Chris Foot Powers Placebo with ChamSysMagicQ MQ250M Stadium Console

HALIFAX, UK – Before Placebo came on stage at the historic Piece Hall, the band’s Brain Molko appeared on video, appealing to fans to keep their cell phones firmly in the pockets. The award-winning singer and guitarist urged those in the crowd to “live in the here and now,” so he and bandmate,  bassist Stefan Olsdal, could better celebrate the deep emotions that swirl through each of their songs. 

All but a few of the fans adhered to Molko’s wishes. Very smart of them! They were justly rewarded with a beautifully diverse show that was more than worthy of their full attention. Driven by Molko’s unique high-pitched vocals and Olsdal driving rhythms, the show treated the audience to one emotional high point after another.

Supporting the performance on stage every exhilarating step of the way was a dynamic 9-universe lightshow run on a ChamSys MagicQ MQ250M Stadium Console by Chris Foot, a ChamSys user since 2012.  Working from an original Jvan Morandi design, Foot took over running the Placebo show on their extended global tour in late 2022.

“This is an album campaign with a certain look & feel already established, so design-wise I’ve tried to keep a similar theme to the start of the cycle, whilst also moving the show forward at the same time,” said Foot.  “Of course, the look has changed several times throughout the tour depending upon the size of the venues and things of that nature.”

Foot credits his MQ250M, which was supplied by Colour Sound Experiment, with helping him change the show quickly to adapt to different venue demands, and meet new challenges.  

“A thing that is different for me in this show is the addition of video,” he said. “I am spending a lot of time working with our video director, Giulia Sirianni, on finding a nice balance between the two of us throughout the show. In terms of colour combinations, intensity and focus. It’s important that lights and video gel nicely, so using darker or contrasting colours is a nice way to allow the video to pop or be the focus of attention at times. I do like the MQ250M colour picker for easy fine turning of colours.”

The Fixture Search feature of his MQ250M has been another big help, giving Foot the flexibility to navigate his way through the myriad venues on this tour. “I’ve encountered many weird and wonderful house rig fixtures in various parts of the world,” he said. “So, having the ability to grab a personality quickly (and potentially edit it), is amazing. 

“I am also grateful for the Expand Palette feature,” continued Foot.  “I encounter many different fixture types, particularly in festival season, so having the ability to add information into palettes and expand throughout the show is very nice. Another great gift, though it might seem minor, is the mirror on my ChamSys desk. It really helps when you have to build so many positions really quickly.”

Foot’s show is cue stacked, with no timecoding, but each song has a number of manual cues on faders or buttons. “Being able to change how faders & buttons behave really helps,” said Foot. “Having the extra encoders/flash buttons above the main playbacks on the MQ250M comes in very handy. It eliminates the need for an extra wing.”

Comparing his MQ250M to other consoles, Foot said “it gives me a lot more scope.”  That’s a good thing! Foot needs that scope to follow the many paths that Placebo travels in this show, providing fans with beautiful images along the way – images that will last in their memories, and thankfully, not their cell phones.