Kenny has used Chauvet Professional's Nexus panels on a number of his projects since the company first brought him some demo versions to try out. "I've used the Nexus products on a lot of my shows and always wanted to use them on The Who," says Kenny. "They have some very cool effects inside. They give me a great effect; they're very bright; and they can light the whole arena. They're just very powerful and they give lots of different variations."
For this tour, because it was the band's hits, Kenny wanted to go for a clean rock look. "Since I use a lot of the Nexus panels on my other projects, I knew for this design that I would use them to create shapes. Most of the lighting system is pointing out at the audience with shapes, circles, and ripples that go along with the video content. It works great." Kenny's design includes 50 Chauvet Professional Nexus 4x4 LED panels, along with a range of automated lights that surround the centre video screen and tie into the video content via colour and movement that radiates out from the content.
The lighting package, including the Chauvet Professional Nexus panels, is supplied by PRG and the video is supplied by PRG Nocturne for this tour. The Nexus panels are all operated from the main lighting console for the tour. The lighting directors who supported Kenny on this tour were Jim Mustapha and David "Fuji" Convertino.
The Who Hits 50! tour plays in North America through the end of May and then heads for Europe later in June for summer dates. The tour will be back in the US in September for dates through November.
(Lee Baldock)
