Deep Purple lighting designer Louis Ball has just given Martin Professional's new MAC III AirFX lighting fixture a thorough workout on the definitive rock band's November / December arena outing across Europe.
A classic rock 'n' roll show it is, complete with guitar and drum solos and row of on-stage Marshall amps. Once recognized by The Guinness Book of World Records as 'The globe's loudest band', Deep Purple can still put on a powerful, energy-filled show, and that goes for the lighting rig as well.
Deep Purple's latest tour may not be as ear-splittingly loud as year's past thanks to sound exposure limits but there are no limits on how bright or active a lighting rig can be. And Louis Ball takes full advantage.
"They really take a hammering," he says of the 1500-watt moving head fixtures, supplied for the tour by TDA Rental. "The show is evolving every night and the looks I can get with the AirFX are an important part of the design. I'm quite happy with the lamp and I love the zoom."
TDA has delivered the full production for Deep Purple for the last 10 years. After receiving a shipment of MAC III AirFX fixtures on 5 November, they were able to supply them in time for Deep Purple's first European show on 8 November.
Ball, who has been with Deep Purple since 1984, wasn't shy about putting the fixtures through their paces with a trim height of 10m giving ample room to see what the fixtures could do. Twenty-four MAC III AirFX were paired with MAC III Profiles across an upstage, midstage and downstage truss with one AirFX on each side of the downstage floor used as side-light.
Besides the MAC III AirFX and MAC III Profiles, 18 Martin MAC Aura wash lights were used to illuminate four upstage columns with additional fixtures in an upstage rig and on the floor lighting the back curtain.
