Lady Antebellum played six shows in three countries
Europe - Production manager Will Wilkinson engaged the services of Video Design, Negative Earth lighting and SSE for sound during Lady Antebellum’s recent European tour.
The band visited the Netherlands, England, Scotland and Ireland during the European leg of the tour comprising six dates between 1 October and 10 October, with the crew and band arriving on the continent on 27 September.
Wilkison says: “When you tour with such a tight schedule at an arena level, the key is being able to source close what we use in the US. In that sense of matched equipment, it was a very smooth transition from the US into Europe. As far as Video Design was concerned, our biggest concern was over the video content. With almost no time for production prep ahead of our first show in Amsterdam we needed to send our content over before we arrived and have it loaded onto the server.
Alex Leinster at Video Design sourced a Green Hippo server and prepared it for a short tech rehearsal that took place at Negative Earth lighting’s base before the gear was shipped off to Amsterdam. Wilkinson adds: “When we got there we just needed to plug it in and we were ready to go.”
The content, all commissioned by the band, played onto a large rear wall of LED; a set of Barco FLM’s projected IMAG onto flanking screens. Fed by a large camera package, five operated cameras included three long lenses out front for the three principal vocalists, two in the pit, and a couple of robocams on stage for some more intimate angles and reverse shots.
“Our LD Brent Maxon runs the content from the light desk, while director, Dan Hanson cuts the cameras,” continued Wilkison, “Both of them were really pleased with how easy everything slotted into place. It’s a tight package and having companies such as Neg Earth, SSE and Video Design to look after us means shipping in for these short six date runs is not just possible, it is entirely comfortable.”
(Jim Evans)

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