The promoters of Arizona Bike week billed their event as a “five-day celebration of motorcycles and music.” This year for the 27th edition of the annual festival, they could have added another feature to their list: mind-bending light and video show. It’s all but impossible to imagine that any of the half-million visitors who attended the event at Westworld of Scottsdale in early April went home feeling anything but overwhelmingly impressed by the stunning production on its 50’ wide by 40’ deep stage. Form the 3D video screen with its bold, evocative images, to the colorful pixel mapped effects and intense color washes, the show immersed on every level.
John Garberson and his team at Creative Backstage designed the stage using fixtures from their own inventory as well as gear supplied by LIT Lighting. The production team’s effort provided a vast and supportive canvas for LDs from Godsmack, Yelawolf , Brantley Gilber, Everclear, and George Thorogood & The Destroyers.
As part of their plan to create a larger impression during the festival, Arizona Bike Week organizers asked Garberson to have larger IMAG Side screens. At the same time the bands had their own requests. As Garberson recalls it: “Our client wanted to beef up the side screens from last year, while the production teams from the bands kept asking for larger back screens
The result was a massive video screen presence that enveloped the stage with stark images. For added effect, there was a generous amount of fog on stage. Nevertheless, the lights rig’s output came shining through. “Its output was more than up to the task,” said Garberson.
Anchoring this were 10 Maverick MK2 Washes, 10 STRIKE 4 blinders and 32 Rogue R2 Wash units from CHAUVET Professional. The Maverick and STRIKE units were flown on front truss to provide front washes and audience lighting. As for the Rogues, they served as the workhouse of the rig, being positioned throughout the stage to provide top and side washes, pixel mapped effects, and crossing patterns. Their wide zoom range allowed LDs to change up looks by varying color patterns.
“When putting together this rig, we did our best to give the LDs something they could use to create the widest possible range of looks to reflect the different musical styles and personalities on stage,” said Garberson. “Looking at the results these LDs came up with made all of us feel verry good about what we accomplished.
Further information from CHAUVET Professional: www.chauvetprofessional.com
