BRISTOL, ENGLAND — Lighting Designer Hadyn Thomas is using Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 575E AT moving lights and a Robe DigitalSpot 5000 DT on Bowling For Soup’s current UK and European tour.
The Texas based comedy-influenced punk/pop band are enjoying the success of their “Get Happy 2” tour and latest “When I Die” single, along with their largest production tour to date. Thomas has worked with them since 2003, and was left to come up with a lighting plot that would match the fast-paced energy and action happening onstage.
He wanted to get a wide dispersion of light sources all over the stage area at different levels, so the rear truss consists of five box trusses bolted together, measuring a total of 12 meters long by 2.5 meters deep, with the top edge raked forward.
Six Robe ColorSpot 575E ATs are rigged onto this, with another 4 mounted on top of four vertical truss sections stood on the floor, two either side of stage at the back. The front truss features six ColorWash 575E ATs and the DigitalSpot 5000 DT, which is rigged in the center.
The Robe fixtures are used to create lots of “big open looks, gobo effects and audience sweeps” he explains, adding, “The 8–50 degree zoom on the Wash is awesome. It’s effectively like having double the amount of lights on the front truss as I can use them as either a Spot or Wash effects.”
He uses the DigitalSpot to project digital backgrounds over the top of Bowling For Soup’s two backdrops during the set, using the fixture’s onboard media clips. “It’s bright enough to be visible even against the rather dark backdrops,” he comments, adding that it is great to have this extra layer of texturing at his creative disposal.
Color wise, the show is strongly accented with red, white and blue combined with some yellow moments, which are striking when they occur.
Freelancer Thomas, who works regularly with Leeds-based lighting equipment contractors Zig Zag, has been using Robe products extensively for the last two years and has “never had a problem with a fixture.” He also mentions that “the service from Robe UK is excellent, exactly what you need for touring.”
He’s controlling all the moving lights, the DigitalSpot and a generic rig consisting of PARs, ACLs, Moles and strobes from an Avolites Diamond 4 console. Thomas is working alongside Lighting Technician Graeme Moya.
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