Not many comedians - or bands for that matter - can sell out multiple dates up and down the UK in arena-sized venues. But Eddie Izzard's insouciant fast-moving intelligence, his incredible charisma, energy and pure funniness adds up to a totally unique performer. That's before we even mention his fabulous dress sense - he started the show strutting onstage, resplendent in black mini skirt, blood red basque, high heels and impressive 36DD boobs.

The show is Izzard's most technically ambitious to date. It provoked plenty of people to ask "does it really take five trucks, three buses and an entourage of 35 people plus 30 local crew to put one man (or one 'lesbian trapped in a man's body' as Izzard prefers to call himself) onstage?" The answer is YES!

Production manager John Farquhar-Smith and stage managers Nick Handford and Guy Onglay explained the major challenges, which were getting the very precise sound requirements exactly right, and installing I-Mag video, whilst preserving all possible sightlines. The latter was vital to ensuring every seat in the house was delivered a premium show. It took much planning and forethought to achieve, especially on a tight schedule, back-to-back arena shows.

Between them, Farquhar-Smith, Handford and Ongley democratically shared the PM, TM and SM roles, and headed up the slick, friendly production team which made Sexie one of the best produced tours on the roadÉ and certainly one of the most enjoyable to visit. The backbone of the UK tour was put together by tour manager and promoter Mick Perrin working with Mark Rubinstein.

The crew was a fusion - approximately half came from rock'n'roll backgrounds and the other half from theatre. Perrin used his experience from both rock'n'roll and comedy worlds to ensure a healthy and productive equation existed between the two environments. A great advantage to being on the crew is having a similar mental agility to the artist, who is integrally involved in how the show looks, sounds and feels live for the duration of the tour. Izzard has always had a penchant for presenting himself in unconventional and provocative ways.

With the core members and heads of department having worked for Izzard and Mick Perrin for some years, there's an obvious ease and a relaxed and fluid sense of communication between everyone. Problems are overcome laterally, intelligently and sensibly, no one gets flustered or stressed, and it's resulted in the ultimate 'happy crew'.

aural dynamics
Sound presented some interesting conundrums. Closely connected to solving these was rigging, which took up two of the five Sexie trucks. Sound designer George Glossop explained that when Izzard uses a hand-held mic as he did on this, keeping what he's doing transparent is a major task, especially as he's not just speaking into the mic, he's also making a cacophony of sound effects - from galloping horses to dentist drills - and also using it as a prop whilst animating with his hands!

His vocal dynamics are incredible - whispering, shouting, screaming - and he shoehorns every possible tonal and vocal expression and range somewhere into the set. His delivery also involves a lot of mumbling, a nightmare for any sound and system designer to turn into something audible, as he also aims the mic very close to his mouth.

Izzard's current mic is a combination of a Sennheiser EW 500 wireless with a 1510 receiver head, and the new Neumann prototype 965 capsule. There were only 10 of the Neumanns available at the start of the tour, but they made modules nine and 10 available at very short notice. "It's definitely the right product for the job," stated Glossop.

Glossop's PA choice was a Martin Audio W8LC compact line array system, supplied along with all other audio gear for the UK by Capital Sound Hire. He specified this after the massive success of using the system on the preceding US leg of the tour, with equipment supplied by California-based Delicate Productions.

US-based line array tech Scott Scherban was also transported to Britain for the UK tour to help ensure continuity and a smooth intercontinental sonic transition. He worked alongside Capital's chief technician Ross Anderson and crew members Greg McQuillan, Annette Guilfoyle, Kursten Smith and 'Izzard Veteran' James Farminer.

They toured a total of 32 W8LC elements and 44 Martin Audio Wavefront 8 Compacts, the latter used for side hangs and delays. Normally the configuration was 16 boxes a side for the front end, with three delay positions a side, each featuring four hangs of four cabinets.

The acoustic requirements were far more demanding that if it had been a rock'n'roll show, explained Anderson, simply because the physical output coming at the audience was so different. Therefore, the need for precision was even more heightened, as it was essentially sound reinforcement rather than amplification - just on a huge scale!

The rock'n'roll style W8LC front end, however, proved enormously efficient. It kicked in with maximum impact for Izzard's flamboyant rock star entrances and exits which also featured playback music. The delays then gave the excellent clarity and coverage needed throughout the arenas, reaching right down to the back of the hall and up across the bleachers. Obviously the system was configured and tweaked slightly according the individual space, but the fundamental philosophy remained constant.

FOH desk was a Yamaha DM2000, and the show was engineered by Michael Hayes. All system processing - crossovers and EQ - was effected by XTA AudioCore software, and an XTA SiDD was the main vocal processor, run on Hayes' laptop.

With 1000ft of truss over the audience and 70 points in the largest venues, the need for speedy and efficient get-ins was paramount, especially with so many back-to-backs. They aim was to get everything flown within one five-hour crew call.

The non-negotiable requirement for clear sightlines and precision sound coverage also ramped up the ante for the rigging department. Luckily these fundamentals were identified early, resulting in the decision to install an over-audience trussing master grid, enabling the delay stacks to be hung off it where necessary. Tour riggers were Dave Rowe and Dave Brierley, and the rigging package was co-ordinated by Gavin Weatherall and Ollie Green of The Rigging Partnership.

By the third get-in everything was flown by 12.30, following a civilised 9am get-in. The out was reduced to an expedient 75 minutes by the second night, with a lightning sprint of 65 minutes being the tour record! This was greatly helped by the multi-coloured crew T-shirt system, used by the local crew to define roles, and the overall speed of the rigging operation was also boosted by the W8LC's highly practical proprietary rigging system.

The over-audience master grid (with trussing butted up rather than actually joined) featured a central spine, with lengths coming off it at right angles, resembling an outward turned 'E' shape each side of the hall. To reduce speaker cabling and further tweak the overall rig speed, the delay stack amp racks were also flown up in the trussing.

James Thomas SuperTruss was used for its speed and inherent strength. Fast, double braked Verlinde Liftket motors were also used. The motors were run at two different speeds, the FOH ones at nine metres per minute and all the overstage kit - including the lighting and video trusses - at the more conventional four metres per minute.

sexie visuals
Lighting and visuals are big and bold for Eddie Izzard's razzmatazz entrances and exits, and settle down during the show to provide slow, subtle changing wallpaper. The key was to achieve a delicate balance between creating an interesting ambient effect without it being distracting, and this was something lighting designer Alex Saad honed to a fine art.

Melbourne-based Saad joined the Sexie tour in Australia where it kicked off in the summer, and also set up the US and UK legs. For the UK, show direction was handed over to Daf Cook, a core Izzard crew member who's done the last two tours, with equipment supplied by VLPS. Cook was supported by technicians Blaine Dracup and Gordon Torrington.

The lighting kit list featured 22 VL3000 spots, 20 VL3000 washes, 18 VL5 Arcs and two ETC Source Fours for the signer (now that's real talent - the ability to sign something as complex, surreal and zany as Izzard in action, and still make it hilarious!).

Twelve each of the Washes and Spots, plus two out of four Catalyst DL1 moving light projectors were on the truss, and the rest - aside from five of the Arcs rigged on the audio trusses - were all located on the floor at the sides of stage. There were no dimmers, just a 72-way rack containing 32 ways of hard power, and a WholeHog II for control. Desk-triggered video imagery was supplied by a Catalyst digital media server, used extensively for the show's video 'wallpaper'.

The stage set, also designed by Saad, was draped with a highly textured camouflage netting, into which was cut a large central video screen showing Eddie I-Mag, and four smaller Fast-Fold screens for the Catalyst wallpaper images.

Saad pre-programmed up the Catalyst artwork before the tour - much of it similar to what he'd created for the Sexie DVD shoot at Eastbourne Congress Theatre two weeks beforehand. On tour, the Catalyst ran on a five minute auto change schedule, matched with appropriately coloured lighting looks. Most of the Catalyst images were abstract and flowing - watery and restful but featuring funky colours in the sedately morphing collage.

The four Catalyst DL1s were supplied by XL Video. They beamed their images on to the four Fast-Fold screens, with a feed also sent to live video director Mark Antoniuk for the entrances and exits. Other video hardware, including the main centre screen, was supplied by CT Screenco, tech'd and directed by Antoniuk working on his first stand-up comedy tour with video! His video team included Bill Dixon, Giles Conte and Dave Coplestone.

The main I-Mag screen consisted of 8 x 9 modules of Unitek 25mm LED, located upstage centre, just behind Izzard's main performance area. Izzard knows exactly what he wants to see on-screen, and first mooted the idea of having a 'big Eddie' and 'little Eddie' onstage two tours ago, during his first arena shows at London Arena. The screen was fed with a single Super 70 camera at FOH, trained constantly on Izzard, and there was also a remote pan-and-tilt head rigged on the spine of the audience truss. Again sightlines were the major video issue, as nothing could obstruct anyone's view of the stage.

Antoniuk mixed the feeds via a Sony DFS 700 switcher, and the screen was run off two processors, with a vector to size the image across the two halves and fit the surface. They taped and DVD'd the show each night for Izzard to study.

Excellent catering across the 21-date UK tour was supplied by Eat To The Beat. Natalie Parkinson and Michelle Leisk kept the crew extremely happy with gastronomic extravaganzas every night, and the Christmas crackers and music helped get all into festive spirits right up to Christmas Eve! Trucking was by Edwin Shirley Trucking with Fred Addie taking the lead. Artist and crew transport was supplied by Y-Not.

Izzard's own touring entourage was very limited for a tour of this size. Andrea Payne managed all of the dressing room and hospitality requirements; Rachael Downing and Rebecca Kilgore combined the rolls of make-up/PA and trainer/dresser respectively, and Karon Maskill was on hand at all times as press and PR manager.

The Sexie tour, apart from being one of the funniest and most enjoyable shows of the year, also made a refreshing change from seeing band productions. As Izzard wound into his intellectual tailspin crescendo, it was just brilliant to remember that making people laugh is still one of the most positive means of human cognition. Everyone should do it more!