Confession Time - First Live Gig & First Record Bought

[Techno Commander]

Just got back from tonights show. Absolutely ****ing amazing.

Brilliant projections and an absolutely stonking PA system.

I was sat just in front of this lot.


I want a radio controlled pig blimp.

[Techno Commander]

For those of you who are interested how events like this are planned and staged, this months Total Production magazine features a 17 page in depth look into the technical and artisitc requirements needed to put this tour on the road. there are also plenty of back stage photos showing the equipment in use.

It can be read and downloaded online HERE (from page 28 onwards) and makes a good read if you have some spare time and like technical stuff.

For those of you who dont have the time, but want to appear knowledgable in the pub, here are some usefull snippets for you.

The production cost $10M and requires 25 trucks to move the kit.

The inflatable puppets cost $2M, twice the cost of the entire 1980s production.

The wall is 35' high and 240' wide and requires almost 400 bricks. Each brick is a flat pack, made from cardboard and is 5' x 2 1/2'. Bricks will last no more than 4 shows before they need to be replaced.

The stage occupies 3350 square feet.

The puppets are 9M tall and fully animated. Five minutes of movement for the teacher requires over 60 cues to operate the winches supporting the puppet.

The projections system beats the worlds largest Imax cinema by producing single high def images 240' wide with 8560 by 1620 resolution.

20 Barco projectors put out almost 500,000 lumens.

10 Apple Mac pros were used as a "render farm" for producing the animation.

750 pyros are used in the 20 second chase at the start of the show.

Sound is a Clair Brothers line array using JBL components. Amplification is Crown/Amcron Macro-Techs. Big heavy muscle amps designed 25 years ago.

Almost 130 channels of audio are used.

The main mix is analogue.

[Reid Malenfant]

You were there Andy? You were on the sound rig or suchlike?

[Techno Commander]

Just a punter as possibly one of the finest live shows ever staged.

Yeah, it was good.

[MartinT]

Thanks, Andy. Having seen the show, that was a very good insight into how it was all put together.

[Reid Malenfant]

Oh, i thought you might have been a roadie Setting it up & keeping it running like..

Nice pics though Andy, that's a shed load of amplifiers - a bloody big shed at that

[Tim]

Just a punter as possibly one of the finest live shows ever staged.

+1

thanks for the link too, very interesting read

[Bazil]

Saw The Wall last night at Manchester, excellent show great bit of theatre to boot.
Loved the hotel room bit (Little Black Book).
Roger Waters is my favorite artist and he didn't let me down.

[Tim]

Just got home from seeing Emmylou Harris at the Royal Festival Hall - will say a few words tomorrow night, but for now...... pure class

[Rare Bird]

Just got home from seeing Emmylou Harris at the Royal Festival Hall

Royal festival hall organ was the one used on ELP's ''Three Fates'': (''Lachesis'') track from the debut fuzzy