Global Trend and 4Wall Support Tour for Popular Mexican Rockers
Mexican rock band Maná, one of the most successful Latin American bands of all time, has been performing for more than 33 years since forming in Guadalajara. They embarked on the North American portion of their “Rayando el Sol” 2019 tour on Aug. 31 at the Laredo Energy Center in Laredo, Texas. Tour stops included Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena, Dallas’ American Airlines Center, and Miami’s American Airlines Arena, finishing up at the L.A. Forum on Dec. 7. They broke records by playing seven consecutive sold out shows at the Forum during this run.
The name, Maná, is from the Polynesian word for “positive energy,” and with the release of their ninth studio album, Cama Incendiada (Burning Bed) in April 2015, they continued to back it up with three hit singles. The album rose to #15 on the Billboard charts. This tour also pays homage to their hit single, “Rayando el Sol,” originally released in 1989.
The Elephant in the Room
Menga Cruz, the lighting designer and console programmer, also serves as the video programmer. The stage is anchored by a 36 by 18 foot (WxH) video wall upstage center, provided by Global Trend. It is made up of 144 of their proprietary Triton 5.9mm Black Widow Panels, each measuring 0.5 by 1 meter (WxH). These panels are divided into four sections that are hung on a tracking system.
They slide off stage at times to become two separate display surfaces, something that’s noticeably handy when an oversized elephant makes an appearance behind the drummer during the set. The offstage quarters of the video wall also slide off stage to make up a fresh stage look with more pods of lights filling the space. Menga is able to make great use of negative space by filling holes and giving the stage so many looks.
Much of the footage played on the center wall is I-Mag based, but often enough the images are manipulated with effects that Menga has added in. By making use of the two Avolites AI R8 media servers, he is able to play back all the video content and use Notch filters on the camera feeds in real time. Off stage are two more landscape style screens used for I-Mag and video content purposes also controlled via media server. They were originally constructed from the same 5.9mm pitch LED tiles, but as all 35 shows were sold out and the audience was still looking for tickets, the LED were switched to projection and the rigging safety area was converted into seats. Two 13.5-by-24-foot AV Stumpfl Monoblox S64 front and rear combo projection screens were employed in their place. Seven roll drops stretch across the front of the stage for the opening number and seven more songs with different looks and positions. Global Trend supplied two 40K laser projectors mounted in the front of house truss to illuminate them.
A Wall-to-Wall Stage Design
The stage and wings measure about 76 feet wide, filling the width of most arenas. A long T-shaped thrust extends from the center to form the “B” stage, giving the four piece band (with extra backing musicians lurking upstage) a lot of room to work, and with the excitement of the show, they use every bit of that real estate, as does Menga to set up his lights.
Behind the FOH setup is a small “C” stage, where the band performs a portion of the show near the people in the back. The square platform has a candelabra standing on each corner to set the mood for this intimate portion of the show. Menga relies on Sharpy Washes to illuminate the band, crediting this compact fixture for its punch.
Claypaky fixtures play a key role in the overall show looks. “I have been working with Mythos since 2015; I think I was one of the first person to take them on tour,” says Menga. “I know Mythos so well now; I know all of its capabilities and love the ultra-fast movement. Mythos is part of my creative process — when I am drawing and imagining the cues for each song I know exactly which gobo I want to use and which effect I want to apply.” In all, there are 122 Mythos 2 fixtures in the rig. Pods with 12 fixtures each are flown symmetrically, in a block shape of four-by-three. Additional trusses run up and down stage, loaded with them. The thin beams rain down upon the stage en masse.
Flanking the LED display are four vertical rows of Robe Spikies that are eight high by two across. Rows of these fixtures also move on a tracking system and create many different looks when the outer video walls travel offstage. These small 60-watt LED movers are extremely fast and can zoom from 4-28° quickly. There are also 16 Robe Spiiders as band side lights to add some great beamage, especially with their patented flower effect.
On the floor are four sets of Claypaky Scenius Unico fixtures that are used as fanned uplight beams — tying in with the tour’s “Rayando El Sol” theme — or textured with gobos and shot out into the audience. “Scenius Unico is a moving light that is complete and perfect,” says Menga, who finds that the fixture “works for everything. If you want to make a cue with more power, more rock ‘n’ roll, the Scenius does it perfectly. If you need something more theatrical, with more definition, Scenius also performs masterfully. For me, it is a giant and amazing hybrid.” Menga loves the details of the fixture’s gobos. “It has an animation wheel so perfect that I must be careful not to use it in all songs. And when you think you can’t do anything more, then you start working with the blades. They are so perfect, so precise. Sometimes people ask me what model laser I’m using in a show, and I laugh and say, ‘It’s not a laser, it’s Scenius Unico with its beautiful blades tightly closed.’”
4Wall provided a total of 544 feet of Tyler GT truss for the tour. This includes trusses that ran down the sides and into the house of the arena. This enabled Menga to hang lights for many purposes. Four Robe Robospots with eight Robe BMFL Wash Beam were hung to track the main band members movement. The Sharpy washes from the C stage lived up there as well.
To light the audience, Menga spec’d 18 Elation CuePix Blinder WW2 fixtures along with 32 Chauvet Professional Strike 1 fixtures.
Menga Cruz does all the programming himself on his grandMA consoles, but also relies on Wady Rodriguez to serve as a show director. Lighting technicians for the tour included Matthew Bloom, Peter Martin, Daniel Teeter, Eduardo Orta and Jorge Caraballo. Menga resides in Brazil and Los Angeles. To see more of his work visit www.image4u.tv.
Maná “Rayando El Sol” Tour
Gear
Lighting Gear (from 4Wall)
- 122 Claypaky Mythos 2 fixtures
- 24 Claypaky Sharpy Washes
- 22 Claypaky Scenius Unicos
- 64 Robe Spikies
- 16 Robe Spiiders
- 8 GLP impression X4 L fixtures
- 4 Robe RoboSpots w/8 Robe BMFL Wash Beams
- 48 TMB Solaris Flare Q+ fixtures
- 32 Chauvet Professional Strike 1’s
- 18 Elation CuePix Blinder WW2 fixtures
- 544’ Tyler GT Truss
Video Gear (from Global Trend Pro)
- 2 AV Stumpfl Monoblox S64 screens (13.5 x 24’ each)
- 2 40K laser projectors
- 2 Avolites Media Ai media servers
- 144 5.9mm Triton Black Widow panels (.5 x 1m)
More Maná “Rayando El Sol” Tour photos by Steve Jennings
