Mumford & Sons – Delta Tour

In October 2018, the British band Mumford & Sons announced their 2018/19 Delta tour and declared in an Instagram post, “The Delta Tour is the most extensive & ambitious tour we’ve ever done. Travelling the world & playing shows was our initial, and remains to be our primary purpose as a band. The Delta tour is going to be everything & we are going to leave it all on the floor.” Fans and critics alike agree the band’s tour has delivered even more than anticipated.

Having worked with Mumford & Sons since 2012, Solotech is pleased to once again be supporting the band’s ambitious tour design by providing lighting and video solutions on the Delta tour taking place in North America, Europa and Oceania.

Mumford & Sons worked closely with the design firm STUFISH and designer Ric Lipson to create a new concept for the Delta tour, where they could better connect with an audience as they looked at redefining the idea of intimate in-the-round design while still capturing the dynamic of an arena-sized environment.

Complimenting this stage design is a kinetic lighting rig, comprised of 22 lighting ‘sculptures’ designed in conjunction with lighting designers Ed Warren of Next Level Lights Ltd and Phil Kiakoura of Kaikoura Design. Solotech’s Lighting Project Managers are Alex Levesque and Antoine Malette; Solotech’s Xavier Pugnet oversaw rigging. The Solotech representative for the tour was Lee Moro, Vice-President, Live Productions.

“One of the biggest challenges with in-the-round concert is the enormous amount of cabling to implement, especially with the lighting elements that travel up and down throughout the show,” explains Lee Moro. “The automation was built in Europe and we had to integrate our equipment into that system. It was a big challenge, but our teams really delivered.” The effect of the lighting rig is wonderfully immersive for both the audience and the band.

In an extension of the concept of bringing the band closer to the audience, hanging over the corners of the stage are four projection see-through screens which allow the audience to be seeing the front facing performance of the band, even if they were facing away from them onstage at that moment. The Solotech team deploys Barco HD30 projectors for these screens and feeds the content via disguise media servers. The Solotech Video Crew Chief is Steve Lalonde on the Delta tour.

“The schedule for the first leg was really tight. For the New York show, we had to duplicate all the main cabling runs, motors, and trussing. We sent an advanced crew into Madison Square Garden at 2 a.m. to ensure everything would be ready for 5 p.m. that evening.” Thanks to its dedication to detail and experienced problem-solving, the Mumford & Sons’ team knows they can rely on Solotech, year after year.

Photo Credit : Stufish