Last fall, I heard from my friend Missy. She manages the Chicago-based rockers “Rise Against.” They had been on tour last year and were looking to revamp their look and wanted some ideas. Their production guru is Jon Dunleavy, a man I had gigged with before. I reached out to him to inquire what they were looking for. They had a few requirements they wished to base a design around. First and foremost, they were a punk band. They didn’t need a lot of hoopla. Just a few backdrops and some rock ‘n’ roll lighting. They had some set carts that they would carry around the world this year, and they wanted a lighting package that could attach to the carts. They also wanted some “light boxes” that could spell out the letters, “R-I-S-E.”
Eye to Eye
Missy sent me some examples of artwork they were considering for their backdrops. Album cover work was part of it. But one particular pic stood out from the rest. A former promoter had made a cool concert print to advertise the show. It was a painting of a human eye, with the band’s logo in the pupil. It stuck out with me. So I Photoshopped the poster, cutting out the eye section and pasting it on a beige background. Then I printed that out and stared for a while.
I had 16 feet of set carts on either side of a centered 2-foot-high drum riser. I’ve seen this set cart/floor light movie a hundred times before. I felt I needed to design something different, cooler than most, where all the lights could live in the set cart and pop out at various angles. As I looked at the eye, I started hand-drawing in a structure where I could surround the eye itself with lighting.
I built some pop-up pipes into the middle of each 8-foot cart. They were 6 feet high off the stage at center and rose to 12 feet high by the time they reached the offstage side. Above the eye, I had 40 feet of Tyler GT truss in 10-foot sections. I kept the center 20 feet straight and hinged the outside sections down 5 feet. On the edges of these, I placed an under-hung pipe, like a torm. From the front view, the truss and set carts framed the eye completely. I didn’t require a huge structure to effectively illuminate this act.
Flexible Looks
Jon sent me pics of what they did last year. I explained that we could probably lose a semi truck with my design, but still have plenty of firepower. But I really wanted to redirect some of this saved money into something else. As an alternative to the so-called light boxes, I wanted to add some video elements. A light box is simply a box with lights mounted inside of it, and a face that lit up when these interior lights illuminated. Similar to a beer sign in a bar. With a media server and four Martin LC 40mm video panels placed behind some rear projection material, I could build a light box that would change pictures for every song. I explained this to Missy and Jon, and offered to whip out some stellar renderings to depict my ideas. A picture is worth a 1,000 words. I would rather show the band something drawn to better communicate the look instead of having them disregard a spoken idea they may not grasp.
Rise Against is one of the few acts that are out there making a stand for what they believe in. They back several great causes with their lyrics. They grasp the whole green concept, and I was eager to design a lighting rig utilizing the new MAC aura LED fixture from Martin as the workhorse. These new fixtures are bright, energy efficient and lightweight. I attached 10 Auras across the elevated pipes on the set carts. Gallagher Staging re-fabricated the carts so these pipes were manually lifted and pinned in place. I put another 15 in the upstage truss. I added some MAC 401s for side light on the under hung pipes. These make amazing cyc lights. Four of these blow away top and bottom ground rows of LED strips.
I added some Vari*Lite VL3Ks to the set carts because of their wide zoom, then placed a dozen MAC 700 profiles in the air at staggered heights for when I needed a hard edge or gobo. (Hopefully by next year there will be brighter LED hard edge fixtures I can use). The band is not fond of spotlights. So I threw in a front truss with some VL 3500 washes on it, then threw 20 Martin Stagebars on the floor for front and back light. I added various-sized Mole lights for white accent blasts and few Atomic strobes. The Aura’s strobe is quite nice by itself, so I didn’t really need them much. Then I called up the lighting vendor for a price. I was just under budget. Perfect — but I’m sure I forgot something.
Come January, I headed out to Theatrical Media Services’ (TMS) lighting facility in Omaha. A nice-working shop, but the best attribute is the people there. From the owners to the cable pullers, everyone worked as a team and provided me with Midwest charm. It made for a pleasurable programming experience.
Building the Rig
The band’s lighting director is Ben Marx. He has mastered the Road Hog Full Boar console and has chosen this to run the show. Ben is the ultimate bonus here. While all I possess are downloaded album cuts, Ben has knowledge. He knows how the band starts out songs and knows the changes in arrangements that they play live. And he’s fast with his fingers. TMS set up a nice visualization room. I have a Catalyst media server, the ESP system and LED fixtures all networked together before I arrive. Ben and I whip out 20 songs in three days while crew chief Mario Marchio and his troops build an immaculate rig. Mario takes it upon himself to modify the set carts I designed with Gallagher. He adds what he needs to make the setup easier, and actually volunteers as the tour set carp, with astonishing attention to detail. This guy is an amazing asset to any tour.
Because of the fast nature of the music, the quickness of LED color changes was necessary. I found myself barking at Ben to constantly write new chases. Sure, I could use the effects engine for some of it, but I really wanted specific different looks. And I refuse to use the same look twice in any show. So Ben typed feverishly while I went old school on him. He often had no idea what he was building until he actually hit the “Go” button to play back the cues. We didn’t bother programming any of the media until we were done programming lights. I had this gut feeling and was still waiting to hear back from the band about video, even though our “light boxes” were a go.
An Eye Opener
As we were loading the trucks, the singer calls Ben. He has a new opening video he wants to play to start the show. We send him pictures of the low-res screens behind the diffusion gel and explain that we are not really set up for video playback. But I never say “No” to anything a band asks for. I just get a price from Holly, the account rep at TMS. She had sub rented the video gear from Upstaging in Chicago. I had her call them and get a price for what it would cost to switch over to 24 of those nifty EC-20 (20mm) panels Martin makes. We made the switch at rehearsals and never looked back. Of course, once the band saw the new video elements, ideas started flowing and they found more uses for them.
