Mitchell started the design process by establishing some budget figures with management and then chatted with lead singer Aaron Bruno who is integrally involved in the whole stage presentation. They talked about his inspirations for the music among other things and bounced a few ideas around which kept returning to a water theme.
They based their final ideas on a nautical theme, so the stage set up started with the riser layout and the drum riser in the centre at 45 degrees, resembling the bow of a ship. Mitchell then lined this with the CycFX 4s so he could create waves of light that could sweep across the set.
Mitchell likes using linear fixtures and creating sheets of light, which is one of his trademarks. "The zoom capabilities of the CycFX 4 helped produced the 'low glow' effect I wanted as well as the "very cool" waves of light."
When Mitchell and Aaron were discussing ideas like porthole window effects, circles and colours, Mitchell immediately thought of the Patt 2013s. He knew they would bring a "perfect warmth" that would cut through the largely cold basic palette of the show.
During the show, the PATTs are held back and used as feature lights for significant moments in the set to make additional impact.
The biggest challenge in creating the design as a whole was to ensure that it would work with the great variation in stage sizes and spaces on the itinerary! They played a combination of sheds, theatres, clubs and festivals, so a rig that would scale up and down and still give all the drama and impact needed was the goal.
He decided on different height vertical truss towers which allowed the rig to be expanded both horizontally and vertically.
Running AWOLNATION's lighting on the road was lighting director Andy May who worked with LMG's lighting technician Chris Hill. The production manager was Bob Strakele and the tour manager Dan McKay.
Jimmy Russo, LMG account executive commented: "When Mitchell and I got together to discuss this tour, it was very apparent that ease of set up, big punch in a small package and over all artistic look were all very important to him. This made it really easy to work with the Robe products. Using the PATT 2013s as the anchor of the design, the CycFXs lined the drums, while the MMX Washbeam provided a huge range of features. It looked really good yet took up such a small amount of truck space."
(Jim Evans)
