‘Live in Leith’ is a series of PPV (pay-per-view) digital gigs recorded at the fabulous Leith Theatre, Edinburgh, UK. The gigs combining some of the best rising star music talents in Scotland with spectacular production values – including Robe moving lights – which were used for two of the three initial sets of broadcasts.
The four featured artists – two per gig – were lit by two of Scotland’s leading lighting designers, Grant Anderson and Sam Jones and played captivating sets. Ransom FA and Nova Scotia the Truth brought clever and intricate verbiage and cool beats from the edge of Scottish grime, while power pop and post-punk rocked the house with Lucia and The Best Boys and The Ninth Wave.
The gigs are presented by BBC Radio Scotland DJ Vic Galloway and were produced by Lynn Morrison and Callum Jones for the Leith Theatre Trust.
Lighting production for Live in Leith was specified by both Grant and Sam and based on the range of kit that Black Light had available in their warehouse, which included several different Robe fixtures. The goal of these concerts was to create ‘broadcast quality’ Livestream content for sharing in an intensively competitive market where the pressure is on to stand out in terms of quality music, presentation, and production.
The first recording session of the week starred Ransom FA and Nova and was lit by Grant Anderson, who utilised 15 x Robe BMFL Spots rigged in trusses flown high up in the roof of the main auditorium stage, together with eight Robe LEDBeam 150s, positioned four a side on boom stands for cross-stage lighting. He also deployed two Robe Spiider LED wash beams in the downstage corners as floor level key lights for the artists with an array of other fixtures.
Grant has worked on several pop-up shows and art installations at Leith Theatre in recent years, mainly for the Edinburgh International Festival, and was excited to be asked to light the grime session for Live in Leith because he was very inspired by the music and it gave him the chance to take a “completely different” and highly imaginative approach to light.
His mission was to create an interesting and stimulating stage environment that was also stark, raw, and clean, allowing the focus to remain firmly on the artists, their lyrics and song narratives so lots of strong, bold, powerful looks, saturated colours, and dramatic and definite transitions. “Simple, powerful, effective,” he commented.
Grant often uses Robe products in his designs which have recently included the GlasGLOW3 illuminated trail, for which he used 60 x iPointes.
Positioning, the LEDBeam 150s on the side booms “completed” the design with style, giving him a bank of lights on each side to punch through and across the stage with colours, dynamics, and more beams. He enjoys the LEDBeam 150 for its zoom which, boosts its overall versatility as a fixture, and he used the Spiiders for key lighting because they produce “excellent” skin tones on camera.
Sam Jones approached lighting The Ninth Wave – whom he’s lit before – and Lucia & The Best Boys from a different perspective. Sam utilised the same basic overhead and side rig – including the BMFLs and the LEDBeam 150s as Grant, but the fixtures were completely re-rigged, so everything looked radically different. He brought in some extras including six upstage vertical trusses which were rigged with 24 x narrow PAR cans and 18 additional LEDBeam 150s to introduce some classic rock back wall attitude which worked a treat!
His starting point for the lighting design was Ninth Wave’s set for which he wanted an intense, stark, silhouette look and multiple shades of white! His quest for alternative whites and, within that, different quality whites, led him to spec the tungsten retro PARs as a perfect contra to the LED sources. The PARs and LEDBeam 150s were arranged in columns on the upright trusses. LEDBeam 150s also have a great range of whites as well as all the colours, and he likes their small size, lightning speed and, naturally, the zoom.
For Lucia & The Best Boys, and he added a ring of Robe Spikes on the floor around the back of the band members. “The beams look great on camera and they are so small you can squeeze them in almost anywhere without anyone noticing until they are fired up,” he commented.
Staging these Covid-safe shows with full visual productions was a big investment for Leith Theatre, but one that has been hugely well received and valued by all involved.
