Macca Tours with “Flawless” MAC 700

Rock legend and Ex-Beatle icon Sir Paul McCartney is back on the road in support of his latest studio release, “Chaos and Creation in the Backyard.” Lighting designer is Roy Bennet who specified 70 of Martin’s new 700-watt MAC 700 profiles as the main effect light in his design.

Sir Paul’s "Us" world tour kicked off in Miami in September, the start of an extensive American leg that sees him touring the US through the fall. Lighting vendor is Upstaging, Inc. whose latest MAC acquisition has proved an excellent choice. John Huddleston, Managing Director of Lighting Services at Upstaging, enthused, “The MAC 700’s are excellent. Flawless! They’re bulletproof. We cannot believe these are the first off the line!”

Lighting designer Roy Bennet

This is Roy’s third tour with Macca, having started with him on 2002’s “Driving USA” outing. For this current tour he employs 70 MAC 700 profile spots alongside 38 MAC 2000 Wash units, Synchrolite 1Ks and Saco LEDs.

The MAC 700 plays an important roll in Roy’s scheme. We caught up with him just prior to the Philadelphia shows and asked him about the new MAC light. “They’re a great light. I’m very impressed,” he stated. “Its power makes it a complement to the MAC 2000 Wash – it really holds its own compared to the MAC 2000. I like their size and they have excellent mechanics. The improvement of the speed, the gobos and colors is excellent.”

Roy has the MAC 700s located on pods on the main rig, running up and down on Cyberhoists, as well as on an upstage truss and out in the house for audience effects. “Very versatile” they are used throughout the entire show for a variety of looks.

“I use them for breakups in the air but not for gobo looks at all,” he stated. “I use them for everything from very dynamic looks down to basic looks. I have some full on, in your face, rock ‘n roll looks like for “Live and Let Die” which is very big, and then use them for more subtle effect like for “Yesterday” which is a very personal intimate song with only Paul on stage.

“The MAC 700s have proved very hardy. I haven’t had any problems with any of them.”

Packed full of features, the MAC 700 is the latest high performance luminaire in Martin’s line of award-winning MAC moving heads. The powerful 700-watt luminaire houses the latest in lighting technology including a CMY color system plus color wheel, gobo animation plus two gobo wheels, motorized zoom, ‘Quiet Mode’ option and much more. Its superior optical system produces a remarkable light output, a light quality that is often better than competitive fixtures with higher rated lamps.