"We're playing a lot of differently sized venues all over North America, and it's important to me that no matter whether we're on a free-standing outdoor stage or in an amphitheatre, the band looks BIG," said Staer. Although bright, dynamic lights were a must for Smash Mouth's performance, the LD also needed fixtures that were lightweight, compact, and fast and easy to set up, tear down and pack away.
This tall order was filled by a very small fixture - the Rayzor Q7 from Elation Professional. The smallest and fastest LED moving head Elation has introduced to date, the Rayzor Q7 emits a powerful razor-sharp 7° beam (5,442 lux at 4m) that can dramatically cut through other visual effects. The tiny unit (11 lbs./5 kg., 9.25" x 5.5" x 12.5"/ 235 x 140 x 318mm), also comes loaded with exciting features, including RGBW Quad-Color mixing, four-zone chase effects, and new high-speed three-phase motor technology that makes its beams literally fly around a venue.
"Since this is a festival tour with five platinum-selling bands, the flown rig must service them all equally while complementing the individual character of each band," Staer pointed out. "The Rayzors, however, visually differentiate Smash Mouth from the other bands on the tour. They kick off the show -- the band starts in full blackout, and the Rayzors sweep the crowd like searchlights as their intro music rolls, with additional layers of light fading in one at a time until the downbeat of the first number."
(Jim Evans)
