12 CONCERTS & TOURING
The brief was about simplicity.
This wasn’t a vastly abstract concept, more about placing Zayn front and centre for the fans
Rather than just using a raw feed, Ross wanted to create a universe for Zayn’s projection to exist within (left)
“I wouldn’t say it was a radical deviation from how to put on a pop show, but it felt exciting and different,” he comments. “The fans and their responses to the show when they saw it… it had a resonance.” Ross believes there’s a wider trend at play in the live music world, where cameras are becoming ‘a more integral part of how we see the artists’ shows and how we see them within their shows. It’s about creating an environment and an atmosphere’ – and Routledge agrees. “It’s about creating different worlds – asymmetrical or symmetrical worlds, line looks that encompass him in a scene. The goal was to create one great look per song with some flourishes, rather than an over-the-top light show. He’s not going to fly; there aren’t any big props; there aren’t dancers. It’s about the music and him.” What more can fans really ask for?
and then behind the screen we put a whole grid of ROXX colour blinders.” During Zayn’s Vegas stretch, Routledge doubled down on pink; on Konnakol , he opted for green and amber. “We wanted to give Zayn a look rather than chasing colours,” he shares. “We tried to keep within certain worlds without disappearing too far. When you can give yourself a bit of discipline, you do better.” Due to some unforeseen events, the Konnakol dates shifted – and Routledge could no longer be on-site. He brought on Michael Straun, who served as his associate LD while he lit up Eurovision . The whole system – lighting, audio and video – was signed off before the tour began, remaining identical for the South American leg, which picks up in October. While Konnakol wasn’t designed to be groundbreaking, Ross found it refreshing.
underneath the main PA. To avoid gaps, Kappel developed the ‘showerhead PA’, “an upstage pair of KSL loudspeakers flown very high, above the video wall,” says McMahon. “No matter where the audience stood, they were covered with front fill or showerhead, even if they were well out of the main PA’s range.” LIVE AND IN COLOUR The Konnakol Tour didn’t just present acoustic challenges; Routledge had to get creative with light placement too. “We put a ring of lights around the stage edge, but on these clever lifts so they could rise and fall,” he details. “They could peek up above the stage and then go a bit higher, so we could create different architectures. We had two concentric rings of Martin Lighting’s MAC Ultra Performance and Roxxlight blinders,
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