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The word “iconic” is frequentlyoverused, often without appro-priate merit. But in an effort to

adequately describe the choice ofvenue for Coldplay’s performance aspart of the BBC’s Big Weekend cele-bration, it is hard to avoid.The end of May saw the BBC

broadcast 100 live performances as a

COVID-safe replacement for its annualBig Weekend festival. Several werelocated at venues chosen by theartists: Ed Sheeran stayed close tohome at the arts complex SnapeMaltings in Suffolk; AJ Tracey usedThe Regal, a basketball court in SouthLondon’s community hub, The BlackPrince Trust; Jorja Smith performed at

London’s Alexandra Palace whileRoyal Blood visited Brighton Pier onthe Sussex coast. Coldplay, however,opted for a rather more eclectic venue:the ruins of Whitby Abbey, which sitson the southern clifftops of the NorthYorkshire town of Whitby, dominatingthe vista of the coast and moors formiles around.

Coldplay’s Big Weekend by the SeaBy: Kate Lyon

The event’s special effects were supplied by Strictly FX.

Photos: Radio 1’s Big W

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The band’s acclaimed performance included a stunning design,

a remote location, and a most challenging load-in

Copyright Lighting&Sound America August 2021 issue live link: http://plasa.me/lsaaug21

www.lightingandsoundamerica.com • August 2021 • 35

The history of Whitby Abbey is asfamous as Coldplay. The site of a reli-gious settlement for millennia, its earli-est claim to fame was as the venue forThe Synod of Whitby in 664 AD, whereChristian leaders gathered to formallyagree on a method for fixing the yearlydate of Easter, which remains in placetoday. The dramatic setting hasinspired artists and writers down thecenturies, including Cædmon, recog-nized as the first named poet of theEnglish language, and, many centurieslater, Bram Stoker, who used the loca-tion as part of the ambient setting forhis novel Dracula.Today, the town trades heavily on

its Gothic notoriety, with a global drawof Goth aficionados joining the seasidevisitors who cross the bridge over theRiver Esk and climb the 199 steps upto Whitby Abbey—now maintainedand run by English Heritage as one ofthe jewels in its crown. As a boy,Coldplay’s Chris Martin was apparent-ly one of those non-gothic visitors andit was this memory that helped makethe final decision to take the produc-

tion to this remote location.Bill Leabody, Coldplay’s production

manager, says, “The decision to playWhitby was a joint one between theband and the BBC. The BBC asked tocome up with some iconic locations toshoot the Big Weekend series as,obviously, it wasn’t possible to run thefestival weekend with an audience.During February, there were a few dif-ferent venues suggested before decid-ing on Whitby. We all had some callsin March and went on a site visit to thelocation on April 1. At the meetingwere the BBC producers, site managerDick Tee, Coldplay management,designer Misty Buckley, myself, andstage manager Paul Traynor.”Also in attendance were representa-

tives from English Heritage, who werekeen to keep the site closed for asshort a period as possible and tomake sure the fabric of the buildingswould not be in jeopardy. Load-in wasdown a single-lane farm track andacross the boundary wall; as Leabodysuccinctly put it, “Access to the sitewas very difficult.”

Dick Tee, of EnTEEtainment, says,“I was approached by the BBC LiveMusic and Events team in March toassist them with the site and technicaldelivery of the Coldplay performanceat Whitby Abbey. Having had a firstsite visit and initial production meetingwith the Coldplay production team,English Heritage, and the BBC radioand TV departments, it quicklybecame apparent that this was goingto be very challenging event.“Bill and I looked at the logistics of

loading in; the original thought was tocome in just the day before—EnglishHeritage had only just reopened to thepublic on a reduced basis and werekeen to stay open as much as possi-ble. However, once the full extent ofthe Coldplay creative aspiration andthe sheer size and scale of theirplanned production became known,this had to be reconsidered and, in theend, we had a total period of around72 hours to set up, shoot, and de-rig.“Having a timetable to work to,

there was then the actual location toconsider. What an amazing and truly

The dramatic setting has inspired artists down the centuries ranging from Cædmon, the first English poet, to Bram Stoker, author of Dracula.

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inspirational venue. So much historyand intrigue. Perched on the top of thecliff overlooking the town and the sea,it is stunning. The abbey ruins are oneof the most important monuments inthe stewardship of English Heritageand, quite rightly, they were extremelyprotective of all aspects. The wholesite is a medieval burial ground, sonothing could penetrate thesurface. Nothing could touch the fab-ric of the ruins—thus no equipment,no cables, nothing. There is one smallpathway—but only one. The whole ofthe rest of the site is laid tograss. There is no large vehicle accessto the site—merely a single ‘farm gate’off a single-track country lane.“We had to go about considering

how to get all the required Coldplayand BBC broadcast technical equip-ment into the grounds and then howto move it around; flight case wheelsdo not like long uncompacted ‘natural’grass. The solution was approximately400 sheets of plywood laid on theground, screwed together, and painted

green so as to blend in on the camerashots. But we still had to get the kiton-site. We were allowed limitedaccess through the farm gate for smallvans and then [had to] push casessome 100m from the abbey front carpark to the visitor center and then usethe two pedestrian lifts—but this alonewas not going to be sufficient. In total,we were looking at between ten to 12full trucks of technical kit and equip-ment. So, the solution was to build an‘elevated loading dock’ and forklift thevast majority of the equipment over a3m high wall. It was a masterpiece ofengineering and with military planningand execution—it worked!“Now it is maybe clear as to why it

became necessary to get my daughterand fellow director, Frankie, involved inlooking after the traffic managementand logistics of this complex opera-tion. With COVID restrictions meaningthe staff and crew were largely usingtheir own cars, with 45' articulatedtrucks traveling up and down narrowcountry lanes with the wheels on each

side brushing the verges, with one-way systems needing to be instigatedto make sure two large vehicles didnot come ‘head-to-head’—it was initself an operationalchallenge. Also, we had to considerthat there were local residents, achurch, and several businesses stillneeding to use the abbey’s accessroads that we were sharing with them.“On top of all of this was the chal-

lenge of how to keep the projectsecret! Had word leaked out to thelocal residents that Coldplay weregoing to be performing at the top ofthe hill in the abbey grounds overlook-ing the town of Whitby—there weregenuine concerns on crowd safetyand, most importantly, potentialbreaches of COVID-19 control legisla-tion. We all operated under the nameof ‘Project Sunshine’ and reported toanyone inquiring that we were makinga documentary about famous Britishhistoric monuments.”After all the plywood roadways had

been laid down and the loading dock

“We used a ring of SGM P-2s to create a warmup light on the band. It almost created a ‘fireside’ look as they played on the circularstage,” Routhier says.

CLOSE-UP: TELEVISION

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had been constructed, the productioncame in at 3pm the day before theshow. Paul Traynor has worked forColdplay since the Viva Tour well overa decade ago and, as stage manager,worked with the BBC and EnglishHeritage for several weeks, makingmultiple site visits to the abbey“English Heritage were very helpfulthroughout the whole process; wewould discuss aspects of the showand if there were any protocols to befollowed, they had a team workingwith us through the whole load-in and-out to advise on any issues we mightcome across.“What we didn’t have was a Plan

B—we were determined to make thisshow happen no matter what theNorth Yorkshire climate could throw atus. We had our own stage come in toset up, as Misty wanted a circularstage. Neg Earth Lighting came inafter, followed by the ground lightingfrom Ithaca,” the Brighton, UK-basedcreative lighting studio. “The Ithacalighting was suggested by Misty to

really represent the audience that wecouldn’t have. It is a very clever prod-uct as it can take a video image thatgives it real depth [more about it later].For audio, there was a very minimalspeaker setup by Wigwam,” aSolotech company located nearManchester. “English Heritage weremindful of the locals, so didn’t wantanything too loud; we opted for asetup that would give an ambient feelfor the band.”

The designThe award-winning designer MistyBuckley has been working with theband since 2010 and, together withColdplay’s creative director and co-manager Phil Harvey, is responsiblefor much of the band’s look. Lightingdesigner Sooner Routhier explainshow the visuals took shape, “Mistyand Phil set the scene by placing acircular stage in front of the ruinedabbey. Misty and her art directionteam painted the stage with whatwe’re lovingly calling ‘space glyphs.’

The stage was free of any overheadrigging, to ensure that the camera’seye was not obstructed by any truss-ing, towers, etc. We wanted to main-tain that clean background so that theabbey could be properly seen in all itsglory.”Creating a lighting design that

worked in daylight, without the shad-owing benefit of an enclosed stage,and registered successfully on a televi-sion screen was something of aconundrum, as Routhier describes: “Inthe beginning, I was a bit worried thatthe majority of the set was going to beplayed during daylight. However, whenwe reached the site and realized howtruly magical it is during the ‘goldenhour’ of sunset, all those worries van-ished. It was quite a spectacular thingto see the setting transform from day-light to full dark while hearing andwatching Coldplay do their thing. Themost difficult thing was making surethat the band was lit properly duringthe ever-changing light. Our lightingdirector, Graham Feast, and our pro-

The project was produced in secret. Still, Whitby residents were teased by the spectacular special effects as the event was beingfilmed a full week before the broadcast.

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The drawings above show the relationship of the Ithaca Sea of Light to the stage. “The Ithaca installation was meant to put the band ina sea of light,” Buckley says. “They were tiny balls of energy representing the audience that couldn’t be present at the shows.”

Images: Courtesy of Sooner Routhier

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grammer, Joe Lott, did a great job ofchasing shadows and making sure theband were perfectly lit.”Neg Earth provided the hardware

along with a full complement of crew:Davide Palumbi, Jim Mills, JonShelley-Smith, Mark Bradshaw,Michelle Parker, Neil Johnson, RichardLarkum, and Steve Kellaway were onhand to realize the design. SGM Q-7RGBW floods and P-2 LED washesprovided ambient color with AyrtonMagicDot-Rs and Perseo-S, B-EYEK25s from Claypaky, GLP JDC1 LEDstrobes, with control from a fullgrandMA3 package, offering an almostinfinite palette of visual splendor. “TheBBC were actually really easygoingabout how the performance was lit,”Routhier reflects. “They gave us com-plete control. Graham, Joe, my associ-ate designer Steve Nolan, and myselfworked to make sure the band was litin a nontraditional way.“We used a ring of SGM P2s to cre-

ate a warmup light on the band. Italmost created a ‘fireside’ look as theyplayed on the circular stage. We alsoused a few Ayrton Perseos to helpchase shadows. They hung rather lowon some structures used to house theband’s backline techs and gear. Theabbey itself was lit with a combinationof Ayrton Perseos, SGM Q7s, andClaypaky HY B-EYEs. We oftentimespointed the Ayrton Perseos at theband stage for a bit of camera candy.“Our main design element for the

event was the ‘planetary aura’ of GLPJDC-1s around the band’s circularstage. It created a bit of a light barrierbetween the band and their surround-ings. We also created an orbit ofAyrton MagicDots around the stageso that, as the drone camera was fly-ing about the site, it would catchsome smaller beams from above. Weoriginally had the MagicDots spreadout asymmetrically as a way to addbeams to the Ithaca ‘Sea of Light.’Once we got on-site, we determinedthat they would look better placed ina circle around the stage. Once wemade that change, the site cleaned

The plan was to keep the site closed for as short a time as possible to make sure thefabric of the buildings was not in jeopardy.

Load-in was down a single-lane farm track and across the boundary wall.

Photos: Courtesy of Dick Tee

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up significantly.”Ithaca’s ‘Sea of Light’ is a custom, modular light art

installation consisting of tens of thousands of RGB LEDspheres. The company has developed it over a number ofyears. It can be molded to fit any large space and is capableof covering thousands of square meters of ground, flowinglike water, filling in all the spaces, or even hanging overhead,creating spectacles at huge scales. Ithaca’s managing direc-tor, Chris Evans-Roberts, explains, “Our system is com-pletely bespoke, able to handle hundreds of universes ofdata and [can be mapped] to any kind of organic shape.With our in-house creative team, we can then programstand-alone shows, interactive or audio reactive sequences,or indeed tie into the incredible multi-department produc-tions of a band like Coldplay. For this particular perform-ance, the lack of audience provided both challenges andnew creative possibilities. Representing an audience withthousands of points of light, we could individually programeach of spheres in the Sea of Light, creating pulsing pat-terns flowing out from the stage, across the magnificentgrounds.”For Buckley, the Ithaca lighting not only played its part in

creating a virtual audience but made a significant contribu-tion to the ambience of the complete visual effect—both forthe band and for the setting and the extended vista. “TheIthaca installation was meant to put the band in a sea oflight. They were tiny balls of energy representing the audi-ence that couldn’t be present at the shows. We really want-

ed to capture both the sunset andthe view of the sea…so we could getthe full sense of scale and drama ofthe abbey. From a production pointof view, we wanted to get the bal-ance of giving the audience at homean amazing show whilst keeping thetone of the global situation. The UKwas in full lockdown at the time, andwe had our hearts set on bringingsome pure joy and wonder to theirliving rooms.“The abbey itself enhanced what

our design wanted to achieve; it wasthe perfect backdrop. The abbeywas never meant to feel dark; for us,it was a celebration of an historicand majestic building. It marked aniconic place looking out from thevery edge of North Yorkshire fromwhich we could share some music,joy, and love.”Alex Leinster, managing director

of Milton Keynes-based VideoDesign, was part of the crew thatprovided the AV hardware ofPanasonic laser projectors and dis-guise servers that brought an under-

stated portrayal of the environment to the page: “Workingoutdoors 200' above the shoreline, open to whatever theNorth Sea winds might bring, the choice of venue broughtsome exciting challenges for everyone. English Heritage’sunderstandable concerns and the prospect of loading in allthe equipment over a medieval perimeter wall only added tothe mix. It might not have been a siege, yet even for aColdplay show there was an extra element of the magical. “That said, having someone with the experience of Bill

Leabody to direct the production was reassuring. Under hiscareful stewardship, Video Design marshalled an oversizedtechnical team to address the logistical demands. Frankly,we were mob-handed: myself, Luke Collins, JackMiddlebrook, Alan Yates, James ‘Oz’ Ross, and AndyCoates. With so much technical prowess on hand realizingthe breathtaking imagination of Misty and Sooner’s designbecame a pleasure.”And breathtaking was the critical response to the show,

which was widely praised as the highlight of the virtual four-day BBC Big Weekend Festival. Whitby residents wereteased by the spectacular special effects, supplied by DaveKennedy, of Strictly FX, as the event was being filmed a fullweek before watching the show on TV. Even the localWhitby Gazette couldn’t confirm what was really going onbehind the Abbey’s high boundary walls.“We had to be very careful with the site for English

Heritage, but we worked together really well, and all thecrew were very respectful to keep away from the stones of

Site manager Dick Tee.

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the abbey,” sums up Leabody. “All in all, it was a difficultproject to do. Location was tough but we were very fortu-nate with the weather. Load-in was tough but the Coldplaycrew, Dick and Frankie Tees and of course the great crewfrom [Potters Bar-based] Stage Miracles did an excellent jobin making it go smoothly.”Dick Tee is equally satisfied with the end result. “There

were times when we had second thoughts as to what wewere trying to do. Planning to bring in some 10– 12 arctictrucks worth of technical kit and equipment to an incrediblysensitive venue with only one small ‘light traffic’ entrancegate, whilst not damaging the grass or the fabric of themonument, over a time frame of four days from arrival todeparture, with some 200 plus crew—oh, and in a pandem-ic! As a team—BBC Live Music and Events, EnglishHeritage, and Coldplay—we pulled it off.

“What was so gratifying, from all our perspectives, wasthe messages and feedback we received from EnglishHeritage after we had all gone that we had left no trace andyou wouldn’t have known we had been there. Even the ply-wood was recycled and not just dumped or sent to land-fill. All in all, a great project.”