On his second farewell tour, Ozzy Osbourne’s team continues to innovate
By: Sharon Stancavage

“Ozzy Osbourne has had a storied career, first as the lead singer of Black Sabbath, later as a solo act, and as star of various TV reality series. Through it all, he has been guided by his wife/manager, Sharon. “She leads on the design side,” says Patrick Woodroffe, principal at Woodroffe Bassett Design and Ozzy’s longtime creative director. Speaking of Osbourne’s No More Tours 2—Ozzy’s second farewell tour to date—he says, “[Sharon] talked to Terry Cook—lighting designer and show director at Woodroffe Bassett Design—about making something special of this, Ozzy’s last time out on the road. She wanted it to be spectacular but with some real theatre as well.” Cook took on a role much larger than his title would suggest: “Terry ran this project from beginning to end,” Woodroffe says, “not only in terms of designing the lighting but also in tying in all the scenic elements and running the film elements with the content creators. He was also Sharon’s partner in the creative direction of the show; the result, through a collaboration, as ever, with me and lighting director Michael Keller, is very much Terry’s creation, and something we are all very proud of here at Woodroffe Bassett Design.”

“The Entire lighting rig is on the Follow-Me system, which enabled the team to do much complex cueing.”

Using Follow-Me’s Remote Follow-Spot System

Also in use is the Follow-Me automated spot system, distributed by AC Lighting. “We made a conscious decision not to put followspots on the show,” Cook says. “When you listen to the music, you hear these great moments of a drum solo into a guitar solo back to a drum solo and we didn’t want to tell Zakk [Wylde], our guitarist, that he had to stand in a certain place for a certain
moment. So, the entire rig is calibrated to Follow-Me, and we do fantastic moments where we have 72 lights on the drum kit, and they stagger on and off; it’s literally a two and-a-half second moment. It’s almost like you have 72 cues in two seconds; some of the audience will see it and some won’t, but it really enhances that moment.”

Keller adds, “Follow-Me has proven to be a very reliable and extremely functional system. Having it follow Zakk into the audience was outside of the specified listings of what it is able to do. Our Follow-Me programmer, Jason Arhelger, is able to use additional cameras to make this work.” Since the tour, conceived for arenas, is now playing sheds and amphitheaters, he says, “The daily variables are significant, since many venues have extended wings and ramps into the seating area. It makes for daily adjustments.”

Read the full article

Copyright Lighting&Sound America November 2018 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/LSA.html
CONCERTS: 62 • November 2018 • Lighting&Sound America
(images taken from the article)