The Nebraska-based outfit was formed 20 years ago and for the last four of those their LD Joe Paradise has been designing increasingly innovative stage sets to enable a band that has sold over eight million units in the US, and had five Top 10 albums on the Billboard charts, to reproduce the dynamic in a live context.
At last year's LDI Show in Las Vegas he saw the Impressions for the first time and was impressed both by the quality of the construction and rich array of features.
He immediately decided to integrate eight fixtures into the stage design - mounted atop a 40ft vertical arch truss upstage. This was one of three arch trusses that formed the set, along with Main Light 2.5 scrims. "The Impressions were used as intense 'eye candy' as well as a practical upstage light on many of the scenes," he explained.
"They have proved 100% reliable. The output was super, with great colour - particularly the blue - and fast pan and tilt; the strobe was also very nice." The lighting equipment for the 311 tour was provided by Premier Global Production.
(Jim Evans)
