Chauvet adds extra dimension to Thrice shows
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The tour, which stopped at larger live music venues and small arenas, allowed Thrice to reach more music fans. At the same time, though, it also raised some issues for the band’s lighting designer Lenny Sasso, who had to contend with short breakdown times. He was able to meet this challenge and create a dynamic, multi-faceted lightshow by drawing on the compact size and versatility of Chauvet Professional Rogue R1 FX-B and Rogue R2 Wash fixtures, supplied by Squeek Lights.
“Being on this tour was a great experience, but I had to make adjustments since we were a direct support act,” says Sasso. “I had to make sure my rig rolled on and off seamlessly and fast, so having things set up on carts that Squeek provided was a lifesaver. I created a loom that had connections directly at the back of each cart. As soon as the set was over, stagehands were able to just break the connection at the cart and roll it right off stage. It worked out perfectly. Also, the luxury of having half my fixtures pre-rigged was great.”
It wasn’t just the cart arrangement that aided Sasso in dealing with the exigencies of the tour. The fixtures on those carts also played a key role in helping him achieve his design goals. “So, my reasoning for using the Rogue R1 FX-B and Rogue R2 Wash was that they take up relatively little space and do a lot of different things,” he said. “This made them great for carts.
“Plus, with this being an arena tour, my choice of fixtures was limited by what the headliner could allow me to use from their rig,” continues Sasso. “This left me with no wash fixtures whatsoever. So I opted to use the R2s to fill out that space. I went with the FX-Bs, because I wanted something a little more unique and flashy than another profile - especially since I already had profiles from the main act’s rig.”
Sasso included 12 Rogue R1 FX-B fixtures and 10 Rogue R2 Washes in his rig. Most of these fixtures were arranged on four rolling carts, two on either side of the drum riser. Each cart had one R1 FX-B unit and two R2 Washes. An additional R2 Wash fixture and two R1 FX-B units were positioned between two carts. There were also four R1 FX-B fixtures over the drum riser in the middle of this configuration. All fixtures were staggered at different heights.
Sasso was inspired by Bring Me The Horizon’s lighting designer Sam Tozer when working on the First Love tour. “He really set the bar high on this tour and shared a lot of insights, which definitely pushed me to up my game on this run,” says Sasso. “I wanted the show to look super creepy and dark and very, very wide. The majority of this run was in smaller arenas, so I knew I had to create looks to fill the entire space.”
(Jim Evans)
