Lighting designer, Michael Shucher, said that the main objective for the MontgomeryGentry show was to portray a big look with a minimal amount of lights. The initialchallenge was to find lights that could compete with the arched video wall. Shucherneeded the lights to cut through the video wall while still being light in weight and not toobulky. He also wanted the lights to be hard edge and have rotating gobos. The Vari*Lite2500 achieved all of these requirements.
Shucher also found the High End Systems Studio Beams to be very beneficial. Heplaced them on the side towers to act as fans. The HES Studio Beams were also used towash various set pieces, which include anything from flying motorcycles to mudflap girls(mounted on either side of the arch upstage).
This was Shucher's first time using the Coemar LED Pars. "I primarily used them astruss toners and for the silhouette reveal at the start of the show," he explained."After the reveal, the upstage floor LED Pars were refocused as floor fans." Shucher also used the LED Pars on the downstage floor to wash the beer kegs, another set element.
A unique feature to this particular show was achieving a variety of looks using similarcolours. Montgomery Gentry is very patriotic and the theme of this tour is no exception(lots of red, white and blue). Shucher said the challenge was to use lighting that consistently featured the same color scheme (red, white and blue) while still providing a diversity of looks.
Other equipment staples included Martin MAC 2k Profiles, MAC 500s and MAC 600s.Lighting was controlled by a Grand MA Lite.
Bandit vice president, Michael Golden, says: "It has been our privilege to work with Montgomery Gentry for the last seven years and we are very proud to be associated with the entire production team."
(Chris Henry)
