Sollitt has used Robe fixtures for the last 4 or 5 years, and they are currently always his first choice of moving light. “The units are good, reliable and Robe has a very good team of people,” he comments.

For this tour, his design is based on multiple layers of lighting, the idea being that he has an infinite variety of beam patterns, looks and effects at his fingertips to deal with the sharp, punky, flashy nature of much of the set. It’s a heavily back-lit show, with a ‘wall of death’ upstage to ensure plenty of retinal burnout for the audience. This style of lighting is very much suited to the band’s frenetic set which has no dull moments, with lead singer Matt Bowman engaging in some spectacular acrobatics particularly on top of the monitors.

This tour is also a big step up for Pigeon Detectives in terms of it being their first with a proper full production, kicking off in style with two gigs at Millennium Square in their hometown of Leeds.

The Robe fixtures are 10 ColorSpot 575E ATs, 11 ColorWash 575E AT Zooms and 9 ColorSpot 700E ATs, the latter of which were purchased specially for the tour by lighting suppliers Zig Zag from Robe UK.

On the back truss are 4 of the ColorSpot 700E ATs and 5 of the ColorWash 575E AT Zooms. The mid truss is rigged with the other 5 ColorSpot 700E ATs and 6 ColorWash 575E AT Zooms. Six vertical mini-truss towers upstage under the back truss are each topped with a ColorSpot 575E AT, and there’s another 4 ColorSpot 575E ATs on flightcases at the back for beam-work and up-lighting.

Sollitt is also using a selection of generics including 2 and 4-cell Moles, strobes, CS4 moving ACL bars and DB4 LED fixtures. These and all the Robes are controlled via a Chamsys PC Wing plus additional playback wing. Zig Zag also supplied two crew - Gareth Lonsdale and Martin Barrowclough.

He chose the Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs for their “Incredible brightness and their superior colour mixing which is far better than any other 700 currently fixture on the market”. He adds that you can get very nice secondary colours out of them including a fabulous turquoise which he really likes. “I used them last year on different shows and was very impressed …. so when this tour came up, we needed to have them on the rig.”

He expands, “Fixtures with good colour mixing facilities are a must for a show like this and this is one of the things I like about Robe”. He adds that working with a mixture of different Robe fixtures is also good as the colours all match each other. He also thinks the 575s are excellent units and has used them extensively on many projects.

The Emergency tour is currently scheduled to run to the end of the year and will visit the US, Japan, UK festivals and Europe again …. Amongst other territories.