This month has not been great for my motorcycling in Finland. Rain every day. And what happens when I fly to Turin to make an open air event… Thunder storm!
As you could imagine, the Italians are not that prepared for heavy rain during setup. The dimmers were in a middle of a lake after the rain. But no problem, everything worked after the sunset and after the rain. Well, some patch issues but those were solved as fast as you can at 2 a.m. I also have some cues already programmed for tomorrow!
It is quite different to make open air gigs in here where the sun actually sets and it’s dark. The not so nice thing is that you can only work at night – at home it just doesn’t matter.
As some other blogs are publishing images of ongoing design works I just have to follow. Here are some rough sketches of a concert stage in Torino in the end of this month.
A colleague of mine once asked why I always have to have something hanging down from the rig. The answer is I don’t know – I just have to.
The equipment will be:
24 StudioColors
18 VL 3500 Spots
16 MAC 250
and some conventionals
A friend of mine dreamed of his own circus – a circus where he could do everything his way. And as we know if you dream hard enough it will come true.
In the show one artist sells the popcorn, runs the lights and sound, swipes the floor, and does all the acts…
We have very limited power and no money for timecode. There are still some 15 minute sequences that follow the music. Plenty of wait, follow delay and the famous two finger sync start…
I sold my MagicQ PC wing to the production and in sits on stage. I have to say that it has been a while since I’ve been so nervous at the premiere. If something would have gone wrong there was nothing I could do. Luckily the house light in the end of the show was the only thing the artist forgot or then he was just milking for applause.
Because of the power and budget limitations most of the lights are LED
Circus Ruska: i.[aidot] closed already in January. I think this show often when I have hard times. The cast and crew know why ; )
Despite some rocky roads in the process i. was really nice show and visually quite success too (the video does not do justice to it). You can never go wrong with Mikki rip offs like the ACL sidelights.
Next of Kin opened at QEH in London yesterday. The setup was not one of the easiest despite that crew at the venue is super pro and motivated. This is the first move of this show. The first actual run through was the premiere – the dress was stopped couple times because of some ProTools problems. So here we were doing our second run in London.
The setup looks fairly easy but there are million moving parts that all are related to each other. And since we are just starting there is no routine. Since Mikki is still running the lights on this gig I’m not yet so much in to the design. That makes it really hard when having to do compromises. And the show is changing all the time etc. Live show is an ongoing process. If you want to see a ready product go to movies…
Here’s the army of laptops at LX control. Looking very professional indeed.
Circus Ruska and Agit-Cirk collaboration: Neljä vasenta premiered last week. It was the smallest scale work I have done in 5 years. The show is supposed to tour in schools with limited setup time and above all limited power.
What supposed to be really kitsch turned out something really cool. Kebap wires connected to a light organ. Ch1 bass, ch2 middle, ch3 treble.
Even though all the solutions are not that professional technical wise the setup has been surprisingly smooth for my side. Some gray hair for the artists but I guess it is supposed to be like that sometimes. Only big problem for me has been new scrim material we are using that is impossible to make wrinkle free. Tried steaming and streching and as I’m writing this, 4 girls are ironing 16m x 9m drop. Good luck for them.
A lot has happened since the last post. The tour continued to form Australia to New Zealand where we met even more pro crew. Also the partying were more intense there…
New Zealand is pretty much the furthest point you can go from Finland and guess what. The first night we arrived there and went to a bar, the DJ was playing finnish music. He didn’t know that we were there but told us later that he always plays couple of finnish tracks in his set and almost every time someone from Finland comes to ask about it. Go Finns.
Before New Zealand, we had 5 days off in Australia enjoying the beaches and landscapes of Western Australia. Unbelievable paradise beaches just for us (and some kangaroos).
Also some great views in New Zealand.
After that tour I spent couple of weeks in Finland and went off to Paris to do HUNT at Châtelet theater. I didn’t take my camera with me this time but there are some photos of that gig at Flickr.
I’ve already spent a week here in Perth, Australia. Opening my laptop has been the last thing on my list (except that I had to finnish plots to Châtelet, Paris early this week). It has been +37°C – +41°C all week and I’ve been enjoying the beaches and some refreshments. Well, I had to do some shows too but it has been no stress thanks to super pro crew with great attitude at His Majesty’s Theater. Flying… Australia is far far away from Finland… It took me 42 hours from home to the hotel in Perth. The flight schedule was more ambitious but of course the flight from London to Singapore was delayed so we missed our connection and had to spent 12 extra hours in Singapore. Quantas put us all in a 5 star hotel and payed for the food. Great and smooth service. Thank God we didn’t fly Delta or Aero Mexico. Got a new country on my list and got to taste the Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel. How cool is that? Next week is holiday for the Company. The next show is after that in Wellington, NZ. Since it makes no sense flying back home the Company has organized a holiday trip around Western Australia for us. Tonight is the last show in Perth and tomorrow the 1st stop of the holiday trip: Rottnest island. Just read in the paper on breakfast that there is shark warning – a 4m long shark was seen close to the beach. I think I’ll skip the sea in that spot.
I’ve already spent a week here in Perth, Australia. Opening my laptop has been the last thing on my list (except that I had to finnish plots to Châtelet, Paris early this week). It has been +37°C – +41°C all week and I’ve been enjoying the beaches and some refreshments. Well, I had to do some shows too but it has been no stress thanks to super pro crew with great attitude at His Majesty’s Theater.
