The Killers returned to Australia and New Zealand for a massive ten-date mix of arena and outdoor shows on their Imploding The Mirage Tour 2022 in November and December.
Steven Douglas has been lighting the band for many years and for the first few shows of the tour in Mexico he used his old rig from the previous tour but with all new video content.
“Because of gear and time availability in Mexico it made more sense to use the old show file as it had every fixture under the sun already in it so we adapted that to fit the new content in terms of mood and colour and it gave me a chance to try things out before we got into the new design properly,” he commented. “We then travelled to the UK where we had a week of pre-production and a rig that included Ayrton Cobra, Domino and Perseo.”
The show was originally conceived for stadiums and a large video canvas behind the band was a must with most of the video content made by Moment Factory. Hailing from Las Vegas, the band are not shy about their roots and big, wide open space was the permeating idea behind the visuals. Big Picture supplied the entire worldwide tour.
The Australian shows were cut back with fewer truss fingers, no video columns left and right of the stage and no fancy new Ayrton lights! Adapted from the US shows, the truss configuration was a rear truss of 32 x Robe Megapointes with a truss in front of that holding 12 x Martin MAC Quantum Wash, 7 x Robe BMFL Blade and 18 x GLP JDC-1. The front truss held 12 more BMFL Blades, 11 MAC Quantum Wash and 16 x TMB Solaris Flare. Each of the five truss fingers held six x Ayrton Perseo and 5 x Ayrton MagicPanels.
On the floor upstage position were 18 x Ayrton Perseo, 12 x GLP X4 Bar 20 and 6 x JDC-1. Six 6’ pipes are located to the sides of the stage and each held a GLP X4 Bar 20. Solaris Flare was positioned along the stage edge. More Solaris Flare was placed above the Imag screens at the stadium shows with Ayrton Bora S hung under the screens.
The side torms were 8 x Megapointes and 2 x JDC1 per side.
Added to that were three ground control stations, one for each of the downstage performers, and three local FOH spots.
“The band trust me when it comes to their lighting although with newer songs they may have something particular in their mind that doesn’t gel with what I had in mind so we just adapt it to suit their vision,” remarked Steven. “Depending on the set list, I have some songs that are only six lights and others that are 200. A lot of the lighting has to be good for the camera as Instagram is such a thing these days.
“I’m running the show on an MA Lighting MA3 in MA2 mode. I was going to take the leap but around the time we were due to start, the latest software update was delayed and also I wasn’t prepared to make myself a festival guinea pig! It seems very solid for touring shows with the same rig every night but I was not sure about the cloning at festivals, especially with the number of festivals that we do so I stuck with what I knew for now but I look forward to making the jump to MA3 Software soon”
Lighting and crew were supplied by Chameleon Touring Systems with Steven saying that he has been using them for years always with great results.
The Sydney show was the last show of the tour and so the band decided to do an after-show gig at Liberty Hall, fun for all but also hard work for the crew. An early morning load in at the club venue preceded the usual day at an arena and then back to the club immediately after the show at Qudos Arena finished.
“These small gigs give the band a chance to dust off songs that they wouldn’t usually do in an arena,” said Steven. “I will just use the house rig and busk the show, which keeps me on my toes. Tonight I’ve got a brand new rig at Liberty Hall and will be busking on MA3 in 3 mode for the first time so that will be fun!”
Photos: Chris Phelps
