Lighting designers often have their work cut out for them when working with major rock groups, but Kevin "Deuce" Christopher and Andrew Richter knew they had a challenge when hired to do the lighting for Journey and Steve Miller Band's 38-city North American tour. As co-headliners, both bands required an equally impressive light show to accompany their timeless music, but had to share a lighting rig.
"Whenever you have two acts that are trying to meld what they do, you really have to sit down and define what you want to use as your workhorse and effects fixtures," Richter, designer for Steve Miller Band's half of the show, told Live Design.
Both designers chose to incorporate high-powered wash and spot fixtures and gobo images to optimize the lighting and, in the case of Journey, cut through an expansive video wall set up as the band's backdrop.
"The main characteristic I use them for is to get a beautiful broad wash on the band, but then I'm also able to get nice graphic effects by tightening up the beam and creating a really narrow look," Christopher said of the wash luminaries he used. "I love the way you can go from ultra-narrow to super-wide really quickly. This enables me to have a really tight shape on stage and then fly out to hit the audience in a really broad look. I also like how you can get the aperture to spin at different speeds which really adds a whole new layer to the design."
For such an impressive show, lighting plays a critical role in getting the audience back to the earlier times in their lives when they first discovered these rock legends. For any music performance, gobo lights can enhance the atmosphere and deliver the needed visuals to cue any emotional response. Gobosource provides high-quality fixtures and design assistance for any lighting needs.
