DALLAS – Mumford & Sons have risen from playing small bars and clubs across America to now headlining a sold-out world tour. With the band since the beginning, LD Edward Warren was creating their largest tour rig to date. Working with authorized Vari-Lite dealer Solotech, he chose to fill it with 33 VL3015 Spot and 21 VL3500 Wash FX luminaires.
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“Being a part of the Mumford & Sons experience is something that is quite unique and exciting,” said Warren. “From day one we have always been about incorporating the crowd into the show so that they too can be a part of the experience. To do this we need broad zoom ranges for the luminaires hanging out over the crowd, and then we also like to do more traditional tungsten, almost dusky, looks to the set. For my moving lights in this rig, I needed them to provide a great band and crowd wash with beautiful color, but I also needed great optics and crisp gobos as well. That’s when Karl Gaudreau with Solotech suggested we use the VL3015 Spot and VL3500 Wash FX luminaires.”
Warren and Solotech first brought the show to life in their shop in Montreal.
Warren explained, “I enjoy working with the Solotech because they have a great facility and it was nice to be able to set the entire rig up at their shop and take the necessary time to get it ready. They are very technically minded and make suggestions without forcing anything on you. I enjoy that they take the time to develop a great amount of trust and respect and our set-up for the tour went fantastic.”
As the production elements stood ready, the Mumford & Sons world tour continued on its way.
“In the design the VL3015 Spots tie the stage together quite nicely. They are the link between the LED light panels above and the band onstage. I like to use them to spot the band from behind but we also use them to wash the crowd and then at times we narrow them down to shoot tight beams into the sky and they work great for that. The optics of the VL3015 Spot are awesome. You can get both a massive zoom out of it and then alternatively when you bring the iris in tight they can match the tight beams currently seen from other lights on the market now. The fact that the VL3015 can go from so wide to so tight is quite impressive.”
Warren added, “With the VL3500 Wash FX, I have three on either side of the stage to side light the band and create more depth to the stage, six on the downstage truss to spot the band from above and then I have nine upstage in front of the LED wall which I use to give a backlit look using the FX patterns to silhouette the band. They also help me create a great sunrise effect with their tight beams fanning out over the crowd.”
Reliability and durability was also important, said Warren. “We needed lights that wouldn’t give up because we do a lot of outdoor shows with overnight load-ins. The lights have to be reliable and Vari-Lite fixtures are known for their reliability. The VL3015 Spots and VL3500 Wash FX have all been working great and night-after-night they give me a great range of colors and also the warm tungsten looks as well. When you put all this with the optics, the Vari-Lite luminaires really have been a dream come true.”
