CT Shine with Take That Tour

Hailed as the best current touring performance, Take That’s The Circus Live – Summer 2009 tour has exceeded everyone’s expectations – even the band has commented that “this is the biggest tour we’ve ever done, it’s the most exciting Take That tour yet!”

With concerts throughout the UK and held in the largest stadiums, over 1,000,000 tickets have been sold for the flamboyantly themed extravaganzas, based on the Take That’s latest album ‘The Circus’. With the stage set as the Big Top, a ringmaster welcomes the audience to the show, which includes jugglers, unicyclers, clowns and trapeze artists and incorporates dancers in feather showgirl outfits, a high wire and the ultimate showmanship of the boy band themselves.

New songs mix with old as Take That treat their fans to a spectacular that answers the question ‘Could It Be Magic” with the confirmation that for many it was the ‘Greatest Day’. However, ‘It Only Takes A Minute’ wasn’t a reference to all the pre-planning and preparation that goes in to such a sensational and memorable show.

Creative Technology has been involved in all three tours since Take That reformed, which enables CT to provide the production with experience and knowledge allowing for smooth transit and seamless rig and de rig for each of the stadium stints. Utilising a Barco MiTrix screen for the back screen and two IMAG panels for each side, CT once again worked alongside XL Video who provided the central circular screen.

The MiTrix screen uses a total of 196 modules, delivers an overall screen size of over 350m2 and uses CT’s newly developed cable system to overcome the installation issues that MiTrix has been known for in the past. CT also built custom dollies allowing equipment to be double stacked hugely reducing load in time and optimising truck pack.

In addition to the vast MiTrix screen two towering IMAG displays flank the stage. Each measuring almost 14 metres, it was essential to utilise a module with sufficient structural integrity to withstand both the vertical loads and potential wind forces. Nonetheless the top four rows of Mitsubishi modules selected had to be specially modified to withstand the potential loads. As with the MiTrix, CT built custom dollies again reducing load in time and truck space.

The entire project is managed by CT’s Alex Leinster who has temporarily returned from the company’s Asia Pacific office to look after this project.
Alex is supported locally by Rob Ricci and a touring crew of eight led by Richard Corns.

Production Manager Chris Vaughan who has worked with TT since 1993, agreed that the scale of the show is extremely impressive and that CT’s approach to the implementation and management of the screens has been seamless: “With CT having been involved in all three of Take That’s tours since the band reunited, their experience and understanding of how things need to go together in such a short time period certainly makes for a smooth and cohesive working relationship. This is one of the largest deployments of Video Screen I have witnessed, five out of 35 Production trucks contain CT Video Screens and the whole production runs very smoothly. The screens look magnificent and combined with Take That’s spectacular showmanship ensures that this tour will be one people talk about for years to come!”