Heartland

Anyone know why he's not been on the last few tours?, I know he lives in Dubai, not saying current light dude/dudess is bad, but the guru was a legend...

Santana tour manager in 2008; could've been a one-off, as the show was in Dubai.

Guru in 2009:



S&S Award judge Nigel Holborough takes control of the Clay Paky lighting rig.


Since this is Nige's thread, might as well let him have it.

Guru speaks

This explanation of how Sisters Lampies gain life was written by Sisters Own Guru Nigel Holborough for Dominion mailing list. Still movies put a lot of emphasis on the lightshow, so it pays to know what is behind it all. See also the explanation of Sisters lighting, courtesy of the official site.

"There are normally 2 lighting desks, one for moving lights, one for fixed lights, sometimes there is another one for some other moving lights. There may also be other controllers for smoke, wind machines and strobes etc. These desks are run by one, or sometimes two guys, and are operated 'Live' in much the same way as a Guitarist or Keyboard player. Some parts are pre-programmed sequences, again simlilar to musicians 'effects' units.


"From tour to tour, and festival to festival, the number, type, and placement of the lights can vary, so no one program could cover every eventuality. As regular concert goers will have noticed, even the same setlist is never played exactly the same, Andrew stands, crouches and crawls where he will, and who knows where the wind will blow the smoke, so although there are 'set pieces' the lights follow the band from moment to moment via an Eye/Hand interface that largely bypasses the brain, which spends most of its time 20 seconds into the future trying to figure out what should/might/will happen next.

"As for MIDI... it's alright for Muso's I suppose, but Lampies use DMX512 which is far more appropriate and adds a certain frisson to the proceedings (Lampies like to live on the edge).


"Anyway, if the Doktor did the lights, what would I do on my holidays?"

- http://tours.tsom.org/gallery/movies.htm


And from the official site:

Andrew would quite like to restrict The Guru to a maximum of two colours at any given time.

As for the Guru's successor, Liz Berry:

While the band had certain stipulations about the lighting, to further challenge herself, Berry also introduced her own visual rules – including using a maximum of two colours per look, plus black and white.

Whichever around, should be pleased from thereon.

Been wondering this myself - his 90s work definitely defined how the sisters should look onstage for me and i'd love to see what he's doing these days.

copper wrote: ↑31 Jul 2010, 04:41
As for the Guru's successor, Liz Berry:

While the band had certain stipulations about the lighting, to further challenge herself, Berry also introduced her own visual rules – including using a maximum of two colours per look, plus black and white.

The above link is unvalid, so here's new one ...
https://www.etnow.com/news/2009/6/the-s ... th-grandma

And here's something more recent featuring Liz Berry
https://surroundscapes.bluesoundprofess ... liz-berry/

I wrote this in another thread -

ruffers wrote: ↑29 Apr 2022, 16:31 My guess re the fog was for his voice, it does tickle a bit in the throat.

Re the lights the lighting engineer changed between the last of the four dates pre covid, a guy called Lee and the first of the Roundhouse triple header. I always used to chat to Lee but somehow he fell out with AE and was only at the Roundhouse to tell me about it as he happens to be Jesus Jones lighting engineer. Watching Lee was always entertaining as he worked the console. Maybe the new guy is slightly less proactive?

I always liked the odd mini rave we used to have...

ruffers wrote: ↑11 Jun 2022, 00:32 I wrote this in another thread -

ruffers wrote: ↑29 Apr 2022, 16:31 My guess re the fog was for his voice, it does tickle a bit in the throat.

Re the lights the lighting engineer changed between the last of the four dates pre covid, a guy called Lee and the first of the Roundhouse triple header. I always used to chat to Lee but somehow he fell out with AE and was only at the Roundhouse to tell me about it as he happens to be Jesus Jones lighting engineer. Watching Lee was always entertaining as he worked the console. Maybe the new guy is slightly less proactive?

I always liked the odd mini rave we used to have...

I definitely prefer what Lee's doing there to the current lampie; at least he's got some dynamics going and isn't sitting on his hands.. but! It doesn't look like a Sisters show should to me- too clean, possibly. It's a shame they had a falling out, as I think he has the chops and the eye to give a really solid show.

With this info, though, I'm even more convinced the drearier lighting is band (read: AE) driven - nobody I know in the industry is going to pick up a gig with TSOM and then rein themselves into one simple look per song. It's gotta be by request.