Stufish illuminates Dave's London show with laser-shooting piano

Set design studio Stufish has created a piano that projects lasers beams over the audience at British rapper Dave's concert in London.

The set for The Boy Who Played the Harp tour, which came to London's O2 Arena last weekend, was organised around a central diamond-shaped platform on a backdrop of movable digital screens.

Stufish, in collaboration with creative director Matt Askem, set out to create a narrative that aligned with Dave's latest album, in particular its biblical references to the story of David, with the creative use of lighting and visuals.

"In the end, I think we ended up with a very strong design and narrative for his show, which then evolved around The Boy Who Played the Harp," design director Ray Winkler told Dezeen.

"That was a really good hook for us," he continued.

"The harp is a very strong biblical reference and so we started iterating different ideas around the harp itself."

One way in which the set references the harp is through Dave's grand piano, which, when played, projects corresponding lasers out towards a projection of a harp at the back of the arena.

"In the end, what Dave liked the most of the idea, that then through various iterations stuck, was the idea that he would be able to manipulate the harp strings represented through lasers, by integrating the lasers with the piano itself," Winkler said.

"So as he was playing the notes, you could see the harp."

A collection of four raised, diamond-shaped islands accommodate the band at the centre of the stage.

Positioned on one of the four islands and elevated throughout the show, the piano was designed for specific and "intimate" moments during Dave's performance, Winkler explained.

"In the laser harp moment, he is performing way above the heads of the audience," he said. "You get this wonderful sort of radiating geometry of very crisp lines."

"It's a very, very intimate moment that happens throughout the performance," he added.

The Stufish team looked to develop an environment reflective of Dave's music, with an approach that brought the lighting, visuals and music in alignment.

Contributing to this environment, a digital backdrop of eight moveable screens was used to transform the stage throughout the performance – creating constantly shifting views for the audience.

Capable of moving out over the crowd and rotating in any direction, these semi-transparent screens were used as tracking videos for enlarged views of the artist, visuals and even holograms of feature artists who couldn't make the show.

"The ubiquitous use of these screens on shows is inevitable," Winkler said.

"The idea of having tracking video screens, which was first originated by lighting designer Tim Routledge as an idea that we could build upon, became a very important element," he continued.

"We could create different geometries, which made for a very versatile looking show."

Stretching into the audience, the stage culminates in a diamond-shape, above which a kinetic lighting grid was suspended. The grid, which spans six meters by six metres, functions through a network of illuminated digital balls that light up at various times to create animated visuals.

"Each ball can be addressed individually, which means they can go on and off, as well as change any colour that you want them to change to, as well as move up and down," Winkler explained.

"That's a really simple but very effective tool because you can manipulate light and position and colour."

Stufish designed the grid to encapsulate the stage, and in turn shroud Dave when he performs on it.

A particular moment in the performance sees the lighting grid appear as a pair of wings either side of the artist – one of those "wow moments" that is not particularly easy to plan, says Winkler.

"Things like that come out of a curious mixture of conversations," he said.  "You don't necessarily have full control of exactly what the end game is. But because of the collaboration between the different departments, you end up having these wow moments."

Other sets recently created by Stufish include a dance-music colosseum built for the Adriatic Sound Festival in Italy and a unique set informed by mid-century lofts and Austin Powers for Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet tour.

The photography is courtesy of Stufish.

Project credits:

Creative director: Matt Askem
Stage design: Stufish Entertainment Architects
Lighting design: Tim Routledge
Lighting programmer: Morgan Evans
Video content: Luke Halls Studio
Production manager: Paddy Hocken
Production stage manager: Phil Ryder
Show stage manager: Jason Slaney-Welch

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