David Gilmour About Face Tour 1984

In the Spring of 1983, Alan went to see David at his country mansion to discuss set & lighting ideas for the forthcoming tours of Europe & USA.

"I took along some of the little MR16s', they were low voltage dichroic lamps I'd seen in an interior design magazine whilst living in the States."

They were advertised to show their potential in art galleries and shop window display lighting.

"I'd initially asked Mike Tait of Tait Towers Lighting to order some lamps so that we could experiment with them but he didn't show any interest. It was on my return to the UK I approached Robbie Sworder of Britannia Row Lighting about getting some lamps for me to play with."

After some successful trials with different types of lamps, decisions were made as to which direction to go in.

"When I showed David what could be done with such a small light source he was really impressed. They could be hidden all over the stage, only seen when lit".

Sketch of set design proposal.

Alan had also made a model of a stage set proposal that he lit from different angles and photographed. "The set was a simple design really. There was going to be a lot of band equipment on stage, amps and cabinets etc so really all I wanted to do was contain them within individual grey fabric blocks. A bit like an acoustic Stonehenge with a walkway across the back of the stage."

Photos of set model.

DAVID GILMOUR

The guitarist and anchor man of PINK FLOYD had a second solo album released and a tour in the pipeline. 'About Face' was the album and the tour went by the same name

His band were made up of top class musicians including Mick Ralphes, formerly of BAD COMPANY and Raff Ravenscroft, the sax player on 'Baker Street' by GERRY RAFFERTY.

David and his band toured European cities ending with four nights at Hammersmith Odeon, London. This was followed by a tour of Canada and the USA. He sold out everywhere.

"A number of songs in the set were Pink Floyd numbers which the crowds absolutely loved. Money, Comfortably Numb and Run Like Hell drove the audiences wild. This was a great tour. Everything was so well organised due to the management team having done it all before with Pink Floyd".

The set was very simply designed and the grey fabric boxes could be positioned to suit the musicians needs and then lit in a number of colours in contrast to the rest of the scene. Two white cyc cloths hung behind the walkway. Three dimensional discs protruded from the cycs and were back lit for halo and chase effects.

The walkway was made from the lighting containers (meat-racks) that were brought onstage during the fit-up. The bars of Par64s were unloaded and rigged onto the trusses then the meat-racks were turned on their sides and bolted together. This provided an instant 40 foot walkway at 4 feet high.

"We were also able to hide additional speakers within the walkway.Three straight trusses fulfilled the needs of lighting the band and set. I used about 800 low voltage MR16 lamps on that show, all custom made for David Gilmour. There was a continuous line of them across the front of the stage and around the drum kit....another 100 on frames, clipped to cymbal stands."

At Davids' vocal position were lights on the floor and clipped to his microphone stand. With a smokey atmosphere and dark stage, they performed outstandingly. "The chase sequences were incredible" .

THE MR16 LAMPS WENT ONTO BECOME KNOWN AS 'BIRDIES'.

ALAN WILD & JAMES THOMAS ENGINEERING CAME UP WITH THE FIRST 'BIRDIE' MINI PARCAN.

Britannia Row supplied the lighting for the European section with Tait Towers supplying the North American tour.