AUSTRALIA: The Australian leg of the Oasis Live ’25 world tour, produced by Live Nation, saw the band command packed stadiums in Sydney and Melbourne as one of the most anticipated concert productions of the decade translated its global ambition into a monumental live experience. Following a launch that became the biggest concert on-sale ever in the UK and Ireland, with more than 10 million fans from 158 countries queuing for tickets, expectations were immense, and the production responded in kind.

Production Manager Tony Gittins worked closely with Show Designer Paul Normandale to deliver a visually contemporary yet culturally resonant statement that matched the significance of the band’s reunion. As Normandale explained, “The band was keen that this tour be a contemporary event, so the balance was to achieve this visually whilst also, of course, reflecting the iconic nature of the music and cultural impact of the band reuniting. I tried to reflect this in providing a vast digital canvas to ensure visibility at a stadium scale of the live images and content, utilising the graphic linear nature of the band’s original logo as a starting point.” He added, “I think the ambition of breaking away from the stock iMag side screens stage format was the main early challenge. The lighting was primarily designed to support the large-scale visual impact of the screen; many of the shows started and were predominantly in daylight, so the transition to darkness was, as always, a gradual process.”

That philosophy was echoed by Lighting Director Graham Feast, who underlined the dominance of video within the overall creative concept. “It’s totally driven by the video screen, and you can see by the footprint that it really is the show because it’s important that people see the brothers on the screen. Video and lights now are pretty much one integration. It seems that more and more, across the board, it is now about video and lights.”

Feast and Crew Chief Scotty Owen turned to Chameleon Touring Systems to supply both equipment and crew for the Australian shows, and the partnership proved decisive. “Chameleon has been great and I couldn’t speak highly enough of them,” said Feast. “I’ve known Graham Walker for over 25 years. He’s very efficient. They’re a really, really, really good team of lads, especially considering the size of the show to put together just for two load-ins. They absolutely smashed it. When we turned up on day one, everything was already sort of floating. We provided them with a few pointers on how we envisioned it should look. Make sure all the lines are clean and everything’s tidied back. But apart from that, it’s really, really good.”

Normandale’s lighting design, defined by sharp, contemporary geometry inspired by the Oasis logo, integrated seamlessly with a 100-metre video wall to create a bold yet controlled stage environment. The rig comprised 54 units of the Martin Professional MAC Aura PXL and 66 units of the Ayrton Perseo across a back truss, two side trusses and automation trusses running stage-right and stage-left from upstage to downstage, as well as three drop frame ‘ladders’ on either side of the stage. The overall LED footprint was bordered by 129 units of the Chauvet COLORado PXL16 Bars positioned across the top of the iMag, down the centre legs and along the downstage edge. “There’s no movement as the brief was ‘didn’t want it to look like a disco’ because they’re not a disco band,” noted Feast. “It’s very straight lines, very clean, that’s what they wanted. The lighting element defines the architectural space and enhances the ambience as needed.”

Key lighting was delivered by 66 units of the Ayrton Perseo-S and 10 units of the ROBE iForte LTX, with eight Perseos and four iForte LTX units on the front truss. “There are some Perseos off the front truss, all static, and no follow spots,” Feast added. “The guys move in and out of the light. Liam likes a lot of dark spots on stage where he can disappear and have a moment in his own.”

The show’s dynamic accents came from 50 units of the Chauvet Strike Ms used for flash and broad visual statements, while audience engagement was enhanced by 41 two-way blinders positioned downstage and on the wings, plus a further 32 on the delay towers. On the upstage floor racks sat 32 units of the GLP JDC1s, while 74 units of the TourPro Storm Bars from Showtools International replaced GLP JDC Line 1000s on the automation trusses and floor racks. “We have a set of linear dollies at the back, so it’s all symmetrical, and it’s a big block behind the band,” said Feast. “They’re great, they’re a good fixture actually.” The upstage dollies also housed 16 units of the Claypaky Sharpy Plus fixtures to fill the rear visual field. Atmospherics were handled by MDG ATMe hazers in the pit, operated by a dedicated technician mindful of the band’s preference for minimal smoke.

Control was equally streamlined, with the lighting department touring its own package comprising two MA Lighting grandMA3 full-size consoles running MA3 software, one as master and one as backup, supported by a Luminex network integrating with house systems via sACN. “The show is not time-coded, so that’s an extra level of computer programming that I don’t have to consider,” Feast explained. “I’ve timed-coded shows before, so it was nice not to have to consider that in the pre-production process and also actually programming the show because that sucks up such a great deal of time. The guys are a rock and roll band, one of the only true rock and roll bands left. The trade-off, of course, is that when things go wrong, you have to jump in and run it, and a lot of people these days don’t have the ability to do that.”

For Chameleon Touring Systems, the project carried both technical scale and emotional significance. Crew Chief Lewis Gersbach described it as a career highlight. “When we got the tour on our books, everyone was asking Graham if they could do it!” he said. “Nothing has been too challenging on this tour. We have a great crew, and Tony and the factory team make life easy by getting gear out the door. He also purchased many new items for this, which is always a good thing. We’re running 26 units of the Kinesys Varispeed 10m p/min motors over the rig, over six different mother grids. We’re moving the LED wall that CT supplied, and we’ve built the grid above it, which Scott Black is operating. And then we’ve got two upstage-downstage, per side fingers that, towards the end of the show, start to move around a lot.” Across two tightly executed load-ins and sold-out stadiums, Chameleon Touring Systems delivered the infrastructure, crew and precision required to turn one of music’s most anticipated reunions into a technically commanding live experience.