Four
years after masterminding the set design for Blake Shelton’s first major tour,
creative director Steve Cohen has been brought in again to unite lighting and
video into a fluid stage set redolent of the artist’s Oklahoma roots.
And
once again he has dipped heavily into the LED catalogue of GLP to fulfill
his requirements, sourcing over 200 of the German company’s X4 Series fixtures
from his regular vendor, Beame (formerly Atomic Lighting).
The
set features 116 impression X4 along with 32 of the large X4L (37 x 15W RGBW
LEDs), punctuated by 60 of the tiny single source X4 Atoms.
The
itinerary consists entirely of full size sports arenas, with a few country
fairs built in. And with demand for tickets so high, the artist’s manager,
Narvel Blackstock, wanted to sell every arena seat possible, including those
behind the stage, asked to produce “something cool” by way of a design, Cohen
again decided to seek inspiration from Oklahoma.
“The
last tour took its cues from the farms, barns, and grain silos that dot the
Oklahoma landscape. This time, I went to the other iconic industry associated
with that area, the oil business. That provided a rich and deep well (pardon
the pun) of inspiration. Refineries, drilling structures, tanks, pipes,
fittings etc. all of which have trussing and steel which we could morph into a
scenic look that would be thematic while servicing the performance area and
lighting rig.”
It
also worked within the 360 degree performance area. “The rig became the mirror
of that circle, and that in turn drove the video layout as well.”
Steven
Cohen Productions are no strangers to GLP’s larger impression effects, having
been first to deploy the giant X4 XL on the Lenny Kravitz tour. This time he
used the X4 L, describing it as “one of the most fantastic instruments I have
used in a long time.”
He
continued, “The pixel mapping is great — we have a super high trim, 60ft in the
air and these lights are effective over a long throw.” While some are set on
the high overhead rig others populate a number of vertical pipes. “We had a
couple of specific brackets made enabling me to hang two together on each pipe.
The
120 X4 are used as wash lights on the rig, verticals, set pieces and floor
lightings while the X4 Atom provides the detail around the downstage runway and
upstage curve as well as for general ‘eye candy’.
Bringing
the design to life are programmer, Mark Foffano and touring lighting director,
Jody Marsh, piloting the show from a grandMA2.
Summing
up his reasons for constantly returning to the GLP platform Steve Cohen says,
“We just like everything that they give us. They keep producing improved
iterations, particularly with regard to the color. On this tour they have all
been functioning flawlessly.”
And
wherever possible he obtains his X4’s from Beame. “They are the best in the
business and their attention to detail is fantastic. The advantage of having
them in Pennsylvania is that any integration between truss, rigging, motors and
automation all comes from the same area [Lititz, Pennsylvania]. It’s been the
production center of rock ‘n’ roll for the last 25 years.”
Says
Beame VP of Account Management, Brad Hafer, “We have an extensive inventory of
GLP products but are always adding to it with new products or more of what we
already have. We purchased the X4L units for this tour as well as added
more Atoms to cover the numbers on the gear list. GLP products always deliver
great color rendering, speed, low weight and they are reliable.
“Our
clients feel we always have their backs which is only possible because of our
relationships with manufactures like GLP.”
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