The tour kicked off 22 April at the historic Ryman Auditorium and continues through September. Considering the vivid images a name such as Into the Wild Life conjures, lighting designer Giovanny Carvajal created a design that could connect with the mood of the material, while incorporating aspects of the physical design elements used in both the actual album artwork itself, as well as in the videos.
To accomplish that look, and keeping in mind the need to use all trailer space efficiently (and the ever present desire to always get the most bang for the buck) the lighting design chosen utilises a four tower format with GLP Impressions X4's, two two-way Moles, a 3k Strobe, and one Clay Paky Sharpy on each tower. "This combination allowed us to get a good backlighting effect and create a mood for each song in the set," said Halestorm tour manager, Michael Mahar.
In addition to the challenges of designing and setting up the rig, Gio had the task of programming an entirely new album, songs from two previous albums, plus a daily rotating variety of cover songs. "The band changes the set from night to night so that keeps Gio on his toes," explained Mahar. "Sometimes they will just pull out a song that they haven't played in months, or even years, and so everyone has to be ready to adapt quickly. That is part of the fun of working with this particular band. Thankfully Gio is up to the challenge and had a good amount of rehearsal time prior to the tour to get as much programming in as he could."
Original designs for the lighting included using Cupix LED fixtures to be used for both blinders and strobe effects; however, in an effort to keep with the look of the video and have an effective backlighting theme, the design features conventional Moles, producing a much more authentic effect with Atomic Strobes covering the strobe needs.
An advantage of working with a company as well equipped as Bandit is the ability to provide gear for last minute changes, as the Halestorm production team learned when they chose to switch out MAC 600s on the top of the towers to Clay Paky Sharpys. "Gio wanted to have a more beamable fixture to achieve the contrast he needed to the backlit washes," Mahar said, "and the Sharpys were the perfect solution. Thankfully the crew at Bandit was able to make those happen for us at the eleventh hour and came through in a pinch to make our production the best it can be."
With this being Halestorm's first tour carrying Bandit lights, Mahar says he can't say enough nice things about the experience. "We have wanted to work with Bandit for years and it is great to finally be able to make this next step and bring them into the family. It has been a pleasure every step of the way from our initial working up of concepts right down to the last minute changing of fixtures on the last day of prep in their shop. Everyone we have dealt with is super helpful, and we are looking forward to working with them well into the future."
(Jim Evans)
