Psychologist who study such things tells us that time pressure is a “double edge sword.” On the one hand it can make the brightest ideas flourish, much like pressure turns coal to diamonds, while on the other, it can lead to less happy outcomes. Ben Gilbert found himself on the right side of this sword recently when he was called upon to light the 31 city North American leg of LANY’s Beautiful Blur tour in support of their fifth album. Not endowed with a great deal of time to do their thing, Gilbert and his team came up with a gem of a design that used a curved truss configuration to engage audience by changing the depth and shape perceptions of the stage and its runway.
“The biggest challenge on this for us was time,” said Gilbert. “We managed to pull this whole show together in under a month and programmed it all in about 10 days. Coming up with the design and getting it to work with the music of the show in such a short space of time was challenging, but working with a great team we got it done.”
Providing invaluable assistance to Gilbert in this task was Bandit Lites, which suggested the idea of using pre-rig gates for the curve design. Bandit also supplied Gilbert with a versatile rig that featured 170 CHAUVET Professional fixtures, including 14 COLORado PXL Bar 8, 64 COLORado PXL Bar 16, 48 Color STRIKE M, and 40 STRIKE Array 4 fixtures, as well as two Cloud 9 foggers.
Gilbert and his team (Associate Designer Chase Hall, Programmer Fuji, Video Programmer Matt Doherty, and PM Alex Rousso) based the heart of the design around what they called “The Chandelier” which was the center circular video element. To build on this theme, they curved the truss around the stage and its long catwalk.
The COLORado batten fixture were used to accent the catwalk, which had audience members on both sides. Gilbert had 24 PXL Bar 16 fixtures on truss over the catwalk, pairing them with 16 STRIKE Array 4 units. In addition to making the catwalk pop, these fixtures engaged the crowd with audience lighting.
“Our PXL Bar and STRIKE fixtures were great for both lighting the audience and playing with the catwalk,” said Gilbert. “For their part, the PXLs added a great dynamic beam to light the whole strip of the runway while being bright enough to do pixel chases to mimic a stary night.”
A group of 14 COLORado PXL 8 units flanked the drum riser to fill the back of the shot of the drummer and downstage center. Adding further impact to the back of the stage were 18 COLORado PXL 16 motorized battens and 22 Color STRIKE M strobe-washes arranged on the upstage deck.
“We had an upstage silk drape that was on a kabuki system that dropped throughout the show,” said Gilbert. “I needed something that was going to both light the kabuki, but also play effectively to fill the empty space once it dropped. Because of the drape, the PXL Bars didn’t play much until the curtain dropped — but they came into their own once revealed.”
In addition to changing depth and shape perceptions, Gilbert relied on alternating color palettes to keep his show fresh and engaging. His show moved seamlessly from warm ambers (created by a circular configuration of Color STRIKE M fixtures in the “chandelier” above the stage, to vivid bold color mixes, and soft monochromatic washes.
“My programmer Fuji and I played a lot with color and gradients throughout the show,” said Gilbert. “We tried to make the show flow cohesively when it came to color. A lot of the transitions involved one color flowing into the next, either on video or with lighting. A lot of the base color selection was led by content which was designed by myself and the band’s vocalist Paul Klein. I’ve been designing for LANY for three years now, and I think I have the persona of Paul down. It’s a high energy show which he brings to the table and the production has to reflect that. There’s a lot of big strong looks.”
One of those looks provided Gilbert with perhaps his favorite moment of the show. “There’s a point in one of the songs that is a medley between two songs and the transition into the second one is through a sunset and we mimic the video with the STRIKE Ms,” he said. “It’s such a powerful moment casting that orange glow across the audience. A close second look for me occurs on the B-stage when Paul has a solo piano moment and I use two PXL 16s to do a tight spot on him.”
Of course, others who caught LANY’s tour at venues like Kia Forum and Hammerstein Ballroom might well have other favorites, such was the magic of this mesmerizing, multi-faceted design which glittered, just like a fine diamond formed under pressure.
Further information CHAUVET Professional: www.chauvetprofessional.com
