HSL supplied Starsailor's LD Chris Megginson with a set of specials for their recent Fairtrade "teaser" UK tour.

The band - long term Fairtrade supporters - played 10 locations which are currently working towards achieving Fair-trade Town status as part of an ongoing consciousness raising exercise for the cause.

Being a charity tour, budget was tight, but naturally Megginson wanted to provide as good a light show as possible, and approached HSL's Mike Oates to see what they could offer in terms of a package.

He was looking for the most versatile and interesting combination of lighting fixtures that could be fitted into some very tight spaces "HSL came up with  blindingly good deal" states Megginson, who chose four of the new i-Pix BB Washlight LED fixtures, two strobes, a fogger and a WholeHog II console as his ‘tour essentials' which would be combined with house rigs at each venue.

Mike Oates states, "We were delighted to be involved on all fronts. It was great to work with Chris and we were very happy to do a good deal for such a good cause".

HSL are also the first UK rental house to invest in the BB wash Lights, part of their ongoing commitment to ensuring the newest lighting and digital lighting technology is available from their inventory.

Megginson even surprised himself with how dynamic the BB's actually proved to be! The LEDs can be controlled as 4 columns of 4 within each fixture, and this gave him plenty of scope, allowing him to create dramatic sweeps and waves of light traversing the stage.

"They are equally as good for mega-bright burn-out moments as they are for subtle and gentle glowing effects which infuse the whole stage" he enthuses.

He fitted them in where he could onstage in between the backline, sitting in their own cases. The house rigs varied greatly between venues, but the floor rig remained the same, giving a nice element of continuity.

Another great advantage was that, despite being in extremely close proximity to the band, being LED sources, the BBs gave off virtually no heat. "Had I attempted to use 8-lites for the same job I would have ended up frying the band" he states, "Which would have made them very uncomfortable .... But as it was, there was really no problem with having the fixtures right there in their faces - or behind their backs!"

Each BB also consumes only 8 Amps of power, which is miniscule for the intense amounts of light they output, and another huge plus when playing smaller more off-beat places.

It was the first time he'd used BBs. Ahead of the tour he visited the i-Pix HQ in Manchester, where LD Dave Byars demonstrated the fixtures. As soon as he realized the speed and brightness, he knew they were the lights for him!

Starsailor's set started thoughtfully with 5 acoustic numbers performed by singer/songwriter James Walsh, who was then joined by the rest of the band who rocked it up with a full electric set. All of this went down a storm with the punters.

Megginson really enjoyed the short tour and says that the service from HSL was exemplary throughout, "The fact that I was only taking 6 fixtures, a fogger and a console didn't matter, I still got their full attention and they took a real interest in what I was doing" he confirms.

Starsailor's new album is due out in the spring, and will be followed by their next major tour.