Jason Baeri lights Depeche Mode with Elation
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The Momento Mori tour, which is out in support of their newly released album of the same name, kicked off on 23 March in Sacramento, California, marking their first tour in five years. The European leg begins 16 May in Amsterdam with a North American fall leg set to launch in September. Baeri has support from Joe Bay, who serves as associate lighting designer and lighting programmer, while Sarah Parker is out operating the show as lighting director.
His first outing with Depeche Mode, the designer says talks with the band began in late October of 2022 and by mid-December a preliminary design was completed, which later saw small refinements. The tour features a ft-tall M backdrop, a large structural piece running video that Jason says was one of the most important aspects of the design. Dutch artist and longtime Depeche Mode photographer/videographer Anton Corbijn came up with the basic concept, which Baeri helped flush out and turn into a physical product for the production design.
The M has a dual role as Baeri explains. “It’s designed to be a scenic piece rather than just a video screen so it has depth and weight. So when you play video across both the main screen and the M, you have two planes of video that look different for anybody in the house. People who view it dead on have a different perception of it than people who view it from the side or at a higher angle. It physically changes what you’re viewing and how you experience the films that Anton has made. That was the basic concept that we started with, a physical object that would not just be a video effect but would physically change your perception.”
Lighting is used to match that same idea while supporting the physical frame of both the video wall and the M. “We were trying to replicate the same type of scale overhead that we were looking at on stage,” says Baeri, “so the overhead lighting rig is actually a forced perspective mirror image of the M itself.”
One of the workhorses of the rig, says the designer, is the Artiste Rembrandt LED wash moving head. “I love how much it’s actually a real wash light! Many manufacturers have what they say is a wash light with a PC lens but it’s really just a spot with internal frosts. They try to be the ultimate all-in-one tool but the quality of the light still feels hard edge. The Rembrandt on the other hand is a dedicated washlight where you get a good splashy feel and a real wonderful soft quality of light. It does it really well and not in a way I see in other fixtures that are on the market at the moment.”
Baeri has the 51,000-lumen LED Wash fixtures working from the deck as shin lights. The fixtures feature throughout the show with the look for one of the band’s biggest hits, “Personal Jesus”, built around them.
Working from keylight positions and providing a bit of effect light as well are Artiste Monets, 45,000-lumen LED Profile luminaires with comprehensive FX package. “The Monets are a classic staple for me,” Baeri comments. “
Rounding out the Artiste series lights used on the “Momento Mori” tour are 51,000-lumen Artiste Mondrian LED profile FX fixtures, which the designer uses as an upstage effect light.
Seeking to emulate the frame around the video with lighting, Baeri says they sought a fixture to line the downstage edge and found what they were looking for in Elation’s new Proteus Rayzor Blade. “The Rayzor Blade is a nice take on the bar light and fit that role really well,” he stated.
The Elation equipment for the “Memento Mori” tour is being supplied by 4Wall worldwide and is a component of a more extensive lighting setup. When the band embarks on their European tour, the rig will expand slightly for stadium shows.
