The critically acclaimed singer-songwriter who has sold more than 18m albums toured this summer with a full band, bringing his classics such as Running on Empty and Somebody's Baby to audiences across the country.
Building on Browne's last album, lighting designer Steve Comer made only a few changes to the previous design, including opening up the stage space by cutting side towers and placing the lights on the downstage truss. One important aspect for the lighting design for Browne's tour is the desire for an LED prominent rig such as Bandit's exclusive GRNLite Moving Washes, GRNLite Par 64s, Elation 2 Lite LED and GLP X4S, giving the production a cooler, lower power-consumption look.
"The flexibility they give me with the music is perfect," Comer said of the LED fixtures. "To have all of the colours in one unit with a nice smooth fade between them really helps me busk a song that isn't on the set list, or one that he hasn't played in years."
Additional gear supplied by Bandit included trussing, VL 2500 Spots, Martin MAC Auras and a Grand MA 1 full console for control.
Comer described his design process as one that focuses on creating looks that represent Browne best, going over the design with Dennis Scrimo, Jackson's production manager, and then working to make sure the fixtures will accommodate both the truck space and the various venue sizes.
"I have had some great fixture recommendations from the Bandit staff, some that are a big part of my rig right now," Comer said. "I feel as if there is some freedom in working with an artist on a small to medium size tour, and Bandit is able to pick the fixtures that will work for everyone. The crew on this tour did an amazing job of taking my design and figuring out ways to streamline the load in and out process that I didn't even think were possible."
(Jim Evans)
