Bazart

BAZART - LOTTO ARENA, ANTWERP | NOVEMBER 2021

What Cate says:

Bazart are a hugely popular, three-piece band from Antwerp, Belgium. Their third studio album represented a shift in musical direction. It embraced a new rhythm section, which welcomed Mario Goossens from Triggerfinger on drums and Tom Coghe from Goose on Bass.

The addition of these musicians resulted in a rockier sound for the band and bought new energy to the live show. Bazart wanted the stage design to reflect that shift and to emphasise the new collaboration and the raw feel of the live performance. They were keen to include video but for live capture rather than visual content, and they wanted this to be incorporated into the stage design, emphasised and punctuated by the light show.

Bazart have always had an exacting visual style. I relish working with artists who know exactly what they do, and don’t, want. The band like statement, leaning towards an architectural stage design, featuring minimal texture and colour whilst embracing bold strokes, using production technology to create form - rather than simply effect.

Stylish and high impact, the band were keen that video should focus on the live performance and the interaction between the musicians. For this reason we chose to use live cameras, treated with Notch to blend and layer the colours with the stage lighting palette.

In addition, for the two Lotto Arena Shows, we had a choir, brass section and a classical guitarist. There were up to 13 musicians onstage, making the live capture more crucial than ever.

I took inspiration from the album artwork and created an 8m x 8m square LED screen, which floated at an angle, above the band, and bought them closer to the audience. This screen was the canvas for the live camera (in place of IMAG screens) but also acted as a high impact light source when required. This was augmented by a multi-layered, multi-height, extra wide lighting design that visually amplified the music, while reaching far out into the audience.

Show Design Concept - Cate Carter
Production Design - Cate Carter & Mike Smith
Lighting Director and Programmer - Kristof De Dycker
Screens Director and Video Programmer - Kevin Buysee (Ten Feet)
Video Director - Andries Vangeel
Notch Designer - Ed White

Production Manager - Jan De Keyser (The Magic Office)
Tour Manager - Iven Deduytschaver & Jeppe Heyvaert (One-Eyed Jack)
FOH Audio Engineer - Frank Voet (MONO)
Monitor Engineer - Stijn de Clerq (MONO)
Backline - Pieter de Praitere (MONO)
Lighting & Video Supplier - PRG Belgium
Camera Supplier - Fly Away
Special Effects - Dewico
Scenic - Showtex

Artist Management - Alexander Vandriessche / DBNR management