Underwood is out on her first tour, supporting her multi-platinum album, Some Hearts.The tour includes everything from headline dates, to fairs, to special guest slots on tours such as Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley. To handle the variety of situations, Jackson and crew put together a simple system that is able to merge into whatever house or headline artist's system that they might encounter.
The Underwood show carries a riser package and a swaged velour backdrop. Upstage, on the floor, there are Martin MAC 2000s. Built into the set are six towers that each have a Vari*Lite VL3000 Spot mounted to the top.
"The 2ks upstage give us the perfect floor light for one song, and then they can open up their zoom and fill the drape with colour for another," explains Jackson. "The VL3ks are also a perfect fit. With the zoom abilities of the light, those six lights, only ten feet off the ground, are able to cover the entire performance area."
The show was built with a GrandMA console, and lighting director, Drew Gnagey, is traveling with a Grand MA Lite.
Jackson and team programmed the show so that it not only included the lights they are traveling with, but also an overhead rig that matches their touring rider.
"No matter what types of lights we run into, Drew is able to adjust the console to respond to the cues the same, giving the show a great deal of consistency in look, even though the physical hardware may be quite different from day to day," explained Jackson.
Bandit vice president, Michael Golden added: "Carrie Underwood is an incredible talent and with the production support of production manager, Chris Coffie and tour manager, Keith Dean, I believe she will be a touring force for many years to come."
(Chris Henry)
