Pyro and Lighting Bring the Death Bat to Life
LD Trevor Ahlstrand, who worked for Ringling Bros. for two years after graduating high school as head electrician on one of their productions, calls that experience “a fantastic first exposure to the touring industry, giving me a huge amount of hands-on experience in a very short amount of time.”With a 56-foot-wide, 18-foot-high “Death Bat” as the main focal point, the visuals he works with now as LD for Avenged Sevenfold have taken a decidedly macabre turn. But the challenge of coming up with “Greatest-Show-on-Earth” spectacle on a budget remain the same — even if the production budget expanded considerably from the previous tour.
“The set designer/production manager, Jordan Coopersmith, and I had the opportunity to construct two separate designs for the band,” Ahlstrand says. “We began with a design that debuted on the 2010 Uproar Tour, which Avenged co-headlined. We continued using that design for the full year touring U.S., Asia, South America and Europe.
“When Avenged were asked again to headline Uproar, Jordan and I knew that it had to be a completely different show,” Ahlstrand adds, noting that the band would be performing in many of the same cities. “That’s why we needed to change the design.”
“We got a nice opportunity to completely re-vamp the previous show when the band committed to do the Uproar Festival for the second year and needed to come out fresh,” adds Coopersmith, who has worked with Ahlstrand on creative projects since the late 2000s. “With their excitement to go in that direction, and a financial commitment to match, we moved forward on production.”
Big Lighting Looks
“Avenged wanted to incorporate a giant version of their Death Bat, a fiber optic stardrop, and, of course, as much fire as humanly possible,” Ahlstrand says. But if the new budget was bigger, it wasn’t unlimited.
“To try and stay within budget, I kept the lighting rig similar in size and fixture types to the previous tour. However, the layout became very different. This time around, I really tried to use all the width and depth available in this design to help make everything feel much larger.
The design revolved, of course, around the huge Death Bat stage element, and the challenge was to bolster the lighting looks so they wouldn’t pale in comparison with the fiery centerpiece of the production.
“I placed different groups of lights on the floor spaced between layers of the set to try and capture the significance of the 50-foot depth,” Ahlstrand notes. “I then placed fixtures downstage left and right on the ego risers, which allows me to stretch the appearance of the stage.
For A7X, sidelighting is key, Ahlstrand says. “To cover this, I hung two trusses on each side of the stage, one was underhung directly below the other, both angling off the stage. They were the perfect piece to really frame in the set and help me accomplish some of the really wide and massive looks that I needed for this show.
Layered Visuals
“The main rig consists of four fingers centered-flown over their performance area, and an upstage truss that joins the side trusses to each other. This design allowed a very simple build while having an abundance of layers at my disposal. This flexibility allowed me to proceed from one impressive look to another, without using the same look twice.”
Ahlstrand relied heavily on Martin MAC 2000 Wash XBs, which he credited for dependability, flexibility and output, an important factor in the rig’s high trim. “I love the ability have an extremely narrow or beamy fixture” that can also be used to create “something wide and subtle, with a smooth transition and additional options in between.”
He also included Martin’s MAC III Performances, crediting “their shutters and textured animation options,” which “brought the Death Bat to life.” He adds that “there are only 14 Profiles above the stage, but they cut through everything else with ease and fill the stage when I need them to.”
Ahlstrand adds that, “of course, for a metal show such as this, the Atomic strobes are a given. I also love the [Clay Paky] Sharpys, and their instant flare and unmatched speed and intensity with an extremely tight beam — they cut through everything and add another level and dimension” to the show’s visuals.
Set Design and Pyro
In the early stages, Coopersmith relied on some pretty basic tools to come up with Avenged Sevenfold’s set design. “The initial drawings presented to the band were actually pencil drawings I was sketching while we were in Europe doing the summer festival circuit,” he notes. “I did not have the hours to sit down at VectorWorks and figure out how to draw this ‘thing’ as I usually would before submitting to the band.
“Once we decided on the concept and basic design of the bat and tiered platforms, I reached out to Joe McMonagle at Atomic Design. Between Joe and [project manager] Chris Rickson, Atomic was able to not only translate the “Death Bat” into a 3D being, but fabricate the structure to be bulletproof, and a fast-and-easy in and out of our trucks. I believe that the coolest parts of the entire set are not only what the audience sees, but what Atomic has done to keep our load-ins and outs efficient.
“The other huge element to the A7X stage production is our pyro. I reached out to Lorenzo [Cornacchia] and Bob [Ross] at Pyrotek very early in the development of the “Death Bat” with very specific ideas about what flame elements we were looking for. The amount of flame on this thing is ridiculous, and had to be done just right.”
Pryotek’s design includes eight Gatling Guns added to the upper deck of the set to shoot flames horizontally behind each “claw” of the skull wings, along with eight dragon heads — four behind the Death Bat and four others spread out in front of the set and used in asymmetrical chases. Flame units were also placed in the skull’s eyes.
Other effects included low-lying fog, 20- and 35-foot Silver Mines and stadium flashes for loud sound blast effects, plus an assortment of fireball and flame-shooting effects in and around the Death Bat.
“Pyrotek also worked closely with the Atomic crew on how to integrate these effects into the set build,” Coopersmith continues. “Their crew spent four days in Lititz, PA last summer integrating their gear before it left the Atomic warehouse. We then spent a week in Camden, NJ with crews from both companies dialing things in. Our shooter, Keith Maxwell brings everything together with his impeccable timing and energy.”
Cue-to-Cue Timing
Ahlstrand notes how he and Maxwell worked together to “make sure that neither one of us were going to wash each other out. We spent a lot of time at FOH looking over the lighting cues and determining where to fit pyro cues and any changes to the lighting cues at that point to help the overall cue. We tried to take full advantage of the fire screens, using them as random strobe effects and large chases that allow us to keep up with the intensity of the music. It was very simple for him to program complicated chases through the pyro very quickly, since the flames are all controlled by DMX.”
Ahlstrand also got the chance to work for the first time with lighting director Andre Petrus. “He came highly recommended from Huntly Christie” of Christie Lites, the Orlando, FL-based lighting company supporting the tour. “The fact that he was based in Nashville was really a huge advantage,” adds Ahlstrand, who settled in Music City after leaving the circus to work with Bandit Lites as a crew chief, programmer and lighting director; he has since set out on his own path as a freelance programmer and designer himself.
“I had [Petrus] run a couple of songs in my design studio to get an idea for his timing and style,” Ahlstrand relates. “Avenged do not want to use timecode, because they wish to be flexible and spontaneous during their shows. However, I needed someone that would be able to execute the show every night like it was being run by timecode, without missing any of the their subtle changes. Andre had remarkable timing and was able to pick up the show very quickly.”
Production Support
Along with kudos to Huntly Christie, Ahlstrand commended Christie Lites’ Martin Kelley and the lighting company’s attention to the details that help keep a complex production on track. “During the system build, the three of us worked very closely, and Martin played an essential role in making sure that no detail was overlooked. The rig came out in impeccable condition looking and working like it was brand new.
“I was very impressed with some of the proprietary items that they have,” Ahlstrand adds, noting that “the track truss we used on tour” as a case in point. “The truss has no end plates and has a track that joins to the next truss when pinned together. If I needed to place a fixture where two trusses were joined, it’s no longer an issue, the fixture simply slides into place within a couple seconds. It’s such a simple and efficient concept.”
Last but not least, Ahlstrand gives kudos to the band. “Avenged Sevenfold are a real pleasure to work with. They are not only extremely talented musicians but are amazing human beings. They have great vision for their live shows and trust their team to accomplish it. All the members of the Avenged team work extremely well together and help add to the success of this great band.”
For more photos, go to www.plsn.me/sevenfoldextra
Crew
Lighting Designer: Trevor Ahlstrand
Set Designer/Production Manager:
Jordon Coopersmith
Lighting Director: Andre Petrus
Lighting Crew Chief: James Poepping
Lighting Technician: Patrick Flynn
Master Electrician: Chris Trosper
Pyro Shooter: Keith Maxwell
Lighting Company: Christie Lites
Account Reps: Huntly Christie, Martin
Kelley
Set/Staging Company: Atomic Design
Pyro Company: Pyrotek Special Effects
Gear
1 grandMA2 Lite console
8 Martin MAC III Performances
14 Martin MAC III Profiles
58 Martin MAC 2000 washes
(w/PC lenses)
30 Martin Atomic 3000 Strobes
6 Martin Fiber Source QFX 150 (for fiber drop)
20 Clay Paky Sharpys
8 Color Kinetics ColorBlaze 72
7 Color Kinetics ColorForce 72
2 Color Kinetics ColorForce 48
8 Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12
17 2-Lites
8 4-Lites
4 Reel EFX DF-50 Diffusion Hazers
