A massive 70sq.m LED screen dominated centre stage, made up of Generale Location 25 mm modules. This spit in two, with each half moving sideways to form a dramatic upstage entrance. The stage was flanked each side by two 20 x 15 metre ‘soft’ screens, with projected sources from Barco ELMs. Each of the 18 songs in the set featured video. Some involved abstract footage, much of which was created ‘live’ as the tour progressed and Leach sampled video snapshots from the actual performance. At other points it was precisely cued pre-recorded footage being beamed onto the screens. The cameras included two hand-helds, two on the pit and one out front, and XL also supplied Leach with a Cartoni Dutch head for the weirder angles. With 21 people onstage - 7 band, 7 dancers and S-Club 7, Leach had an extremely hectic show to cut and mix.
The XL Video crew working on the show included Andy Bramley (crew chief), Gerard Corey (engineer), Rob Wick (camera), Stewart Merser (camera) and Alan Bollard (screen technician). An impressive set was designed by Hattie Spice, including an over-audience catwalk, sound was supplied by SSE, with Jim Ebdon mixing FOH, and lighting equipment came from LSD Fourth Phase.
(Ruth Rossington)
