Vision Meets Budget and Both Win

Human Person takes Six60 Tour to the Next Level

Six60’s Saturdays Tour started on January 25, hitting Lower Hutt, New Plymouth, Hamilton, Whangarei and Auckland before wrapping up where it all started in Dunedin on March 7. The show began with the band standing silhouetted in front of a static TV screen, incorporated a marae and the national kapa haka champions, and culminated in acclaim for the ‘production values of an international act’. The reason: Human Person, the show/production designers that pushed the tour to world class standard and a production team that came to the party.

Today Wellington-born Human Person lead designer Ben Dalgleish is internationally renowned, having worked with the likes of Post Malone, Drake and Janet Jackson. But back in the day, Ben worked alongside Six60 as their lighting designer,

“They went from a small bar band to a large New Zealand act touring overseas. We became really tight, traveling to heaps of amazing shows around the world, doing Glastonbury and the likes.”

Ben relocated to the USA five years ago and although unable to work on the 2019 stadium shows for Six60, both Ben and his company Human Person leapt at the opportunity to design the 2020 tour.

Ben’s team reviewed the 2019 show and committed to stepping it up to the next level, “We wanted to visually put the band centre stage. They are the biggest act in New Zealand right now and we wanted to present them in an iconic way.”

They opted for a three-tier stage design that gave the band the opportunity to move around within different environments, and to elevate them both physically and literally. They determined that the start and the end of the show had to be distinct and really embody Six60.

The result – the band suddenly appearing silhouetted against a static TV-esque backdrop to which they returned at the close of the show.

In Ben’s initial proposal to the band he had also suggested incorporating a marae and a kapa haka group into the Six60 anthem ‘Don’t Forget Your Roots’, a show highlight. To do this, automation was incorporated in a simple and effective way, “We had four automated eight metre long strips of LED that could drop down then angle inwards together to create architecture reminiscent of a marae.”

Ben knew that working in New Zealand brought added challenges around resourcing and budget, “I made a promise to myself not to accept any limitations to working in New Zealand. The band was investing money in flying myself and the whole team out, and I wanted to design a show of the standard that Human Person would create anywhere else in the world.”

Ben credits the hard work and innovation of all members of the production team for making this possible, “It took some back and forth with all parties to get the show to this level, some conversations more heated than others,” he laughs, “But at the end of the day everyone pushed the envelope and made it happen.”

Ben name checks Global Production Partners (GPP), Big Picture NZ, Spot-light Systems and Theatrical Solutions, “They all came to the party during the pre-production period before I flew into the country. We decided to make the most of the equipment that the vendors had, using larger quantities rather than premium fixtures and making minor adjustments here and there rather than gamechangers.”

GPP partners Leon Dalton and MJ van Lingen had managed production and video for the 2019 stadium shows and were excited by the scale of the initial proposal, “I saw the first renders and thought that is a lot of moving lights. There were 16 video screens four of which moved with automation.”

Leon reiterates Ben’s praise for the suppliers, “We went through a tender process and those who were involved last year really did their best by us.”

Newcomers to the team, Stageset, also get special mention, “They were incredible. They came on board for all the B shows with a fourteen metre roof. Ben commented that it looked quite small. Not to the regions!”

Ben wanted to try and bring the biggest possible production to all of the shows, not just the Auckland swansong, “I wanted to do my part to help level up the New Zealand production scene and put the same effort into regional shows.

“Audiences everywhere should have the opportunity to experience the best possible Six60 show.” Again, GPP and the vendors moved mountains, quite literally, “We toured with four semi-trailers not including the stage, unheard of in New Zealand. There were thirty crew plus the locals and an incredible amount of lighting and video not normally toured by NZ bands to regional centres.”

Among the thirty strong touring crew was Six60 Production manager Ben Klinkenberg who was instrumental in bringing the whole show together, coordinating closely with the band and the Human Person team.

At FOH, sound engineer Chris Tate and the lighting director Jade Fraser manned Soundcraft and MA2 consoles respectively, and at the other end of the snake, David O’Brien handled monitors and MJ van Lingen ran disguise media severs and cut cameras.

One thing that Human Person pushed for which probably had the most profound impact on the tour, and maybe on the New Zealand industry going forward, was a week of production rehearsal time, “This was one of the harder things to get across the line. It certainly isn’t standard in New Zealand, unlike in the rest of the world.”

With the vital support of Six60, their management and Eccles Entertainment, the band and crew spent a week with the full regional rig setup. Human Person used the time to create moments in which the band would interact with video content, and well as other choreographed moves.

Ben was blown away by the result, “As well as being the biggest tour of New Zealand by a home grown band, I am so proud that we got to spend the time to craft such a unique show of the highest standard. Everyone involved was onboard with the vision to create something special.”

Leon agrees. “Human Person brought a level of international expertise that tied all the elements of the show together – the lighting, the video, the set.

“There was never any discussion about the vision not being possible. We might have had to compromise on how we got there, but we made it work and pulled off an unforgettable tour.”

LIGHTING

Regional Shows
20 x Robe BMFL Blade
08 x Robe Tarrantula
06 x Robe 600 LED Wash
20 x Robe 100 LED Beam
24 x Sharpy Spot
08 x Mac 2k Profile
14 x Acme LED Wash / Strobe
08 x RGBW LED Moving Wash
06 x RGBWA LED Par Wash
08 x 4 Lite Molefay
04 x Par 64 MFL
MA2 Consoles

Auckland, Western Springs – the ‘A’ show
47 x Robe BMFL Blade
42 x Robe BMFL Spot
28 x Robe MegaPointe
20 x Robe 100 LED Beam
56 x Sharpy Spot
28 x Mac 2k Wash
54 x Acme LED Wash / Strobe
18 x RGBWA LED Batten
06 x RGBWA LED Par Wash
16 x 8 Lite Molefay
12 x 6 Lite Molefay
08 x 4 Lite Molefay
36 x 2 Lite Molefay
05 x Gladiator Followspots
MA2 Consoles

VIDEO – LED

Regional Shows
43sqm of 6.2mm LED for UPSTAGE CENTRE
70sqm of 7.8mm LED for IMAG
55sqm of 12.5mm LED for FRAME & RISERS
Eilon Engineering Wireless Loadcell weight management
TOTAL LED = 168sqm

Auckland, Western Springs – the ‘A’ show
78sqm of 6.2mm LED for UPSTAGE CENTRE
160sqm of 7.8mm LED for IMAG
164sqm of 12.5mm LED for RISERS, COLUMNS & AUTOMATED BANNERS
Eilon Engineering Wireless Loadcell weight management
TOTAL LED = 402sqm

CAMERA/CONTROL SYSTEM

Regional Shows
2 x Disguise Solo Media Servers with Notch Playout
Custom built 1ME slimline camera system
Barco Image Pro’s
Lightware 4K HDMI Matrix
Panasonic HS410 1ME Camera Switcher with full Engineering Control
3 x Sony HXC-100 Camera chains with Canon/Fuji lensing
2 x Sony BRC700 PTZ Cameras
2 x Hitachi HD20A POV Cameras
Lightware & Gefen Fibre Optic signal management

Auckland, Western Springs – the ‘A’ show
Custom built 1ME slimline camera system
Barco Image Pro’s
Lightware 4K HDMI Matrix
Disguise 4×4 Pro Media Servers with Notch Playout
Panasonic HS410 1ME Camera Switcher with full Engineering Control
4 x Sony HXC-100 Camera chains with Canon/Fuji lensing
2 x Panasonic AW-HE130 PTZ Cameras
2 x Hitachi HD20A POV Cameras
Lightware & Gefen Fibre Optic signal management
AJA KiPro HDD Record System

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CX Magazine – July 2020   

LIGHTING  |  AUDIO  |  VIDEO  |  STAGING  |  INTEGRATION

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