Spain - In the final four shows of superstar Karol G’s 62-date Mañana Será Bonito Tour, it was the “details” - even the most painstaking ones - that gave rise to some looks that enthralled the sold-out crowds at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Working with a production design by Travis Shirley, lighting designer Ignacio ‘Iggy’ Rosenberg of Lightswitch artfully pixel mapped every cell of 310 Chauvet Professional Color Strike M fixtures to add an extra level of depth and continuity to the massive set.
“We did a ton of pixel mapping,” said Rosenberg. “Every cell was really used individually to get as much flexibility throughout the show. Given the overall arc of the design, we constrained the palettes we used for the first two sections of the show, so we needed all the tools we could have to create different looks.”
Creating looks that were “different” was just the beginning for Rosenberg and his team - lighting director Danny Navarro, as well as programmers PJ Carruth, Rob Smith and Josh Lowenstein. Throughout the show, they supported Karol G’s performance with an endless stream of richly varied and engaging looks - from the playful with a lot of primary and pastel colours, to celestial with twinkling displays of light, to the sultry and sophisticated. In short, they embraced every dimension of this powerful star in light.
At the centre of the production was a towering arch that reached about 70ft high. Rosenberg enlivened this massive scenic element by outlining it with 35 Color Strike M fixtures.
“The arch in Travis Shirley’s excellent design gave me a great place to start lining the set with lights,” said Rosenberg. “It also gave us an excellent upstage follow spot position.”
While 35 of the Color Strike Ms outlined the arch, the remaining 275 units were located throughout the rig, doing things like framing the set’s two large IMAG screens, as well as lining a smaller pentagonal screen and four FOH delay towers. For the Madrid shows, 68 more Color Strike M fixtures were added to the circumference of the stadium. Not only did this enliven the onsite atmosphere, it also added volume and depth for the livestream.
Rosenberg ran the colour cells in his Color Strike M fixtures at 60%, while the white cells were kept at 50%. “We limited the Strike M’s output for most of the show, to coordinate with the video walls,” he said. “Then, at the last song, we went with full output for maximum impact.”
Looking back on the final shows in Madrid, as well as the overall Mañana Será Bonito Tour, Rosenberg said: “This grew to such a fantastic-looking show. We had some amazing scenes that were very subtle, and some that were the complete opposite of subtlety.”
