Brought in by Ian Smith of Just Lite, who were responsible for the lighting and trussing, the CAVS team, led by Rowan McDonagh, were tasked with meeting an exacting brief by the opera singer's production.
"They were very specific in what they wanted - from the PA down to the camera lenses for the live show relay," stated McDonagh. "While that's not unusual at this level, it proved quite a challenge as it had been rehearsed just once in Italy and no-one was quite sure how it would translate to the O2, which is still a new venue."
The two-day show involved a pair of Christie Roadster S+20Ks positioned atop two Christie S+16Ks, via the stacking modules built into the devices. These were then hung on the front downstage truss along with the lighting, and interfaced via Christie Twist modules with lighting.
Projection was onto a 26m x 15m 'Tripolina' - a type of "stringy" screen, according to Rowan McDonagh - hung at the back of centre stage. This was run from a Dataton Watchout system provided by the artist's own production (under tour manager John Gibbins). The Tripolina was flanked by a pair of 20ft x 15ft outer screens at the rear, projected onto by two of Christie DS+8K's. All projectors used 0.8:1 fixed lens over a 15m throw distance onto 16:9 aspect ratio displays.
In summary, Rowan McDonagh says: "As we had planned to install and train up with the Twists that weekend, once we had heard we had landed the gig, I contacted Gavin Chatfield who as usual pulled the stops out to get our techs and the projectors over at very short notice, and back to Dublin in time.
"Even though they are renowned for sharpness and colour depth, I was nervous about how the projectors would handle the Tripolina - but again I was pleasantly surprised at how they performed."
(Jim Evans)
