Chauvet lights The Alan Parsons Project
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“The music of The Alan Parsons Project has always been founded on a variety of musicians based on their individual strong suits - and the live show is no different,” said Thomas. “All members have specific harmony parts in the music; and lead vocals shift throughout the show. Because everyone sings, key light and backlight for all musicians is critical. So, layers and atmospheric architecture make up most of the production with several negative space moments in the performance.”
At the last stop of the band’s European tour at the iAncienne Belgique in downtown Brussels this August, Thomas was faced with a challenge when he had two electrics to work with instead of three. He nevertheless was able to achieve the layered looks his design called for, thanks to a collection of Chauvet Professional Maverick fixtures supplied by Coruna Sound & Light.
“On this tour, my design is based on having three overhead electrics, FOH truss and a floor package,” said Thomas. “At this particular venue we had only two overhead electrics, making layering the focus that much more critical, as there are eight active artists on stage at any given time.”
The 28 Maverick MK1 Hybrid fixtures in Thomas’ rig were instrumental in helping him maintain the focused layers of light needed to accentuate each performer on stage. He positioned eight of the hybrid fixtures on the first overhead electric, 12 on the second, and had eight units upstage to use as backlights on the musicians.
“In essence the MK1 Hybrids were used to define the band and space,” said Thomas. “The fixture was muscular enough to cut through the wash looks in both spot and beam mode with or without gobos and colour, as well as in all aspects of zoom. Many of the looks in this tour’s show transitioned from a hard edge spot to a soft flood - and even to a sharp beam on occasion. Never once were the MK1s ‘lost’ in the look.”
Also adding dimensionality to the stage were the rig’s 28 Maverick MK2 Wash fixtures. Thomas hung 12 of the RGBW LED wash lights on the first overhead electric, and eight on the second. He also positioned six of the fixtures on stands located on the upstage side of the band risers, and had two units dedicated to uplighting the drums and keyboards.
“Traditionally, I use the lights in those areas to create a soft flood to make sure I have all the musicians in some layer of illumination,” said Thomas. “However, I found the Zoom on the MK2 Wash gave me the flexibility to add and subtract negative space smoothly in the overall foundation wash of the stage. This gave me the opportunity to create more varied looks.”
Thomas continued, “Since I began working for Alan, the designs have ranged from radically asymmetrical, to 80s era rock show with banks of lighting and articulated trussing, similar to the big PAR can shows that were the rage when I started. Having the features of moving lights takes that to a modern level.”
The immersive light show that supported the tour in Europe was the result teamwork. “Our touring crew is small, but top-notch,” said Thomas. “PM and FOH engineer Tyson Leonard worked wonders on the tour, as did Christopher Erickson on monitors, and Grant Goddard, our SM/ backline tech. Credit also goes out to our tour manager Lisa Parsons and assistant TM Tabitha Parsons for keeping the wheels on.”
With the European tour concluded, Thomas is looking forward to the upcoming 2020 tour in support of 40th Anniversary of the Alan Parsons Project release of The Turn of A Friendly Card.
(Jim Evans)
