Germany – The Wise Guys started out at the beginning of the 1990s. They broke off from a school band in Cologne, and since then they have clocked up several successes with their a cappella music, which they themselves call vocal-pop. After 25 years on stage around the world, the five musicians have decided it is time to stop, and have planned a huge farewell tour.
Fedor Stuhrmann, from studio : 3 | Stuhrmann & Allgeier GbR, took part in the 2016 tour as an operator, and this year is in charge of the lighting and stage design. He used a lot of Claypaky equipment among the lights for the tour including eighteen A.leda K10s, nine Alpha Spot QWO 800s and six Sharpys. There was also an MA onPC command wing, an MA onPC fader wing, and a grandMA2 light desk for pre-programming.
“We chose Lightpower products, because we have always had positive experiences and the equipment we have used has always been reliable and high-performance,” Stuhrmann explained. “Together with the excellent price-quality ratio of MA Lighting and Claypaky products, this turned out to be the right choice.”
“The Wise Guys expressly asked for the lighting design to tell the story of the band, and for the stage to change accordingly,” Stuhrmann said. “For example, we reproduced the band’s first logo on one of the four backdrops. The stage design could be adapted to the various venues without having to remove lights or parts of the set. Another challenge was to meet all these demands on a shoestring budget.”
Ramon Franz from Aschaffenburg-based Ampire Showtechnik GmbH, who also worked as a technical assistant, dealt with the special Kabuki system units and supporting trusses. Franz explained: “The sophisticated Kabuki system allowed us to hook four backdrops to each other and fix them on a single truss belt. Three of them were used in special situations during the show. Tim Gruber was in charge of fitting the “mirror moving lights”. He used six older LED wash lights with a mirror fitted to the front, and a half mirror ball to the back. These elements were illuminated with Claypaky Sharpys in order to have constantly new effects, which never left room for boredom.”