“Forever is a long, long time,” the great Walt Disney once quipped. Of course, this sort of epochal time-span certainly wasn’t anything that four gifted high schoolers from Maryland were thinking in terms of when they formed their band in 2004. “We had no lofty expectations for how far this band would go,” All Time Low’s frontman Alex Gaskarth recalled in a video commemorating the band’s 20th anniversary. “We just had this relentless drive to play shows for as many people as we could, in as many places as we could. The music was always a vessel to get us to the stage.”
Get them to the stage? Indeed, it did! As two decades rolled by, All Time Low went on to travel the world, impacting the music scene with their genre-defying brand of music, and turning out an impressive series of unforgettable songs along the way — beginning with 2006’s “Put Up Or Shut Up,” on to 2009’s seminal LP “Nothing Personal,” all the way up to their current album “Tell Me I’m Alive.”
To celebrate their anniversary, All Time Low has embarked on a special three-date summer run. The run began on June 4 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, followed by a July 26 show at The Salt Shed in Chicago, and a concluding August 24 appearance at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. The three iconic venues were well-chosen. Each of them, in its own way, epitomizes the kind of audience-artist connection that has fueled this band’s incredible career.
Contributing to the relaxed and engaging atmosphere that has become a trademark of All Time Low’s shows while also reflecting the spirit of the music being performed on stage is an immersive design by Jeff Mathews of Nashville-based Borealis Live Design, which features over 100 CHAUVET Professional fixtures.
“Before they reached out to us, the band and their creative director/PM, Phil Gornell, had a good roadmap of the creative vision for this show, in terms of how it would evolve and move through multiple seasons of All Time Low’s career — and how it would seamlessly span multiple album cycles,” said Mathews, co-founder with his business partner Christian Hall, of Borealis Live Design. “They put a lot of thought and work into creating something really special for their fans. So, we worked together to develop a production that would help do just that, trying to create nostalgic moments while still putting on a modern feeling show.”
Borealis is scaling the show to adjust to the three venues’ different stage sizes and configurations. Regardless of the venue, though, the show follows the same trajectory, one intended to take audiences on a visual journey that reflects the different musical paths explored by All Time Low throughout their career.
“The general idea behind this specific show’s production revolves around spanning ATL’s 20-year career to date,” said Mathews. “The show evolves throughout the set. This starts with a somewhat striped-back first act. Then, in later acts, new production elements are revealed via automation, such as bringing in the illuminated ‘Forever’ sign and moving elements close to the stage to impart the feeling of a small, intimate club. Later on, the rig is expanded to feel like a major festival and, at points, has big asymmetrical looks. All of the automation gear and programming is provided by Tim Kruse with Entertainment Rigging Services out of Texas. We used a handful of tungsten and retro-feeling fixtures in the show to try and evoke a classic feeling. Ss the show evolves, we bring modern elements like the linear fixtures with strobe tubes, neon scenic, and new elements at other significant points in the show.”
Mathews relied on color changes and variations in light angles to support the constantly evolving character of the show. “Generally, I like to have at most two colors in play at a time on a stage. There are, of course, exceptions to this, but this show followed that rule pretty tightly,” he observed. “We used a lot of tungsten tones, with ambers, CTOs, and whites, to evoke a sort-of retro feel. For more modern feeling songs, we aimed to cool it off color temp-wise and used more modern feeling color combinations and monochromatic looks. We lined the trusses with the linear strobe to add dimension to the package and had the pods at angles to give a bit of depth to the stage.”
Helping them create these myriad looks was the extensive collection of CHAUVET Professional fixtures, taken from Borealis Live Design’s own inventory. Included in this mix were 32 Maverick Storm 1 Hybrids used for beams and spots, 18 Rogue Outcast 2X Wash units relied on for stage washing, 18 Rogue R3X Washes positioned in pods, 18 Color STRIKE M motorized strobe-washes also in the pods, 10 COLORado PXL 16 motorized battens, positioned under acrylic riser, and 10 Maverick Storm 1 Spot fixtures as front light for the band.
Pulling everything together for essentially three one-off shows with many moving parts took a lot of work. Not surprisingly, this captivating and complex panorama was the product of many hands. In addition to the bands PM/Creative Director Phil Gornell, Mathews credits his partner in Borealis Live, Christian Hall, who is the Project Manager, and Crew Chief/ME on the shows. Also very critical to the success of these shows are Eric Doss and Devonte Hutchins who programmed the show with Mathews, as well as Tess Minor, who programmed a few additional songs, and LD’s Rafe Sanger and Corey Moses.
The result of this collaborative effort is a stunning show that moves gracefully through two decades of high-energy music – music that is sure to be appreciated as long as there are people around who value the emotional power of rock.
All photos: Borealis Live Design
Further information from CHAUVET Professional: www.chauvetprofessional.com
