Stemac lights Lamb of God with Elation
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Stemac started with Lamb of God in May 2018, as lighting director, inheriting a stage set-up designed by tour manager Brian Griffin. After earning the band’s, and Griffin’s, trust over the following legs of the tour, the designer began to evolve the show, a process that eventually led to fixture changes.
For the latest leg, a 16-date trek across, Stemac chose to reinforce the band’s signature sound and stage presence using Elation DARTZ 360 LED beam/spot fixtures and Elation ACL 360 Bars.
“Lamb of God like a lot of backlightthe southern U.S. states and up the east coasting with not too many revealing hues,” Stemac says of the type of lighting required for the Grammy-nominated veteran rockers. After respecting their parameters, he says he simply approached it as a fan, asking himself, “What do I think would look right for this song?”
As direct support for Slayer, and following death metal act Amon Amarth, who Stemac says had a formidable lighting package, the LD strove for differentiating the show from theirs as much as possible, while still keeping it appropriate for Lamb of God's music.
“On top of that, I had to keep an eye out for Randy as he's a terrific frontman and I didn't want him drowned in shadows,” he says. The band consists of vocalist Randy Blythe, guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, bassist John Campbell, and drummer Chris Adler.
In addition, as the run played amphitheatres and arenas, the designer says he also wanted to create enough of a spectacle for the people in the very back. “So for this particular run, I worked on balancing all those factors too, hopefully, the fans responding cool.’”
Fourteen ACL 360 Bars worked from across a backline and there were times when the designer says he “made them sweat.” He comments: “The ACL 360s were the heart of the eye candy, so I had them in extended mode, and as the show progressed I became more detail-oriented with them, even down to the individual LEDs. I created big fanned looks, aim-for-the-sky looks, and mystique-behind-the-band looks as well, almost like a wash.”
Stemac placed eight DARTZ 360s in the setup, four in the corner points of the set piece, and four in the middle by the drum kit for maximum swing and centre focus, also to maximize cross beam looks.
(Jim Evans)
