Flexibility for front of house Audio for the tour is supplied by Solotech, with front-of-house
engineer Will Donbavand working on a DiGiCo Quantum 338 Pulse Digital Mixing Console and monitor engineer Michael Fitzsimmons using a Quantum 5. The two engineers have followed Kennedy’s production as it has grown from club performances to major stadium shows. Donbavand has worked with the singer since 2017. “There are essentially no playback tracks in this show, which means there are a lot of people on stage,” Donbavand explains. For the London show, the production included a ten-piece choir, while the Dublin homecoming performance expanded to a 22-piece choir alongside special guests. Donbavand moved to a Quantum 5 for the latter, finding the ability to transfer his show file between consoles useful. “The fact that you can just swap over your show file to a different console is a big plus.”
“We wanted every song to feel different and reflect its meaning and mood, while preserving an overarching strong presence of the world the show exists in. It was important that we could find ways to make the stage feel very small at moments and very large at other times.” FLATPACKED FORESTRY Creating that sense of scale is one challenge, but the next is being able to deliver it consistently across a touring schedule spanning more than 50 venues, from small theatres to arenas and stadiums. “Together with the production manager Ben Pomphrett and our fabricators Ox Event House,” Lipson expands, “we found clever ways to create large objects that could come apart and travel as almost flatpacks.” This modular approach informed the construction of the scenery from the outset. Rather than designing an elaborate fixed installation and attempting to make it tour-ready afterwards, STUFISH considered how the environment would break down, travel and be rebuilt as part of the creative process. “We made all the trees and rocks from fabric with minimal support and structure, which kept the set compact for logistics and daily load-in. The tour moved from small theatres to arenas and then large stadiums, and the biggest challenge was to create a set
that could fit in the tightest spaces and still feel full in the largest.” This method also reduced the need to transport bespoke infrastructure. STUFISH sourced many of the band risers and stage decking locally, combining those rental elements with parts that can be disassembled and reused, rather than requiring every part of the stage to be purpose-built. It’s evident that every decision around this tour had to serve the wider vision, while remaining achievable within the production’s logistical and budgetary constraints. The combination of lightweight scenic elements, locally sourced staging and carefully integrated technical systems meant the team could prioritise the details that made the environment distinctive. “In terms of sustainability, we created very little custom scenery, but by combining rental elements with the celebration of the negative space between key elements, we made something that felt large and impactful, even in the stadiums.” Overall, it’s evident that The Weight of the Woods tour succeeds by treating the stage as an extension of the music rather than a backdrop competing for attention. Lipson agrees, concluding that “it is a good reminder for future shows of how to use a little to impact a larger vision”.
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