Every once in a while, Craig Richter runs into someone who isn’t familiar with the music of Halestorm, despite his Grammy-winning client’s cult-like following. When that happens, the he has a ready answer: “I always tell them ‘this is modern rock with deeply classic roots,” said the Nashville-based LD.
For the band’s current tour, Richter is reflecting this dual quality with a lighting and set design that blends evocative elements of contemporary and old school looks. “Given the nature of Halestorm’s music, I tend to saturate the stage with color and then punch through accenting colors to make the overall look stand out,” he explained. “This tour I’ve gone with an old school PAR 64 style rig using modern fixtures in an older style truss system.”
The challenge with this design was to avoid looking repetitive from song to song, he acknowledges. Before the tour began, he asked himself ‘did I go out too far on a limb by avoiding traditional moving wash fixtures?’”
Turns out, he didn’t have to worry. His distinctive design is supporting Halestorm with an array of multi-dimensional and captivating looks that not only reflect the band’s music in all its intensity, but also create a sense of intimacy between the artists on stage and fans in the audience.
Key to helping him accomplish this are 40 COLORado Accent 3 fixtures and eight Nexus 4×4 panels from Chauvet Professional, which were supplied like the rest of the lighting rig by Bandit Lites.
The 20-watt RGBA Accent 3 fixtures are positioned inside a series of seven tapering steps that get wider as they ascent to a center-stage grated drum riser, which itself is positioned above four of the rig’s Nexus units. The four other panels are located below two other risers, used to accent solo performances.
“I needed something small enough to fit between the steps in our new set, but still bright enough to where they could punch through the overhead stage wash, and the Accent 3s fit the bill,” said Richter. “I am running them with a filter at a 14-degree beam angle. Since they’re pointing at the audience at head level, I wanted a wider angle so the light’s not ripping off people’s faces.”
The tapered steps illuminated by the Accent 3 fixtures are pivotal to Richter’s design vision. “I wanted to tie in Halestorm’s new album to the show without doing an exact copy of the cover or having the band’s name stamped on the stage,” he explained. “So I took an image from the new album photo shoot of broken glass. I had to find an image that would look right to convey the shards of glass while still taking on color well. I wanted the band’s logo to look as if it was breaking through the backdrop, so we had a set piece made and wired up with LED tape and a pixel driver to make the logo pop off the drape. The steps and drum riser leading up to this design element gave it an added sense of drama.”
Intricate and engaging, this set required skill and organization to set up in a timely manner. Richter credits crew chief Joey DiLeo and tech Brian Bogovic for “an excellent job” throughout the tour. “A lot of behind the scenes works goes into making the magic happen every night.”
Thanks to the efforts of Richter and his team, the set is perfectly position for every show, resulting in vistas that capture the spirit of Halestorm. Some of those looks are big and powerful, while others are more subtle, such as Richter’s favorite, which happens during the choir of the song “Steeple,” when white beams push through deep blue saturation before ever-so-gently fading away. It is a small moment, but one that captures the timeless blend of old and new music being performed on stage.
