Robert Juliat Dalis Footlights Enhance the RAYE's Tour with Thomas Edwards' Lighting Design

	"The main objective behind this was to enhance the visual impact of Raye and the backing vocalists' dresses while they were performing," says Edwards. Photo: KG Shoots

British singer-songwriter RAYE, embarked on her first ever headline arena tour with This Tour May Contain New Music, a massive 40+ date tour across Europe and North America lasting from January to May 2026. The tour is in support of her second studio album, This Music May Contain Hope.

Production and lighting designer, Thomas Edwards of Panglowin, created a versatile lighting design befitting RAYE's vocals, which blends elements of jazz, pop, dance, R&B, and soul, while highlighting the singer's glamorous on-stage presence.

To ensure RAYE, her backing vocalists and their rich costumes were highlighted to best effect, Edwards specified nine Robert Juliat Dalis 864 footlights, evenly arrayed along the downstage edge in a continuous arrangement.

"This positioning was very intentional, it allowed me to introduce a consistent and controlled uplight across the width of the performance space," Edwards explains. "The main objective behind this was to enhance the visual impact of Raye and the backing vocalists' dresses while they were performing. The costumes featured a high level of intricate detailing, textures, embellishments, and layered fabrics that would often become flattened or lost entirely under conventional front lighting. By bringing light in from a low, frontal angle using a linear fixture like Dalis, I was able to reintroduce depth and definition into those details, ensuring they translated clearly to both the live audience and camera."

"Specifying these fixtures wasn't just about adding another lighting position; it was about solving a visual problem in a deliberate and elegant way," he continues. "Traditional front light tends to prioritise visibility of faces, which is obviously essential, but it can compromise the dimensionality of costumes. The downstage linear uplight acted as a complementary system; subtle enough not to overpower the key light, but strong enough to lift texture and create a more sculpted, dynamic look overall. It became a crucial layer within the broader lighting design."

Edwards opted for the four colour Dalis 864 to retain maximum flexibility throughout the show: "With multiple costume changes for Raye and the backing vocalists across different songs, it was important that the lighting could adapt seamlessly to each new look. Having precise colour control meant we could fine-tune hues to either match or contrast with the wardrobe, depending on the mood we wanted to create. In softer moments, this allowed for delicate, sympathetic tones that enhanced the garments naturally, while in more energetic or stylised sections, we could push into deeper, more saturated colors to heighten the visual intensity. This ability to transition between subtlety and boldness made the fixtures incredibly versatile and creatively valuable."

As the tour's lighting, audio, video and rigging vendor, Solotech supplied and toured the Dalis 864 fixtures on a dedicated dolly system which meant they could be pre-rigged and quickly deployed onto the rolling stage each day with minimal setup time. "Given the demands of a touring environment, this efficiency was essential," states Edwards who found Dalis proved to be extremely robust: "They handled daily transport, repeated setup, and consistent use without any technical issues. That level of reliability allowed us to fully integrate them into the design without concern, knowing they would perform consistently night after night."

The tour also featured a substantial camera package, capturing the performance from multiple angles, which introduced an additional layer of consideration in the lighting design. Strong, well-controlled footlight from the downstage fixtures played an important role here, adding dimensionality to the performers on camera. "Without it, faces and costumes can appear flat when primarily lit from above or the front. The uplight helped separate the performers from the background and gave a more sculpted, three-dimensional quality on screen."

Dalis' ability to fine tune color was particularly valuable for the multitude of uses on this tour: "The color temperature of our key lighting for the performers varied depending on the look and feel of each section, typically ranging between 4300K, 4,800K, 5,600K, and 6,000K," concludes Edwards. "Having fixtures like the Dalis, with precise colour control, allowed us to closely match or complement these temperatures. This was particularly important for maintaining consistency within the camera workflow, especially when working with log profiles and LUT-based colour grading. By ensuring that the uplight integrated seamlessly with the key light, we were able to preserve accurate skin tones and costume colours on camera, while still achieving the desired artistic effect."

RAYE's This Tour May Contain New Music, continues its adventure across North America until the end of May rayeofficial.com.

The tour's lighting, audio, video and rigging are supplied by Solotech (www.solotech.com).

More information on Panglowin can be found at www.panglowin.com.

Robert Juliat is distributed exclusively in the UK by Live Technology (www.live-technology.co.uk ), and in the US by ACT Entertainment (www.actentertainment.com).