The pressure is on for lighting designer Dave 'Gig' Butzler to keep the lighting rig constantly evolving to ensure that Brooks' extended touring campaigns are constantly fresh and interesting for his enthusiastic public. Introducing Robe BMFL Spots to the visual equation was the latest 'upgrade'. This move has enabled him to harness the power, throw distances and effects of the BMFL Spots to boost the impact of the lightshow even further. 44 BMFL Spots replaced the previous hard-edged spot moving fixture of choice, and these are being supplied by Garth Brooks' regular lighting vendor, Bandit Lites.
When the show changed mid-way through 2015 to include a much larger LED video screen - a cube measuring 40ft wide by 20ft deep on all four sides - they needed a brighter luminaire to register and hold its own and the BMFL Spot was chosen. They are located on the upstage and downstage trusses along the cross-pieces of 10 x chevron-shaped triangular truss pods that move into different positions constantly throughout the show with the balance of fixtures on the floor.
They are used for massive beam looks, for potent and memorable gobo sprays, fans, break-ups, etc., and for sweeping out into the audience and bathing them in good quality light plus multiple other great effects. "I love the way you can open them up really wide when shooting right out into the audience - to the back of the arena - and still get excellent light levels across all of the crowd for the cameras," states Dave.
(Jim Evans)
