One of the great country
music crossover acts in recent years has been Nashville-based Lady
Antebellum, whose rising popularity means they can now comfortably fill
20,000-seat amphitheatres.
This year’s Wheels Up
tour, presently on its North American leg, has seen experienced LD Paul ‘Arlo’
Guthrie (of Minneapolis based Toss Film & Design) providing an inspired and
sensitive concept — one of two tours he has designed for the trio.
Significantly, in so doing, he has become the first LD to take out GLP’s
new impression X4 Bar 20 high
performance battens — the latest addition to the popular X4 family.
Having been heavily in
demand this past two years, with work ranging from Fleetwood Mac tours to the Red Bull
Crashed Ice North America Events and an Emmy award winning TV show, Guthrie
returned to work with the band he first engaged with on 2013’s Take Me Downtown
tour.
“I was completely
flattered to be considered by Lady Antebellum’s management and loved their
energy and work ethic from the first meeting,” he reports.
“We both have a style
that is influenced by a lot of diverse sources — so I just brought what I do to
what they do. I don’t really pay attention to any genres, I just wanted to make
sure you can see them really well and the show has an arc and a flow. They are
so much fun to collaborate with that.”
As to working on such a
large scale, he adds, “[Production designer] Bruce Rodgers gave us a great set
for this tour with some elements that gave me instant inspiration for where to
put lights and how to use them. It looks equally well scaled in an arena or
amphitheatre and sits nicely with how the band uses the stage and works the
crowd.
“Bruce had some lighting
positions and ideas in place with his pitch to the band, so I had a springboard
to start with — but the rest was up to me.” Lighting director/programmer Tony
Caporale — described by Guthrie as “the trusted hand at the wheel” — had used the
tail end of the last tour to research some different products for this tour —
“and I wanted to include GLP’s new impression
X4 Bar 20 battens.
“I had hoped I’d be the
first to use these new lights,” Paul Guthrie confesses. “It’s fun to have new
products in a show … as long as they work, which these certainly did.
“I tried out some demo
units on a club show and a TV shoot here in Minneapolis — and was instantly
sold.” He could immediately see a role for them in this latest stage design —
and admits he would have used more had the budgets allowed.
The 14 GLP X4 Bar 20’s
that did join the inventory line the thrust stage as foot lights, which in turn
double as beam and aerial effects lights.
These 40 inch long bars
use 20 high output RGBW LED’s that are packed tightly to give a full batten of
light. High quality optics ensure a smooth, homogenized output across the
batten through a broad pallet of pastel and saturated colors, allowing for
subtle graduated fades, or distinct color breaks between LED’s, with
exceptionally smooth dimming and full pixel mapping capabilities.
“The features I love are
the colors, the beam and the movement — as well as the way the lenses fill the
whole bar and the way they butt up to each other for a long string of
continuous light. The beam diversity is great too — from the pin beams to the
full flood.”
Taking the decision to
debut any new fixtures on such a high profile tour requires reassurance that
they will be supported. Fortunately Upstaging were again the vendors, — the third
time they have supplied Lady Antebellum — while GLP always goes the extra mile
for their customers.
Paul Guthrie again:
“Upstaging manage to spoil us and outdo themselves every time. The band and
myself get incredible service from them and enjoy the many obvious and hidden
perks that John Huddleston and the entire gang give us. GLP also exceeded what
I would normally expect — and deserve — in terms of service.”
The overall experience
could scarcely have been more positive or enjoyable. “Lady Antebellum are a
dream to work with, you cannot say enough about how courteous and respectful
they are. It’s a very fun and artistically satisfying experience … they have
such a great energy and always make a great connection with the audience.”
And having evaluated the
worth of the new X4 Bar 20’s Paul Guthrie confirms that he has added them to
his tool kit for Van Halen’s summer tour. “This tour will feature a butt ton of
impression X4 and X4 Bars,” he quips.
http://www.germanlightproducts.com
Photo credit: Bree
Kristel Clarke
