Robe Goes Wild for Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds' Tour

	Photo: Chloe Hashemi

Australian singer, musician, and writer Nick Cave has completed the final European leg of a world tour with The Bad Seeds. This run of shows followed on from their Wild God album campaign in 2024/25.

The lighting design, created by Sydney-based Grant Hickey, included 22 Robe iESPRITE LTL wash beam moving lights at its core, together with nine iFORTE LTXs, rigged on the locally supplied trusses and used for band backlighting. The fixtures were supplied by PRG Belgium.

On the technical rider, festivals and promoters across the 32-date tour were asked to additionally provide six iFORTE LTXs for front-of-house spots, plus another two on stage for side lights/kickers.

Hickey was professionally reunited with Nick Cave at the end of last year when asked onboard as LD. While he had worked for a previous LD as programmer and right-hand between 2010 and 2017; this time he was in full creative control of lighting, bringing fresh energy and style to the lighting aesthetic.

iFORTE LTXs provided lots of punch combined with a fat lens that Hickey knew would work well for the shows that started during dusk and slipped into full darkness. "There's not much else out there that works as well for all these different natural lighting conditions," he says.

The iESPRITE LTLs were picked for being bright yet light in weight, as 20 of the 22 fixtures were positioned on 20 Wahlberg lift columns dotted around the stage. The remaining two were strategically positioned downstage of the front runway, fixed to the audience barricades for optimal front and side light in this area.

The onstage iESPRITE LTLs topped four lift towers on each side of the stage and another 12 upstage of the band. The fixtures had to be under 99lb, produce quality light, and be weatherproof because all the summer shows were outdoors and the positions exposed.

Hickey was familiar with the iFORTE LTXs but not the iESPRITE LTLs. Darren McLanders from Robe ANZ organized a demo for the designer in Sydney. These Robe products were the backbone of the lighting system. The only other lights were some strobes, some moving LED battens and one 24K Fresnel special.

The nine iFORTE LTXs were rigged on whatever house bars or trussing was available over the stage at each venue. It wasn't a big flash-and-trash show; lighting was focused on supporting the artist and his band. "People come to see Nick and the Bad Seeds rather than the live production," Hickey says. "So, my job is very much to enhance and support his considerable presence as a performer with subtle and appropriate lighting. The set nevertheless featured plenty of dynamics plus opportunities for dramatic lighting, strobing, and contrasting scenes.

Hickey notes that the most important luminaires in the rig were the two on the front barriers together with the three spots -- two rear and one front -- on Cave, so their reliability and repeatability were key. It was also crucial to light Cave and the Bad Seeds well for the cameras as IMAG video was an important aspect of the show.

For the "exclusive homecoming concert" and the only UK show staged at Preston Park in Brighton, an additional 40 FORTE LTXs were added to the rig, supplied by Colour Sound Experiment.

Cultivating the specific look and style demanded by the artist was among Hickey's biggest and most enjoyable challenges: "Nick is very aware of how he looks and feels onstage, and that's a big part of the brief, and while he does have input into lighting at certain times, he also trusts us to get on with our jobs."