LOS ANGELES – Seminal horror punk rock band The Misfits lit up the stage at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and at The Forum in Los Angeles with a pair of high-octane shows guaranteed to please fans of the iconic musicians. Lighting Designer/Director Jason Cain selected Claypaky Mythos2 and Sharpy Wash fixtures for the back-to-back arena shows. ACT Lighting Inc. is the exclusive distributor of Claypaky products in North America.
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“The Misfits are the reason we have Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Rob Zombie,” says Cain, who is also an Account Representative at Gemini LSV (Light Sound Video) in Dallas, which provided the lights. For the shows featuring long-time band members Glenn Danzig, Jerry Only and Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, Cain wanted lights that delivered “a lot of output, were quick and able to strobe saturated colors. Both the Mythos2 and Sharpy Washes delivered that: They were pretty raw and powerful.”
The Misfits’ stage was outfitted with a 40×20-foot 6mm LED video wall, a pair of 13-foot tall prop pumpkins and dozens of iterations of the band’s famed Crimson Ghost logo. Cain treated the two arena shows “as if they were a tour,” he explains. He previously worked with The Misfits at 2016 Riot Fest events in Denver and Chicago.
For the two new shows Cain flew approximately 20 Mythos2 fixtures, which he likes for their “really great output. It’s a bright intense light without having a big footprint. I used them to light the scenery in spot/wash mode and pinned down for pixie stick shafts of light everywhere.”
He deployed 24 Sharpy Washes as floor units on the back line and drum risers. “I used them like an ACL in banks with a lot of beam effects,” he explains. “I also blew the focus out for wide shots of the stage. They provide a lot of punch even in an arena. I don’t think there’s another light like the Sharpy Wash. With its size, speed, output and zoom it’s a real kick ass light.”
Cain earlier used Sharpy Washes on the Christmas extravaganza for Dallas choral rock band, The Polyphonic Spree, where they “washed the stage and gave me ACL beam looks,” he notes.
The Misfits’ shows also featured 1- and 2-ton ChainMaster hoists, which were used for the lighting trusses and LED wall. ChainMaster is distributed exclusively in North America by ACT Lighting Inc.
Working with Cain on The Misfits’ arena shows were Lead Electrician Brent Harwell, Rigger Mat Gass and Video Technician Cody Ryan Thomas. Video content was designed by Chris Thrash.
