Andy has been involved with lighting Elton’s shorter live tours and one off concerts since 2007 … while lighting for  the star’s current ‘Million Dollar Piano’ residency show in Las Vegas is  designed by Patrick Woodroffe and directed by Kevin Bye.

LPL were the lighting provider for the four Brazilian concerts – in Rio de Janeiro, Goiania, Fortaleza and Salvador  – preceded by a one off in La Quinta, Ecuador.  Andy’s standard rider for Elton’s shows contains a spec for generic spot and wash moving lights, and after examining the available fixtures in Brazil, he decided to go with an all-Robe design for moving lights, for which he liaised closely with LPL Project Manager, Erich Bertti.

Incorporated into the rig were 44 x Robe ColorSpot 2500E ATs, 31 x ColorWash 2500E ATs, 22 x ROBIN 600 LEDWashes and 12 x ROBIN Pointes.These were arranged over four over-stage trusses and five vertical truss towers upstage.

Each of the towers featured a ColorSpot 2500E AT rigged on top flanked by two LEDWash 600s either side, and the rest of the fixtures were positioned all over the trusses, with the 12 Pointes on the floor together with two of the ColorSpots which were used as backlight for Elton when sitting at the piano.

Andy has used Robe products before on various creative projects … but this was his first chance to use Pointes for a show!

“I really like them,” he declares.

“The prisms are excellent - really crisp - and indexable so ideal for precise positioning. They work fabulously with the split-colours to produce funky effects”.

He discovered new effects like spinning the linear prism horizontal and bringing the beam right down to the floor, producing a really nice clean fan of beams to skim the stage with absolutely no unwanted spillage.

He also found  the multi-functionality of the Pointes very useful – the fact that they can be a beam or a wash light in a second. He used them in Spot mode a lot of the time and was “Well impressed” with the power.

He’s used LEDWashes before too and continues to appreciate the colours and the fact that you can get some more unusual hues out of them. In particular he refers to a vivid and spacey green which became the signature look for Elton’s classic ‘Rocket Man’.

LPL fitted Andy’s own custom gobos into their ColorSpot 2500E ATs and he ran the show from a grandMA full size console.

Photo Credits: Andy Pygott