Turkey - Every night, fans of Empire of the Sun, affectionately known as Empyreans, wait in line to see the Australian duo’s Ask That God tour. Many follow the band from city to city.
Less of a traditional concert, and more like an experience where sci-fi mysticism slams into concert energy, Ask That God blazes its own path in every possible way.
Oliver ‘Olly’ Suckling was more than up to the task on the long-awaited EU leg of the Ask That God tour, which concluded 30 August at Bonus Parkorman in Istanbul, after beginning in July at Sagres Campo Pequeno in Lisbon, with stops in Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, Germany, The UK, Poland, The Czech Republic, France, Belgium and other countries along the way.
After designing the show, Suckling ran it on a rig supplied by Lights Control Rigging (LCR), using two ChamSys MagicQ MQ500M Stadium Consoles. Throughout the show, he navigated his way through its multifarious facets.
“It was important to follow the style and pace of the music,” said Suckling. “This is a very theatrical show that ranges from intimate moments to full rock out moments, heading all the way to all-out rave moments. The lighting looks we created aimed to support this quality, whilst also keeping it dark, moody and mysterious.”
Suckling relied on 14 Chauvet Professional Colorado PXL Curve 12 motorised battens, positioned along the front edge of the stage to evoke the range of moods he was seeking to convey. Drawing on the fixture’s 12 independently controllable moving heads with their wide (5.7° to 36.3°) zoom range, he created a variety of supportive looks that fit every moment.
Explaining his choice of the fixture, Sucking said: “We needed a batten type pixel fixture that would add a punch to the front edge of the stage but also be able to stand strong against all the other fixtures we had on stage. We needed to make the single line of them stand on their own. We also needed the added feature of being waterproof due to half our shows being at outdoor festivals.”
In the end, Suckling used his rig to contribute mightily to a tour that one critic said, “is as much a visual experience as a musical one.”