Martin Professional has 82 lighting fixtures on tour with James Blunt and his production designer Paul Normandale and lighting director Glen Johnson. The lights include 41 x MAC Auras, 32 x MAC Viper Profiles, six MAC AirFxs and two AF1 Fans. Normandale and Johnson have worked with James Blunt since 2005, this is their fourth world tour with him, and all of his shows have been dominated by Martin moving lights, but this is the largest production they have taken out on the road so far, says Johnson.
Blunt released his newest album in October of 2013 entitled “Moon Landing’, which features an emotional and powerful side to the singer-songwriter we have not yet seen. The album is personal and intimate, reflecting back to where Blunt got his start and where he is now. The theme of the tour is the romanticism and loneliness of the moon landings. For Normandale, this was a fun challenge: “My thoughts and vision with the lighting design were inspired by the lunar landing theme. That is where the idea of landing craft risers and panorama of the lunar planet LED screen came from.’
Normandale explains that the Viper Profile has great colour speed for snap chase. “The optics and reliability of the fixture over this past year has been staggering. I don’t think we have swapped even one Martin fixture yet. The Viper Profiles have become the standard profile workhorse, with great gobo options and a fantastic colour speed on the colour wheel.’
“The Mac AirFX has great zoom optics. It’s a great all-round fixture. I could do the whole show just with these. The Viper AirFX beams have become a great addition to the Martin range and filled a gap that Martin had. They work well and have produced some fantastic aerial looks over the audience. I think the Aura is Normandale’s favourite LED wash fixture as they seem to feature on nearly everything he does,’ adds Johnson.
The Moon Landing World Tour started in December 2013 in China and will run until mid-2015, making its way through North America, Europe, Africa and South America.
