The Zac Brown Band winds down their seven-month tour Dec. 12 with their last show of the year in Columbus, OH. It’s been a fun ride for all involved on the visual side. The Georgia-based country act played various sized venues from stadiums to amphitheaters. The three-tiered set featured a video wall behind the band measuring 6 by 52 feet (HxW). Perched atop that were the drums, percussion and ample space for various band members to walk up stairs and ramps and play. It’s clear from the start that the 12 band members like to move around. Accurate Staging provided the set.
Upstage of the band and riser is the rest of a giant video wall. It is an extension of the front panels so, all in all, this screen of 10mm digiLED tiles is a whopping 42 feet high by 59 feet wide. I-Mag and media played on both, with the whole screen often turning into one solid image. The video is just as busy as the band’s music, as a wide variation of screen breakups are in evidence. Different camera shots of players interspersed with various textures could be seen all night long.
The band uses a 40-foot-long thrust with a circular performance area at the end. The thrust is lined with 22 Clay Paky Sharpys and 14 ADJ LED UV COB fixtures. Accurate Staging provides the thrust and additional staging elements for this tour.
The production design for the tour came from Okulus, a creative design outfit founded in 2014. They use the company and reputation as an outlet and support network for all their preexisting work. It’s also used as a platform to collaborate with other industry creatives.
James Scott, Co-Production Designer/Lighting Designer
“We love working with SES (specialeventservices.com); they’re the supplier on most of our work that tours in North America & Canada. The entire experience of designing and setting up a touring production is much easier working with people who understand your vision in what you’re trying to achieve.”
The show brief, from the start, included a large video surface. It’s always an open discussion between all parties, the production designers, the content creators the production managers. The LED size and layout was a combined design move from both Okulus and Thrasos Media with the idea of multiple screen sizes to enable this touring production to fit into much smaller venues on the routing. Moo TV out of Nashville (mootv.com) provides the touring video equipment. This full service boutique company attended to every little detail and did a fine job undertaking this large-scale project.
“I first worked with LD Kevin Moore when I was contacted to design the 2014 “Great American Road Trip” Tour” James states. “Kevin has been operating for the band for years. His knowledge of the music is the solid base that you need for an operator. For 2014, we totally re programmed the show on an MA2, and adapted and expanded from that base for the 2015 redesign.”
Kevin Moore, Lighting Director
Kevin Moore first met James Scott in 2014 when Okulus first took on the design project for Zac Brown Band.
“We spent a solid month together in pre programming that year, getting a new show onto a grandMA2. We got to know each other very well. Louis Oliver (Co-Creative Director & Designer) came in 2015 to help James with programming, so that we could get a fresh look on some of the band’s catalog as well as program anything new the band might bring to rehearsals. We usually get seven to ten days of prep in the shop, once the drawings get approved. We then move on to about three weeks of tech rehearsal and touch up on programming and incorporating the video elements.
“One of the great things about a Zac Brown Band show is the fact that you never know what to expect. I get a set list about 15 minutes before the band walks on stage. Their set list can change drastically from night to night and with the catalog they have of their own songs and any one of the covers they are able to play. It makes the show fun to run. Currently we have about 54 songs programmed, original and covers that can show up in any order and change on the fly. I have a punt page set up for new covers or sit-ins that pop up.
“James and Louis have done a great job giving this rig a range of fixtures that work well together. Each fixture has benefits all to itself. The Mythos, with its punchy beam, great zoom and frost effects. The B-Eyes have great effects and beam angles. The Vipers’ movement is smooth, and they have a great gobo selection, as well as a nice zoom. The GLP X4’s are bright, easily competing with all of the fixtures in the rig for added eye candy. And the Nitro 510C’s work great as daytime eye candy and an intense strobe. Added Sharpys, on the wings, to the stadium dates is a great complement. One of the secrets to making all of this look good are the MDG TheOne hazers. These hazers do exactly what you need on an outdoor shed tour. They can put out a nice even haze or roll out huge amounts of smoke to give a great effect.
“It definitely takes a great crew to get a rig up in the air and functioning for show time. Crew chief Andrew Oaks does an awesome job and it would not be as easy of a day without his efforts. With great techs, Kyle, Nick, Charity, John, and Ray, this crew is always great to be a part of.”
The content creation for the tour was done by Cameron Yeary of Thrasos Media. This content was controlled from a separate console and played back by Andrew Oaks utilizing two coolux Pandoras Box media servers. Veteran video director Steven B. Osler did a stellar job at cutting the cameras for the I-Mag shots. He had four live camera operators as well as lipstick and robotic cameras.
“The relationship between Moo TV and Zac Brown goes back seven or eight years, to the beginning,” says Chuck Young, GM for the video company. “I remember a time when we used to have to drive our crew members in a van from our shop down to Atlanta to catch the bus for the ZBB tours. Thankfully, the bus stops in Nashville now. We’re proud to have attended to their video needs all this time.”
The Zac Brown Band will be embarking on a four-day sea cruise adventure with their fans in late January and are already booking festival appearances for the summer of 2016.
Zac Brown Band Jekyll + Hyde Tour (2015)
Crew
- Co-Production & Lighting Designers: James Scott, Louis Oliver (Okulus)
- Lighting Director: Kevin Moore
- Lighting Programmers: James Scott, Louis Oliver
- Lighting Co: Special Event Services/Jim Brammer, Jeff Cranfill
- Lighting Crew Chiefs: Andrew Oaks, Mark Donahue
- Lighting Techs: Kyle Klapper, Nick “Snake” Bird, John Earp, Ray Park, Charity Evans
- Set Designer: Okulus
- Video Director: Steven B. Osler
- Video Co: Moo TV/Scott Scovill
- Video Crew Chief: Travis Walker
- Video System Engineer: Joel Harrison
- Lead Video Wall LED Tech: Jeff Horr
- Camera Operators: Derek Baine, Jeffery Skillings, Jake Zobrist
- Video Content / Creator: Cameron Yeary (Thrasos Media)
- Video Content Board Operator: Andrew Oaks
- Tour Manager: Paul Channon
- Production Manager: Eric Roderick
- Staging Co: Accurate Staging/Ty Trussell
- Stage Managers: Chris Todd, Rustin Shiflet
- Rigging/Automation: Atlanta Rigging
- Rigger Crew Chief: Rowan “Cee” Phillips
- Riggers: Shawn Hawkins, Brannan Harner
- Automation: Mike Shields
- Carpenters: Chandler McGee, Dave Maher, Walter Bowles
- Special FX: Dave Maher
- Trucking: Special Events Transportation
Gear
2 grandMA2 full consoles
1 grandMA2 light console
2 MA Lighting NPU’s
34 GLP impression X4’s
30 Clay Paky A.leda B-EYEs
43 Clay Paky Mythos
54 Clay Paky Sharpys (including stadium extras)
24 Martin MAC Viper Profiles
24 Vari*Lite VL3500 washes
22 ADJ DJ UV COB Cannons
88 Showline SL Nitro 510C LED strobes
20 Molefay 4-lights
2 MGD TheOne hazers
1 DF50 hazer
1 Avolites 48-way dimmer rack
2 Lex 208 power distros
2 Pandoras Box media servers
1 Ross Video Carbonite 2 ME switcher
4 Hitachi HD cameras
4 Robotic cameras
2 POV cameras
780 digiLED tiles
More 2015 Zac Brown Band Jekyll + Hyde tour photos by Steve Jennings at http://plsn.me/PLSN-Zac-Brown-2015
