After selecting Coemar lighting fixtures for alternative/funk party band 311's 2008 and 2009 tours, lighting designer/director Joe Paradise once again chose a complement of Coemar Infinity XLs and ACLs for the band's 2010 311 Day Concert in Las Vegas. The biennial event, which celebrates the band and salutes fans worldwide, was held at the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas on March 11. The five-hour communal concert began in 2000 and has become a 311 tradition; this year fans could also tune into a live webcast.
"The show featured 68 songs, LED video and two laser tables; there was a lot of non-stop programming right up until the last minute," said Paradise, who also programmed the concert and directed the video.
"I used 18 Infinity XLs as a wash on stage over the band instead of using a keylight," he said. "I also used their effects and gobos during a fair amount of the show. I had 12 ACLs on the floor and 22 in the rig, which consisted of four big circles: 20-, 30- and 40-foot plus a 70-foot keylight. They were suspended above the stage." Paradise also deployed four hazebase hazers.
Coemar's Infinity Wash XL is a bright, automated moving head wash light that incorporates the company's CMY-s color mixing system with new saturation mode, a color wheel with 5 colors + white and a proportional CTO filter. A new zoom range (proportional from 5 to 84 degrees), effects (Multicolor, Moon Flower, Beam'o) and beam shaping device (360 degrees index-able) are included. Full-range dimming, synchronized or random strobe effect, electronic zap strobe and black-out are also featured.
Coemar Infinity ACL lights have been touted as a 1200 W fixture in a 250 W package. They have a focusable black-light, variable beam size and variable beam control with rotating aerial effects. CMY color mixing, 5 colors + open and CTO filter round out the unit's features.
"The ACLs played a really big part in the show," Paradise said. "Their color is great, the beam is phenomenal and the output ridiculous for a 300-watt light: They really competed with 1200- and 1500-watt instruments that I also had on the show. No matter what I did with the Coemars they looked great."
He added that the Coemar fixtures drew a positive response from the client. "Everybody thought this year's 311 Day Concert was the best production they ever had," he said.
