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60 • August 2013 • Lighting&Sound America

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Under thePyramid

Muse’s 2nd LawTour blends sceneryand video in a boldvisual conceptBy: Steve Moles

Copyright Lighting&Sound America August 2013 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html

www.lightingandsoundamerica.com • August 2013 • 61

Editor’s Note: The British band Muse has been out on tourfor several months; it heads to the US in September. Earlierin the year, Steve Moles visited the band and spoke to anumber of key personnel.

ecently, there have been some radical changes inthe Muse camp, not least the switch of production

manager to Steve Iredale. Of more significance, lightingdesigner Oli Metcalfe has slipped into the role of showdesigner. For a band at this point in its career, this is ahuge chunk of work for him to bite off—with a stadiumtour as part of the package. How is he coping with thepressure? How, indeed, did he contend with the challengewhen it was presented to him?

“The design is at a mature stage now,” says Metcalfe.“We’ve been working with it since last September, but theinitial approach came last February when Matt [Bellamy,Muse frontman] gave me the key words to define thesymbolism for the tour. From this, the narrative direction ofwhat we have now was begun. The huge inverted pyramidhanging above the band was the dominant symbol andinforms everything else we do, but it’s not limiting.”

The pyramid is a set of concentric squares, clad invideo LED; they can rise and descend like the sections ofa telescope but can also move independently of eachother. “We first put the concept to set builders in March to

assess if the physical structure was affordable andtourable; the bad news was it wasn’t,” says Metcalfe. Atough thing for him to confront, but help came from anunexpected quarter. “Steve [Iredale] was very supportive;he steered me to stick with my design but approach it in anew light. By April, I was talking to Tony Bowern at BrilliantStages [based in Hertfordshire, UK]. Despite Brilliant being,like everyone else, up to their neck in Olympic ceremoniesstuff, they really came through and have done a great job.”

Some of that great job is about the redeployment of theband’s previous stage system from the last tour. The 2ndLaw Tour is designed to play 360° when the venue allows,and I was given a tour below stage. Even with the entireinfrastructure packed in below decks, it is bothcommodious and functional. In fact, I have never seen somuch easy access and space below stage. It representsgreat work by Brilliant and good packaging of the gearwithin it by all the various suppliers.

“Tony [Bowern] was busy with the Olympic events andhanded my project to Kenny Underwood,” Metcalfecontinues. “Kenny, with David Harrison on CAD design,did a sterling job in bringing the whole thing to fruition. Theconcentric squares have angled fasciae totally coveredwith LED tiles. They move up and down on a Kinesyssystem that Neg Earth [the tour’s London-based lightingsupplier] purchased for the tour; what Brilliant has done so

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The LED-clad pyramid can rise and descend telescopically, but the panels can also move independently of one another.

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well is systemize it so that it goes up and down reallysmoothly. The great thing was, Brilliant, having designed inthe detail from my original drawings, delivered it to LH2[the London-based production facility] for rehearsals inSeptember and the whole thing fit the first time—no modifi-cations. It also rigs quickly and easily.”

The five-month span between Metcalfe’s reappraisal ofhis design and Brilliant’s delivery to rehearsal allowed afault-free construction and also contributed significantly tocontrolling the cost. Iredale says, “It’s a situation thatconstantly occurs within this industry. It may prove difficultto change; there are so many factors at play in this currentclimate that affect the decision process and allowmanagers to make these decisions and proceed with thebuild contracts. Unfortunately, this process needs tohappen long before actual ticket sales and income figurescan be firmly established—which is where the difficultygenerally lies.”

“Neg Earth provides the lighting system and purchasedthe Kinesys system to run the pyramid sections up anddown, and the rigging,” says Metcalfe. “The reuse of thestage from the last tour was a big request from the band. Inthe end, it’s a straightforward engineering puzzle: how toredeploy what, where, and with the least amount of cut,reweld, and waste. The only concession to the new tourwas to re-skin the decks.”

Metcalfe has used the skin of the moment, Harlequin Hi-Shine, in black. Although his lighting benefits from thebounce of reflected light, it’s the finish the skin gives that’smost profound; the stage look is clean and sparkling. “Theentire LED fascia to the pyramid is replicated on just aboutevery other vertical surface of the stage, drum riser, topdeck nosing, and the sweeping angled panorama surfacethat encircles the playing area,” he says.

This latter is one of Metcalfe’s best ideas, like avelodrome cycle track of LED surrounding the playing area.“In my mind, I saw the panels of the panorama like deckchairs, folding in the middle.” Brilliant Stages grabbed theconcept literally: The panels of LED practically packthemselves—flip, fold, and drop straight into the dolliesthey travel in and which form part of the stage set below.

“It’s funny how these things work out,” says Metcalfe.“We didn’t get the custom-made LED tile and screensoriginally envisaged, but XL [Video, the video supplier]steered us to a stock tile—Lynx-12 from Radiant [betterknown as the Pixled F-12]. Yes, it’s from China and all theassociated baggage that brings with it, but in five monthsof touring it’s been good as gold.”

XL Video had good reason to push Metcalfe toward theF-12. “We invested in this product last year, putting it outon the Coldplay tour,” explains Phil Mercer, of XL. “Wehave a small office in China, and the people there areconstantly searching for new and robust products suited tothe touring market. We’ve supplied Muse tours since 2000,

and they have always insisted on state-of-the-artequipment; the Coldplay system withstood the wettestsummer any of us can ever remember, so we wereconfident of its durability when we put it to Oli.”

Mercer reveals that XL Video worked with BrilliantStages on the detail of fitting tiles to stage set andpyramid. “We were a bit scared when we first saw thedeck-chair mechanism! And fitting the tiles was not easy,but in operation they proved just right. For the pyramid, webuilt custom looms for data and mains so that a singlecable ran to each section of the structure. The otherimportant factor with F12 is weight. It’s very lightweightcompared to comparable products, and weight was acritical requirement for Oli to be able to use the high-speedwinches that make the pyramid appear to move so fluidly.”

Metcalfe says he has approximately 3,200 sq. ft. of LED.“XL demonstrated the product to us. It was very light-weight, dense enough to properly render the high-defcamera and content we feed to it, and it has proved theright choice,” he says.

He continues, “We also started with the pyramidmovement conceived on a wire winch system, but actuallythe Kinesys has proved the better way. Gareth Williamsruns it for me.” Williams’ motion control choreography isstunning. The pyramid’s first descent from its packed flatform, tucked within the ace-of-diamonds lighting rig, drawsa gasp from the crowd. Metcalfe has programmed asequence of light and motion that, like a good piece of CGIin a movie, completely subverts the sense that we arewatching something mechanical. “I’m really grateful toDave Ridgeway for investing in the system for me,” hesays. He’s also fortunate in having Williams at the helm. Astour rigger Jez Craddick told me, “Gareth never compro-mises. If he thinks something he’s been asked to do isunsafe, he won’t do it.”

LightingThe lighting rig is itself pretty stunning. “Everything exceptthe floor kit travels in HUD truss, Neg Earth’s own movinglight pre-rig,” says Metcalfe. Look at the photos, count thebeams, and then be amazed to learn that “so much travelsin the truss that we only have about ten flight cases for theentire lighting rig.”

Metcalfe continues, “All the followspots are Robert JuliatFlos, an 1,800W MSR. I control color and intensity from thedesk; they come with DMX input to a really nice dimmer,and Neg fitted a 10" [Wybron] Coloram [color scroller] tothe front for me. Running a show this complex—I havevideo, motion, and laser to call—didn’t leave me any roomfor spot calling, and some of my spot cues are too fast tocall, anyway.”

Fast color changes that shadow perfectly to thosetaking place in the lighting system make for a coherentlook—and he’s right, they are so fast a spot caller could

not deliver the instructions fast enough. “The Flos are sobright. I really like the finish of the Juliat lights, so I’m goingto spec Lancelots for the stadium shows.”

Of his other choices, Metcalfe says, “I have four mainlights, all chosen very specifically. [Philips Vari*Lite] VL3500Wash might be getting a bit long in the tooth now, but there’snothing yet to do what they do better. But they are limited—they either do wide or narrow, and between the two, they’reinconsistent. For arena-level touring, there’s a good marketfor a sub-[66lb] 45° wash that can go to a tight beam.”

“[Martin Professional] MAC Vipers are here for apowerful spot with a consistent beam; I didn’t want thosesort of gritty lighting artifacts you see within the beams ofcomparable lights, and Vipers are just what I wanted. Myfavorite of the four is the High End Technobeam. They’rebright, have a nice beam for washing, and a smooth zoomdown to 6°.”

Metcalfe has Technobeams buried in the stage deck,and they can really cut through, even against the outputfrom the panorama of LED screen behind them. “Travellingin the HUD, the VLs—being so big and heavy—get rattledaround a bit, but the Vipers are fine, and the Technos we’ve

never touched since we started.”His fourth light is the Martin Professional MAC Aura. “I

have a lot of them, and they’re everywhere. I use them forthose big expansion looks when you want to project outinto the audience. They don’t travel in the HUD—Neg hasmade them up on pipes like IWBs, in sets of four with allmains and control prewired. They come out of a meat rackand clip onto the main rig, pyramid trusses, or down belowaround the stage deck. They are a fantastic light, and Ican’t believe they only draw 800 milliamps.”

Metcalfe uses two practicals in the minimally furnishedstage set: LED clusters within the grand piano that becomevisible through reflection off its Perspex lid, and a fan ofvertical sticks of the same LED clusters in front of theband’s semi-official fourth member, Morgan Nicholls, onkeyboards. “They’re developed by the brilliant RichardBleasdale,” says Metcalfe. “They run off Catalyst. He takesMIDI notes off the individual keyboards, and they addresssingle pixels within the two practicals. It’s entirelyresponsive to the notes being played and mimics intensity,sustain, etc. … Quite brilliant.”

Within the context of the show, set against the sheer

www.lightingandsoundamerica.com • August 2013 • 63

XL Video steered Metcalfe toward a stock title for the LED panels surrounding the playing area, Lynx-12 from Radiant, also known asPixled F-12, and the company worked with Brilliant Stages to fit the tiles to the stage and pyramid.


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quantity of LED elsewhere, the piano LEDs are quite small.However, Metcalfe moderates the lights and video,especially for the grand piano sequences, and so they offera subtle diversion from the general bombast of a Museshow. They also serve as a human counterweight to thebulk of technology. In contrast, the fan of LEDs on Nicholls’keyboard stand was more intrusive: Because this musiciancontributes so much, his LEDs were twinkling seeminglythroughout the evening—this diminished the grand pianomoments and left me wishing their use was more measured.

For the stadium shows, Metcalfe will expand on thisdesign. “The pyramid will be modified for being suspendedoff steel; and we’ll probably expand the video-mappedsurfaces. I’ll stick to the same combo of lights.”

Video content“Again, Richard Bleasdale has helped on the video, givingme full visualization of all the video geometry in a numberof viewing formats to manage different things, likemapping content to surface, managing content to desti-nation,” says Metcalfe. “Those two need to be displayed indifferent ways to make them easy to understand. Finally,he enabled me to run actual video content onto a 360°, 3-D animated rendering of the show design that I could thenpresent to the band so they understood in advance what itwas we were proposing for the tour. It also meant thatbetween that added feature and using lighting visuali-zation, I could program the whole show in my studiobefore we went into LH2 for rehearsals.”

“Most of the content, around 80%, is created by theband’s friend and long-time collaborator Tom Kirk. I alsoproduced some myself, mainly the animated stuff. Tomdoes the more risqué and filmic stuff.”

The show is run off the new High End Systems Hog 4console. “They offered it to me. I got the first desk to try onanother project. They asked me not to use it to run a showbut to run it alongside and see what I thought of it: I wasrunning on a Full Boar [also from High End]. After threeshows, I thought, bollocks, and started running the show onthe Hog 4, and it was fine. The great thing was the showdeveloped, and the show files grew with it. Then we went toJapan and I had to revert to a Full Boar, and the backwardcompatibility was faultless. I suppose it’s what the Hog 3always should have been. It’s very quick. I like the big multi-touch screens for speed of access. The flying faders are abig deal for some. I’m not too bothered. I also like thephysical build. Nothing flexes on the control surface, and it’sall solid and feels proper again, like the original desks. Thecommand keys are very useful. I put feature sets on themand for specific playback; you can assign anything to one ofthe buttons—effects, grabs, anything.”

He concludes, “The interface pretty much allows you todo whatever you want; that makes for a very creativeenvironment, which is what it should be. In total, I’ve

programmed about 50 songs for the tour, of which 16 arecore to the show, with 20 variously being added or takenaway, so 36 in the repertoire.”

It’s clear Metcalfe was ready to step up a gear in hiscareer and take on the full concept design mantle. How ishe finding it? “What I’ve learned in this process is not tohave the pan too hot. Steve Iredale was a great help inthat; he calmed me when the original Tait quote for thepyramid came in. Fundamentally, it’s important to have allthe creative elements—set, video, lighting—come togetherand to know how you’re going to use them.”

LasersRoss Marshall, of ER Productions, looks after the lasercontent of the show. He has eight 8.5W RGB lasers,“Made by Lightline in Germany, some of the best you canget,” he offers. I had not heard of ER, but he says thecompany is “probably the biggest in Europe right now. Wedo mainly touring and TV work.”

The rear panoramic arc of sloping LED has small fixedmirrors mounted atop every panel; the eight lasers arepositioned to the sides and above on the rig. How doesMarshall apply his system to Metcalfe’s design? “I get a bitof guidance from Oli on certain colors for the songs; then,while in rehearsals at LH2, he pretty much left me to geton with it. Balance is the main thing: To the eye, greenalways looks the brightest, though in reality it’s no brighterthan other colors, so I back that off to give the same look.The lasers are used for three songs. I’m given the tracksand choreograph to the music, then construct a bit ofmadness to complement the guitar solos. I say madness,but what I aim to achieve is to make it look like the lasersare triggered by what he’s playing.”

Not as easy as it sounds when you consider the frenzyof Bellamy’s output, but it’s a fair description of what isachieved. “We are pitching to use 21W machines for thestadium shows,” adds Marshall.

Sound Marco Carolan, the band’s front-of-house engineer, says,“Part of the problem I have to deal with is when Matt[Bellamy, the band’s lead vocalist] steps into the field ofthe PA. On the last tour, he could practically put his handon the [d&b audiotechnik] J-Series cabinet at the bottomof the mains. But I learned a lot on that tour, so it’s notsuch an issue now.”

Carolan has his favorite d&b audiotechnik J-Seriessystem out, and although it is used for in-the-round or270° performances, and thus has two hangs to the sideand rear, he has elected to go with the J-Series all the wayround, with the exception of V-Series at the rear. “I justwanted that total consistency of performance. I could haveused the new V-Series at the side, but actually, when youlook at the positions the throw distance makes the larger J


box the better choice. V works better in the rear due to itswider pattern; sticking with J on the sides maintains thetonal balance.”

“The big change out front is the addition of a MidasPRO2c. That’s taken a lot of stress off the XL4. It handlesthe auxiliary stuff like the timpani, percussion mics, ProTools stuff … I needed to automate more, so now I havestems for the XL4, and I can develop tracks for my ProTools rig. The need for more automation and the stems areboth reasons to use the 2c, but they aren’t connected.With stems, it’s also a lot quicker to put somethingtogether for a broadcast, so with things like drum stem Ihave a kit mix already done; combine about eight stemsand presto, I have a broadcast mix.

“For the live show, the XL4 is still the core of the band;it’s the other detail that is managed on the PRO2c. It’sthere that I really push the automation side. The 2c

controls all the outboard effects. Both the XL4 and thePRO2c don’t have a time code input, so I create a MIDInote at every bar on the songs; that tells the 2c what/whento do something. I still find it a little unnerving to watch theXL4 in automation, but it allows me to keep that hands-onmixing style with the band.”

What did Midas think of what you’re doing? “Well, Ishowed them the programming I’d written within the globalsection of the automation of the PRO2c; when they firstsaw it, they went a bit white, but they have given me allthe tech support I’ve needed. The thing is, MIDI might beold, but it is fast and very stable, and it is still a standard.That said, this is a two-way situation. I can at any pointoverride from the XL4. So if the band goes off on atangent, I’m in control from the XL4, and the 2c will followalong. This way, I get to dot the Is and cross the Ts likeI’ve done on previous tours, but I no longer have to bother

The tour boasts more than 3,200 sq. ft. of LED panels.

Around 80% of the video content was produced by the band’scollaborator Tom Kirk, while Metcalfe contributed animations.

The fascia to the pyramid is replicated on the vertical surfacesbelow the stage, the drum riser, deck nosing, and angled LEDs.

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the keyboard tech to do that, by the simple fact of creatingthe MIDI notes—it’s now all on my own terms.”

This is all about managing the complexity of theiroutput? “Yes. Plus, it allows me to maximize the impactof the various musical and sonic details. The guitarsystem has changed for this tour; we’re now usingKemper Profiler. It’s a modeling amp that matches itsoutput to a variety of the tube amps Matt likes to use.It’s absolutely consistent and reliable for us and hastaken a lot of the guesswork out of the live sound. I wasdubious when Matt first introduced the idea, but it doeswork. Matt is all wireless now—mic and guitars. We alsosplit his vocal into an overdriven Avalon for that‘crunchy’ feel, to a [Tech 21] SansAmp for distortion andadditionally into a Vocoder. Four defined singingpositions around the stage gives him a freedom he’snever really been able to enjoy before, and he loves it. Iuse Lake Contours just for some really fine EQ on hisvoice. These are still vulnerable positions relative to thePA, but I’m always surprised by how much fine EQ I canapply to manage potential feedback while barelycoloring his voice at all.”

Carolan is a restless engineer: Never content with whathe has achieved, he’s always looking for ways to improve.

“We have changed our approach to the subs: We still flyJ-Subs with the main system but now fly them directlybehind the main array, which gives us a very full range inthe air. But we have added J-Infra to the J-Subs on thefloor. My system designer, Matt Vickers, has defined thesub arc; it’s very effective when I want to turn up thehorsepower, but generally, it’s just ticking along.”

Regarding the creation of the sub arc, this is one of themore characteristic elements of Carolan’s approach to

mixing. Muse, of all bands, has the words “power surge”written large across much of its output, yet for most of theevening, Carolan keeps this reined in—present but notoverpowering. Then, when he does push hard on the subaux, the earth shudder is all the more potent. And I have tocongratulate Vickers on his arc modeling: The reducedreverberant field at these super-low frequencies makes fora low end with definition to match the rest of the system.To achieve this in the midst of a song such as “FollowMe,” the band’s own take on dubstep from its latestalbum, The 2nd Law, is quite remarkable.

Will Carolan be applying the same template for thestadium shows in Europe later this year?

“Certainly, we’ll implement the double pitch delaysystem, which worked so well last time,” he says.

Having heard it last tour, I can vouch for the idea. Moregear, yes, but the greater control of power into thecanyons of your average stadium more than outweighs thecost of production. “We’ll also expand the sub-arc to fillacross these wider 180° audiences.” They’ll have a B-stage, no doubt? “Yes, and we’ll deal with it.”

I’ve seen many an engineer suck air between theirteeth when mention of a B-stage emerges—“resignedly”is the adjective. But there was none of that here. Carolanwon’t just deal with it; he’ll make something good out ofit. I remember saying to Carolan after the show thatseveral of the songs actually sounded better than they doon the recording. That’s easy to say: live shows are verysubjective experiences, and the excitement of the crowdadds an indefinable something to what you hear. Butlater, I thought about that and what he’d said aboutmaximizing sonic detail. Go and listen for yourself. I thinkyou’ll be surprised.

Everything except the floor units travels in HUD truss, the movinglight pre-rig by Neg Earth.

“So much travels in the truss that we only have about ten flightcases for the entire lighting rig,” says Metcalfe.

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