Andy Hurst Uses GLP Impressions on Big December Arena Shows

	Faithless. Photo: Jessica Gilbert

GLP 120 RZ impression zooms were the LED moving lights chosen by LD Andy Hurst for Faithless' European arena tour at the end of last year.

They units were selected specifically to deliver the fast-moving impact of a digital club environment on stage. The concept was a fitting one, since the band's sixth album is called The Dance.

Hurst selected a mixture of conventional and LED washes -- detailing 68 of the impression zooms, mounted both on the main V truss and custom made floor towers (at stage left and right), for the chase and movement elements.

The designer had already recognized that the impression's speed of movement makes these fixtures useful for electronic and dance bands, and supported Prodigy's biggest ever solo show last summer, with no fewer than 120 of the heads.

"Over the last couple of years I've done a lot of dance shows with the likes of The Prodigy and the advantage of LED is the speed of it, " he says. "If you're doing fast shutter chases through lamps, with LED there's no stutter as there's nothing physically opening or closing ... so it's perfect.

"The GLP impressions are also very light, and therefore move very quickly -- which is a further advantage. They are not far off the speed of a mirror which means you can take them from one focus to another very quickly."

Hurst's lighting array was spread over 12 lines of DMX and controlled from a Barco/High End Systems Road Hog Full Boar with touch-screen wing and a DP 8000 DMX processor.

In fact, December proved to be a doubly busy month for the LD, as he also designed 100 standard impressions into his rig for American rock band 30 Seconds To Mars, led by Jared Leto.

After Hurst had designed and programmed the show, Richard Larkum took over the operation and on-the-road lighting management. "As he had done such a great job on Prodigy for me, he was perfect for this," said the designer.

The set was constructed around ten 16' floor towers and ten 24' flown towers -- controlled by moving motors to create different truss looks throughout the show.

All the impressions used on the show were cabled and built into D3 truss along with strobes and color changers.

"The impressions were used as an effect light, to create patterns and movement within the show," he said. "The band generally favored cold colors -- steels, fluro greens, etc. -- but we did manage to splash some saturates in."

The lighting for both tours was supplied by PRG.