package was prepped and sent to the site by our Sydney office, headed up by ER’s own Ron Spizak, who has been doing fantastic work for the past two years. He and his team always react quickly and can turn around preparations and shows in record time while providing logistical support and local knowledge to our touring technicians.”
In line with the sounds of New Order, there is quite a varied assortment of laser looks throughout this show. From sharp stabs that hit on the relentless energy of Stephen Morris’ drumming to big, intense, flat scan looks that complement the breakdowns of the more electronically influenced tracks.
“There are also scenes where only the centre laser, for example, will be active to hone in audience focus on Bernard’s melodica solos,” Colin said. “The colour schemes vary, usually following or contrasting with lighting/video but with the occasional burst of randomness that captures the essence of the show’s higher energy moments.”
The Opera House forecourt presented some challenges. Due to the stage facing the Opera House building, they had to raise the laser focus substantially higher than usual to clear the top, which can impact the perceived brightness of laser effects. To combat this, ER sent a significant smoke and haze package to ensure atmospherics were on point.
“With a little help from the talented Paul Bird, the smoke package was spread out around the entire forecourt, with individual control to the machines in different areas, meaning that even with the prevailing winds that sweep the space, we could ensure a healthy and consistent level of haze, maintaining strong visibility of laser and lighting looks throughout both shows,” revealed Colin.
Photos: Warren Jackson
https://www.harrythehirer.com.au/productions
https://www.er-productions.com/
