Back in the 1930’s, a newspaper reporter asked the well-known bank robber, Willie Sutton why he robbed banks. Sutton was said to have replied, “because that’s where the money is.” Matthieu Larivee and the team at Lüz Studio had no such nefarious purpose in mind when they designed Jason Aldean’s 24-city Highway Desperado tour, which concluded October 5 at Georgia’s Macon Amphitheatre, but they understand the logic.
Appreciating that the lower parts of the stage are where most eyeballs (and most cell phones!) are focused, they strove to make this area as fan and camera friendly as possible by incorporating multi-level fascia risers into their design. “The risers were the start of the design,” said Larivee. “I wanted to focus on the lower part of crowd POV. This is where people are mainly watching, and this is the main background of the pictures on social media. This is especially true on amphitheater tours where it’s hard to manage haze. Therefore, the lower part of stage is where we get more impact with the artist.”
To ensure that this area popped for the live audience, as well as in social media posts, Larivee and his team position 59 of their 67 CHAUVET Professional Color STRIKE M motorized strobes (all supplied by Bandit Lites) on the deck floor. “I was looking for an impactful fixture with a great wash as well as bells and whistles,” he explained. “The Strike M was a great fixture for this purpose.”
Yet despite their intense output and other performance features, the look of the Color STRIKE M fixtures felt too modern of the aesthetics of this tour. The Luz team addressed this by working closely with All Access Staging to find a grated metal to be used in front of the grid of Color Strike Ms behind the risers.
“We found a nice material that we painted and there was enough negative space for the lighting to shine through without the fixture being visible, and there was enough detail to create an amazing refraction of light,” elaborated Larivee. “That refraction helps creating so many different looks without seeing the source.” Adding to the ambience were 54 STRIKE Array 2 fixtures located on risers behind each band member to create a sense of warmth. Between songs, these fixtures are run at 5-percent brightness to evoke a downhome retro feel.
Towering above the evocative deck is a 50’ by 24’ three-dimensional video wall that serves as a richly textured canvas. The design team, which includes Pierre Luc Bedard, David Rondeau, Phil Marquis and LD Andy Knighton, position 54 Maverick Storm Wash 2 units behind this video wall. “We are using the Maverick fixture with the video content control, so the physical shape of the screen and the matrix of light kind give rise to more geometric shapes,” said Larivee. More geometric shapes? For sure, but also a flow of evocative I-Mag images, which together with the myriad patterns captivate attention, are engaging eyeballs and cameras in the air as well on the deck—all adding up to total immersion.
Further information from CHAUVET Professional: www.chauvetprofessional.com
