Simple riffs and lyrics that celebrate sex, alcohol and damnation are the formula that has made AC/DC one of the greatest hard rock bands in music history. From their beginnings in the 1970s, they have sold over 200 million records worldwide, including 71.5 million in the United States alone. These figures put AC/DC among the top ten artists in terms of sales in the USA, but they are one of the best-selling bands in the rest of the world too.
The lighting designer intended to create 'a big, large scale rock concert to fill the end of a stadium," for the legendary rock band. (Clay Paky/LEDinside)
Classics like "Highway to Hell", "For Those About to Rock", "Thunderstruck" or "Hells Bells" are not only anthems for their fans, but are known to anyone who has anything even vaguely to do with music. AC/DC are back performing on their "Rock or Bust" World Tour, to prove once again that they have earned their place among the gods of rock.
The expected lightiing effect requires high luminous efficeincy as well as strong emitting light that stresses the band's characterisics. (Clay Paky/LEDinside)
The lighting designer and show director is - as usual - Patrick Woodroffe, and the lighting director is yet again Cosmo Wilson, who expressly requested two grandMA2 full-size consoles for the tour. Woodroffe explained the idea behind his lighting design: "I wanted to create a big, large scale rock concert to fill the end of a stadium. Therefore my first choice was lights with high luminous efficiency and sharp light beams to emphasize the band's lively character, like Clay Paky Sharpy and Sharpy Wash units."
Wilson went on to say: "I am a very hands-on ‘busking type’ of lighting director. I generally run the show old style, like we did on the classic Avo and Celco consoles. The fact that I can do a lot of things on-the-fly really helps. It allows me to write cues in the heat of the moment and then come back the next day and clean them up. I am also very happy with both the speed and the stability of the console and look forward to each show day!”
Terry Cook from Woodroffe Bassett Design LLP is the Project Director, and Dave Hill and Pryderi Baskerville take care of the programming. Upstaging and Neg Earth have provided the lighting equipment.
