ImageSFX’s Doug Adams describes the core vision requested by Scott Holthaus, Production/Lighting Designer for Disturbed’s Take Back Your Life tour as “a constantly moving truss of flames” using the company’s FireSnakes. While many would dismiss the whole idea as crazy, Adams and others on the ImageSFX team spent close to two months working on an overlapping pyro and truss system that would provide the desired looks—summed up by Disturbed’s Draiman as ‘sick’—while also ensuring that the flames wouldn’t melt the lighting fixtures or set the venue on fire.
Adams’ advice? Don’t dismiss cool ideas as too crazy to work too quickly. “When people ask us for SFX for a project or tour, we say, ‘Don’t limit yourself creatively to what your vision is. Put your ideas down on paper. Chances are we can do it. That’s what we’re all about. We push the limit; coloring outside the lines, doing everything safely, of course. Safety is first and foremost, but we like to push the limits and go as far as we can to make it unique every time.’ The Disturbed tour is a great example of what we do to realize a creative vision.”
From PLSN, Sept. 2023, “Wide Focus” by Steve Jennings, Sept. 2023, “Wide Focus” by Steve Jennings, page 32
