Fun Lovin’ Criminals

Criminals aren’t always bad. In fact, they can be downright fun at times.

LD Stuart Gray, who has been working with the band Fun Lovin’ Criminals for the last 14 months, can testify to that. Currently playing European venues until November 10th in support of their new CD, Fun Lovin’ Criminals approached Stuart for a unique lighting design.

ADLITE Productions and sister company ADLIB Audio of Liverpool supply all the band’s technical production requirements – set, sound, and lighting - including MAC luminaires and Martin RoboColor Pro 400s.

According to ADLITE’s Hire Manager Andy Rowe, “Basically the design brief was, ‘use some of the latest high tech equipment, make it easy to tour and make it as flexible as possible to cope with the many different venue sizes. Make it quick to set up, make it easy to maintain’.”

Versatile moving light rig

The rig itself is primarily a versatile moving light rig configured on two trusses with MACs on the back truss attached to graduated pipe-beams. Stuart then added color-changing units to illuminate the set.

Up-ended sections of 6ft A-type trussing on the floor are lit from below with conventionals and color changers, which form pillars between the three bar sections (see below) when the full set is installed. Each of these has a MAC 500 on top. The lighting picture is completed with five half mirror balls, one on each side fill, one each side of the center bar and one vertical, facing outwards in front of the bass drum.

“Why did we choose MACs?,” asks Andy. “We have always used High End equipment, but for this tour we wanted something that was powerful, lightweight, easy to maintain and if anything went wrong, i.e. Europe, we knew that it was likely we could get replacements quickly. Stuart liked the pace, control and efficiency of the MACs so he decided to use those as his main effects lights.”

Onstage bars

As their name suggests, the band is renowned for their enjoyment of life and music and came up with the idea of having a real onstage bar as a set piece (staffed by various members of the crew!). Stuart developed three onstage scenic bars with fully working optics and drink mixing facilities. He utilized existing set elements from the ADLITE warehouse, and created others with the help of Scenex from the Midlands, who made the bar fronts and mirrors. Theme Traders sourced the two backcloths – a New York skyline, and a tropical sunset with the third ‘I Love New York’ backdrop coming from Fun Lovin Criminals’ stock. Stuart made the whole set as adaptable as possible in terms of shrinking or expanding according to stage size.

LD/Lighting Director: Stuart Gray – ADLITE Productions
Lighting Crew: Paul Burke, Robert Bull – ADLITE Productions
Lighting & Set Contractor: ADLITE Productions
ADLIB System Engineers: James Neale, James Coates
ADLITE System Engineers: Paul Burke, Robert Bull