Following the massive success of her Platinum Tour, the singer-songwriter worked with longtime lighting designer Chris Lisle to create a show that highlighted what she does best: Bring great music to her fans. "We kept it pretty straight forward with three trusses - downstage, midstage, and upstage, along with some floor lights," said Lisle.
"There are mainly four types of lights: Robe BMFL used for their amazing optics, gobos, and intensity, Clay Paky B-Eyes for general colour wash and then some fun effects, Robe Robin 600 for front light and Robe Pointes used for big beam looks to punch through all of the above."
While her Platinum Tour played off the visual imagery of the word platinum (also the title of her fifth studio album), Miranda's new tour is to be a throwback to the eras of smaller clubs and honky-tonks with simple lighting and no LED video wall. "She really wanted the show to be a much simpler approach to what we did on Platinum," said Lisle speaking of his meetings with Lambert, "with no real set, easier on labour and trucking, and a little more intimate scale wise."
The only real challenge Lisle encountered was the logistics of the festoons that extend from the downstage truss to the circle truss with a mirror ball hanging over the audience. "It took us a little while to figure out how to make them look good, and get them up and down in a timely manner," Lisle said. "Ty Veneziano (crew chief) did a great job in helping us figure that one out."
Lisle worked with lighting director Craig Richter to create some of what he calls his favourite moments in the show. "We kill all the brightness and break it down to just two or three lights top/backlighting her," he said before adding, "Sometimes less is more!"
Bandit has counted Miranda among its Bandit Family for years, and strives to make sure every detail in is executed seamlessly, both in preproduction and on the road. Such effort is noted by Lisle who continues to count Bandit as one of his vendors of choice saying, "Bandit is always great to work with! From our pre-production/programming time at their Venue 1, facility to the opening night of the tour, everything was well prepped, labelled, and ready to go. We always get great support both on and off the road from them as well."
(Jim Evans)
