With musical influences traversing from conventional bluegrass to metal and rock, Grammy-award winning Billy Strings’ prodigious abilities on multiple instruments makes his performances one of the can’t miss shows of the year. A hallmark of bluegrass music is its collaborative nature between musicians, with solos and features showcasing the individuals while crafting a full sound. The same idea when applied to a tour’s production elements similarly results in a fuller artist / audience experience.
This tour’s design and production work certainly reflect that. Featuring a vibrant lighting design from Lighting Designer Roger Gant, principal of RogerThat LLC, paired with a dynamic production design, video content, and set extensions from the team at Lüz Studio. The work of Gant, Lüz Studio, Production Manager Charlie Bryson, and VJ Tyler “TAJ” Givens all combine to add depth and scale to the visual impact of the 2024 Billy Strings tour.
Pods and Circles
If there’s a standout signature design element for the current Billy Strings tour, it would be the UFO-like lighting pods that hover over each member of this talented bluegrass band. The idea originated from doodles Billy Strings made on the tour bus and shared with LD Gant, thus kicking off the creative process that would form the basis for this design.
“Billy started talking about a show redesign a while back,” explains PM Bryson, “but we were so busy we never really had the chance to get off the road and start putting a plan together. However, we finally got to the point where we’re like, ‘right, 2024, let’s get a plan in place here and figure out what we want to do.’ So, Billy had these sketches that he brought to Roger with the foundations of the show design as it turned out to be. Roger took that and ran with it.”
Gant says, “Billy had been sketching out these circle pod things. He showed me an initial sketch that were these five circles above the guys. I went into Capture, my preferred design tool, because I love being able to visualize and see it within the wireframe plot. I started building some stuff out and making some preliminary fixture choices.” With Bluegrass music deviating from the traditional music structure of an intro, verse and chorus and instead focusing on the musicality and solos of the songs, the pods provide a focus on each band member throughout the show. Gant fleshed out the designs for Bandit Lites, the lighting vendor, to build the pods from.
Bandit Lites realized the pods working closely with Tyler Truss Systems to custom fabricate them to meet all the needs of the design and work well for touring. “Michael Strickland and Dizzy Gosnell have been amazing to work with, as has Matt Dean, Chris Noll and Jake Tickle. Bandit has been amazing from day one and the customer service has been great,” enthuses Gant. “A+ all around to them and their team. They worked closely with Tyler Truss and they all did a great job. They put spokes where we needed them on the pods to fit our lights and made them 7’-6” so they roll as one piece into the truck, stacked up with all the lights mounted inside. Tyler, being absolute geniuses, made the legs so they can fit onto ramps. It’s pretty awesome to see how smooth the process is. For the LED tape, Bandit used the TMB Floppy Flex, which I love. The only thing we have to de-rig are the ACME Geminis that mount on the outside of the pods.”
There are five total pods with each one housing eight CHAUVET Rogue Outcast 1 BeamWash units along with eight Robe Spikie WashBeams; seven ACME Geminis; and one Ayrton Khamsin S. “Deciding what kind of fixtures were going to work took some thought,” notes Gant. “We discussed putting a laser in the middle, all sorts of things.”
Key Gear Choices
In terms of his gear choices, Gant went with some tried and true products, as well as ventured out with a new fixture that a lot of people had recommended to him. Bandit Lites supplied over 200 feet of Tyler Truss as well as more than 250 fixtures for the tour including Ayrton Khamsin S, ROBE Spikie LED, Ayrton Mistral S, Chauvet STRIKE Array 2 and ACME Gemini, which were on the fascia of the pods and laid across all the trusses to define the space.
“We have a bunch of Ayrton spot and profile fixtures with the Khamsin S,” says the designer. “I’ve been a huge fan of Ayrton, especially when they came out with their hard-edge fixture line. It’s a really even field and the gobo package is awesome and matches mostly between all the different fixtures in the line, which is very useful. I think they look great and are easy to work with. I’ve been a loyal [Ayrton] Mistral user since they came out, so it’s nice to have a bunch of them in the rig as well.”
As mentioned in the five overhead pods, Gant chose the Chauvet Outcast BeamWash with its LED ring around the front lens for its pixel effects. “It’s a pretty cool little fixture and it fits in,” states Gant. “It’s a normal beam wash fixture on the inside with an LED ring around the nose. I can use it as two different fixtures as well and run pixel-y effects that match the pixel effects going on with the two rows of Floppy Flex right above it.”
When looking for a pan/tilt pixel bar light, Gant had at first wanted a different light, but getting a “metric ton” of them proved difficult. He then started looking around at trade shows and recommendations from fellow designers prior to settling on the ACME Gemini for his rig. “The Gemini kept coming up, so I got a demo and decided to go with it. It’s got a strobe on the back as well as having five RGBW pixels on the front, paired with infinite pan and tilt. I’m pleasantly surprised by how well its held up so far on the tour and I think looks great.”
Band Riser Pods
In keeping with the circular theme, Gant sketched out a riser system for each of the band members to stand on, also ringed with LED tape, that mirrored the lighting pods above. “We were worried about putting the guys into circles, as they’ve always been in line on the stage,” explains Gant. “In the past, each had a 6’ x 8’ carpet on a flat stage. We were worried that they might not want to stand in a slightly smaller circle, but they’ve all been great about it. Part of it for me was trying to do a stage within a stage; every guy has this space within this larger space, which highlights those solos that I think are so important to the music and to elevating the whole production.”
“The risers were a bit of an engineering feat,” he continues, “because we didn’t want the circles so small that the band member would trip off them. The fabrication shop at Upstaging took care of the risers, which came out pretty cool. They engineered the back piece to allow a table on each and just a step up for the guys with a nice flat part in the back, but you can’t tell it’s flat because of the way the LED tape is mounted. The band risers all pack onto two set carts, which is very nice.”
Expanding the Production Design
As a part of the redesign that PM Bryson and Billy Strings had previously discussed, Bryson started looking at production design firms and soliciting ideas. “Simultaneously, and unrelated to Billy’s UFO ideas, I was looking at show designers throughout 2023,” says Bryson. “I’d talked to a couple of different companies, but nothing presented really captured what Billy represented, and what the live show represented.”
Then when Billy Strings played the Ohana Festival last year, Bryson and the team saw the work of Lüz Studio. Bryson recalls, “Our tour manager linked me with Matthieu Larivée of Lüz Studio, and we got the ball rolling throwing some ideas around. They came back with drawings, mood boards, and ideas that really hit the nail on the head. Combine that with how cool the content looks and the technology that they’re using for the three-dimensional set environments; it was a no brainer really. They were the ones to go with. At that point it was linking them in with Roger and letting those guys collaborate and fine tune the show design.”
“Once we got the final form realized; got some real animations and drawings and videos, we got Billy involved and had multiple Zoom calls with him,” explains Bryson, “making sure his vision was really being adhered to. There was no real point in the process where it was a struggle. The Lüz Studio team nailed it right off the bat and the collaboration with Roger was great.”
Gant agrees, “Lüz Studio immediately grasped what was going on and added their considerable experience and expertise to the project,. Their shared vision and beautiful art have taken this whole thing to a different level and it has been a great collaboration, in the true spirit of the bluegrass roots.”
Content Blocks
Since Billy Strings uses the set list as a very rough guide for the show, often changing course completely, Lüz used blocks of content to deal with the improvisational nature of a Billy Strings show. Lüz Studio’s Larivée describes the solution. “Billy Strings was going into arenas, so they wanted to have a screen, but they wanted to know how you can predict content with a very loose set list. Our approach in this type of situation has been to do visual blocks of content. So, regardless of the set list, we’re going to have five aesthetics that we need to create everything within this world. Then we jump from block one to two, two to three. That way, visually, you maintain these transitions and there’s an arc to the show rather than playing ping pong. It looks like a VJ show.”
From a control standpoint for the visual blocks, Taj, as the VJ, works on a grandMA3 alongside LD Gant when operating the shows. The Lüz team worked closely with the touring team to put all the building blocks in place during programming of the show so they could punt and busk as needed each night on tour.
Larivée explains. “It’s lighting control. Basically, Roger and Taj drive the video content, within the same show file. It’s a grandMA3, so everything is within the same world. They are using what we call set extensions, which is designed within the screen. This includes digital lights, which are driven by Taj, but can be also controlled by Roger. So, if Roger chooses to go red, everything can turn red. Or, if Taj wants to reduce the timing, he can also manage the timing of everything. With Billy, a song can last 12 minutes, so it’s more about time than songs. He is not playing videos, but he’s more controlling lights in a way. It’s really a lighting state of mind. In addition to content, there are virtual lights in the set extensions that can work with Gant’s ‘real’ lights.”
Layering I-Mag and Virtual Set Extensions
Another consideration of the design is that I-Mag needs to also be incorporated. “The challenge about all of this is to make sure that there’s room for I-Mag within each design because the audience in the room are there also to enjoy music and see how talented these guys are,” says Larivée. “They want to see how good they are playing those instruments. They’re really virtuosos. So, within each scene, we needed to have a place where I-Mag is built in and it belongs there.” To come up with ways to incorporate I-Mag with the virtual set extension video content, the Lüz team looked to the overhead pods for inspiration. “They were envisioning automation with the pods,” says Larivée, “and when we came along, we said ‘production wise, it might be a challenge to do that, but what about if we create digital pods, like a set extensions of the real pods?’ Then we recreated some virtual pods in the back where we can virtually project I-Mag.”
With the Lüz Studio design, I-Mag can appear anywhere on the screen, “but basically within most of the designs there was a place for I-Mag,” says Larivée. “Also, we’d do a visual palate cleanser once in a while. So, let’s say you have a visual scene that is very strong, then you can have an I-Mag scene with maybe Notch effects, or not. Then for a few minutes we focus on the band playing, and then we come back to another visual. It keeps the flow going. Also, Billy does two distinct sets, basically there’s a break and then he comes back again. It’s not the encore, but literally a break. So, we needed to address this, and have made the two acts visually different for the audience.”
The media server for the tour is a Disguise GX 3. “We needed that very server because, as I mentioned, we’re using also a lot of Notch to do VFX on I-Mag,” says Larivée. “We needed the resources from that server in order to be able to create that kind of trippy-ness and keep the flow.” Taj, points out as the VJ, “We have a good palette of Notch effects that we’re using. Almost everything that we do with a camera is currently inside Notch in some way. The show flow is very simple from my perspective, because once we set a scene, we’re there. Inside that scene is a bunch of handles for me to punt with. So, I give it hands down to the Lüz team. It’s the first time I’ve ever had to hand over show development inside a show file before, and they’ve done a wonderful job at making this a very puntable, easy to flow around in show file. They’ve done a great job.”
The Right Screen
For the screens themselves, Colonel Tom Touring, the video vendor, supplied the tour with the ROE Visual CB8-Transparent panels they are using to create a wall measuring 51’2’’ x 23’8’’. “It’s a lot lighter than it looks,” point out Bryson. “We have a ROE CB8 transparent panels, so our video wall is bigger but only marginally heavier.”
Taj also serves as the LED Tech for the video screen, and he too is impressed with the ROE CB8-Transparent panels. “The ROE screen is really nice. From beginning to end, it is a great product. Putting it together with the specific frames that we’re using is an easy, quick flowing process. The quality of the screen looks super clean. We’re using an eight mil product, so standing even at the edge of the pit, if I have a camera up on screen, everything looks clean, and looks like a nice screen.”
Bryson is very happy with the video screen and set extensions that Lüz Studios created for Billy Strings, saying “It just adds another dimension to the show, and it’s ideal for the rooms we’re doing and the size of our rig. The possibilities are really endless. We obviously have our set lighting rig, but then we can virtually light the set pieces inside the content almost any way we want. That really adds depth. Whether we’re in an amphitheater or a smaller room, all the way up to the biggest arenas in the country, it looks fantastic. We did two nights at the Bridgestone [Arena in Nashville], a huge room to fill, and although our rig is physically quite a modest size, I believe the video content makes it look much bigger and more elaborate. It gives this whole extra depth and feel; an illusion of grandeur almost. It’s been a great to have that technology on board.”
For their part, Larivée and the Lüz team are rightfully proud of the overall show and how the production design and video content work to give the flexibility the touring team needs to keep it fresh—and to keep up with Billy Strings. “I’m pleased with the overall show,” says the creative designer. “There is something to it that is very, very cool because it’s such a unique musicality. I’m very proud of how the programming has been built and how the guys on the road are good at dealing with that. Downloading something that’s not tangible, because at the end of the day, on paper it’s okay, but once it’s in their hands how do they manage that? Yes, I’m very proud of how it all works and how on this show everything is still live and flexible. The design and the content is so much attached to Billy’s world. It’s pieces of artwork by Billy that are in 3D behind them and that we can play with. It’s like having a dream and it’s up there. It’s not crazy designs, but because it’s within the screen, I think it’s sustainable. Also, it’s scalable. You want to go to Europe, go to a festival, you want to do your rig. I think that having that open mind about creativity, and then also having a scalable production is the perfect mix of both worlds.”
Controlling the Video
As noted, in going with the video content and virtual set extensions as a part of Lüz Studio’s production design, the tour’s VJ, Taj has a different show to control this time out. “The biggest thing between last year and this year, is that we were a very camera-based show,” notes Taj. “This year, it’s more of a scenic element, a lot more setting of an environment versus delivering one basic thing. The nice thing about all these environments is once we’re inside of them, there’s a multitude of ways to punt inside that environment. Just as Roger’s punting his entire light show, there’s visual elements within the scenes that we’re also punting around with. So, I also have [virtual] lighting rigs that I punt with inside the video elements. There’s the classic VJ loops and content coming in to be within specific elements inside the scenes. There’s a multitude of ways to bring in cameras and show camera elements inside the scenes. And then just additional elements that add scenic depth of field. Adding in just the right kind of background to fit with the scene that we’re in.”
When it comes to favorite songs and elements in the show, Taj quickly sites the ones when it “gets going crazy. Anything from ‘Wargasm’ to ‘Away from the Mire’ to ‘All Fall Down,’ ‘Hide and Seek.’ That end of the spectrum is definitely my favorite part of the show because that’s the time that I’m pushing faders and punting around the most and having a bunch of fun in my own little environment. But, really ultimately the entire show is amazing. I’ve been doing it for a year and a half, and we’ve never done the same show twice. I think we deliver a set list that is captivating and engaging. Even as somebody who’s been to 120+ shows now, I don’t get bored. This tour has been the best time and one hell of a great experience from my perspective.”
Vendor Support
In terms of vendor support, Bryson couldn’t be happier with his relationships with Bandit Lites, Upstaging, and Colonel Tom for this tour. “Having Dizzy and the Bandit guys on call literally whenever I need them has been super helpful,” says the PM. “We changed over to Bandit this year due to the show designers having a previous working relationship with them, and it has been great. The Bandit guys and the Lüz team had worked together before and knew they had a great working relationship, so that made the transition super smooth and since the tour has been out on the road, Dizzy and Bandit’s support has been unbelievable.”
Bryson came up in the industry working with Colonel Tom ’s sister audio company, Major Tom in the UK for over a decade, so he was happy to work with familiar faces in the U.S. office. “I knew that the support from those guys was going to be as good as it always is whenever I’m out on a gig with them,” he comments. “Brandon [Otto] our project lead with the Colonel Tom video side; he was also helpful in liaising with the Lüz guys and getting the desired screen size, the correct product, and processors. Making sure exactly what the Lüz team needed was going to be available to them.”
This was Bryson’s first dealings with Upstaging who handled the scenic fabrication of the floor pod risers for the band. “Again, it was a pre-existing relationship that Lüz had, and they suggested that we let them quote and it has really worked well. I’ve been dealing with Nick [Schwartz, Project Manager] at Upstaging. We went back and forth, probably more so than any other part of the rig, because the guys are physically standing on those pieces. It was a big deal to try and get that exactly right and make sure there wasn’t going to be a trip hazard or anything like that. The Upstaging guys couldn’t have been better at really getting exactly what we needed and just being available to get it done ASAP. By the time Christmas was done, we had about three weeks until we went into rehearsals, and Upstaging did it.”
Billy Strings recently announced dates continuing through the summer, so this dynamic design will continue to engage audiences by bring all the different contributions together, just like fine bluegrass.
VENDOR VIEWS
BANDIT LITES, INC.,
Dizzy Gosnell, Vice President of Production
On some of the solutions Bandit provided:
We collaborated with Matt Larivée, Roger Gant, and Charlie Bryson early on putting the overall look and feel of their design into reality, but going further into it we knew the TMB Floppy Flex being flown in full view with no breaks and having pixel level control was going to be interesting, and then of course…there are the pods…We zeroed in on the pods immediately, as they were obviously the focal point of the lighting system design marrying up to the same size circular floor risers directly beneath. It was the item that needed the most care and attention to make sure it was what the design wanted and what was feasible within construction time, flown weight, cost, strength, load in/out time, and portability in the truck. We got in touch with Nathan Villines and Marc Johnson at Tyler Truss at this point to see if we had a ghost of a chance getting custom pods made in time, they replied ”‘it’ll be tight, but we’ll make it happen,” so we moved to the next phase…
With the need for inch tolerance rigging, we needed a grid to hang the 5 pods so they space at the same center to center distance of the five band risers below, keeping the look cohesive. There was early talk about making the pods 8’ OD or more but that would have precluded them from being a solid one-piece unit. I suggested making them a solid 7’ 6” OD unit which seemed to fit the bill well, the “Goldilocks option,” not too big, not too small, but just right. This meant all the lamps and all the TMB Floppy Flex LED tape could stay installed and cabled inside the pods on stage and in the truck, which is a massive time saver. We were all staring down the barrel of not much time in getting the pods made, with Christmas & New Year’s, the manufacturing and delivery window was small, but Nathan, Marc, and all at Tyler really pulled out all the stops to get it all built in time.
On why Bandit Lites was the right vendor:
We pride ourselves on our prep and attention to detail and forward thinking on every show we do. [Bandit Lites Chair Mike Strickland adds: “Bandit fully builds, preps, and labels every single piece of a system. We then fully test it and when it shows up on site it is 100% ready to go the first day. We call this The Bandit Standard!” I also want to say Bandit is honored to be a part of the great team involved with the Billy Strings tour.]
UPSTAGING, INC.
Nicholas Schwartz, Fabrication Project Manager
On some of the solutions the Upstaging provided:
The LEDs live behind a tinted polycarbonate lens that appears black and is hidden from audience view when not in use. The biggest part of this project to solve was both the size & shape and how to achieve the circular “conical” LED lens. The front end of the platform is roughly an eight-foot diameter circle, and it marries to an equally large rectangular upstage platform. Each part of the platforms have LED lighting along with power supplies/control and cabling in them. They all needed to line up seamlessly to get the look Roger [LD Gant] was envisioning. In addition to the overall size, we were also tasked with making the height of the platform no greater than three inches. In order for these platforms to work for the tour we had to put a lot of forethought into how it would travel and how to access the lights in a limited amount of space, while also creating scenery that is safe and versatile.
On supporting the production team:
Working with Matthieu [Larivée], Charlie [Bryson], and Roger was a dream. The team had a very clear vision as to what they were looking for, which made it all that much easier to prototype and execute a clean design in a timely fashion. Over the course of a few weeks, we were able to hone in on each key element and share our discoveries with the team so that the platforms delivered were exactly as they wanted.
On why Upstaging was the right vendor for this tour:
We incorporate a lot of LEDs into our scenery, and we feel it’s something we excel at. When this project was presented, we jumped at the chance to get it built. It was a fun and challenging design, and we are proud of the result. It was a real team project in the shop and among the Upstaging personnel who worked on this were Don Sender, Shop Foreman; Brian Shipinski, LEDs and Control; Kenny Peebles, Carpenter; and Nate Rogers, CNC Operator.
PRODUCTION TEAM
- Tour Manager: Jason Tobias
- Production Manager: Charlie Bryson
- Assistant Production Manager: Steve York
- Stage Manager: Nate Flores
- Production Design and Video Content: Lüz Studio
- Lighting Designer: Roger Gant
- Lighting Crew Chief: Chris Noll
- Lighting Techs: Massimiliano Misemer, Jesse Figueroa
- VJ: Tyler “Taj” Givens, Rendition by Taj
- Video Director: Ryen McPherson
- Video Engineer: Bob Larkin
- Stream Specialist: Sam Treadway
Lüz Studio Team:
- Creative Producer: Matthieu Larivée
- Production Design Assistants: David Rondeau, Phil Marquis
- Video Content Director: Dave Pawsey
- Notch Designers: Simon Rusty Rouhier, Maxime Lortie, Alberto Ramirez
- Video Server Programmer: Phil Marquis
VENDORS
- Lighting: Bandit Lites
- Video: Colonel Tom Touring
- Staging: Upstaging, Inc.
GEAR
Lighting
- 89 ACME Gemini
- 23 Ayrton Mistral S
- 28 Ayrton Khamsin S
- 2 Ayrton Khamsin FS
- 40 CHAUVET Outcast 1 BeamWash
- 20 CHAUVET STRIKE Array 2
- 10 CHAUVET AIR min panel
- 40 Robe Spikie WashBeam
- 1 Follow-Me System
- 3 grandMA3 full-size Console
- 1 grandMA3 light Console
- 6 grandMA3 Processor M
- 5 Tyler Truss 7’ 6” OD Circle Pods
- 5 Tyler Truss 1m OD Circle Tube
- 20 Tyler Truss 14” Ctr Drop Arms
- 1 Tyler Truss Package
- 45 DN Hoist 1-Ton 16 FPM
- 1 Motor Controller 10 Way Custom
- 2 Motor Controller 30 Way Custom
- 2 TMB EZ LAN Unity 20
- 2 TMB ProPlex IQ2 1616
- 6 TMB IQ Two 66 2X node
- 2 MDG theONE Atmospheric Generator
- 2 Antari AF-3 DMX Fan
Video
- ROE Visuals CB8-Transparent Video Panel
- Disguise GX 3 Media Server
