Equipped with his experience and affinity with what makes a crowd of 15,000 Mode fans tick, the latest in digital technology from Roland and the engineering skills of Steve Lyon, Alan set to work... "It's easy to forget that putting together a live show is a complicated and time-consuming activity. It isn't just about revamping the songs, which of course can be very exciting. There are a million other jobs to be tackled like deciding what will be on the backing tapes and what will be live, or who will play what parts and how that will effect the way I program the keyboards (which is a logistical nightmare in itself!)." "There are also questions about the track running order and the different set lists themselves - this was to be a long haul and to play exactly the same songs night after night for 15 months would have been agony. You also have to consider each different country because every audience reacts differently, preferring favourite songs that have been particular to their territory. Consequently, we had 4 set lists - red, green, yellow, blue - with a similar overall structure but some variation in terms of which ballads and encores we'd perform."