Hardy tours with Zac Coren-designed Elation rig
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In early August, he started warming up audiences on Jason Aldean’s Back in the Saddle tour while headlining his own dates in between Aldean shows.
Lighting designer Zac Coren picked up with Hardy earlier this year and has known the artist for quite some time. “He didn’t have an LD and I was designing some things for him already,” Coren explains. “I was fortunate as Hardy was one of the first artists to get out there and start doing shows again. He did a lot of shows this past spring in smaller venues with lots of restrictions like limited capacity, pod distancing, outdoor sets, etc. It felt a bit like we were part of an experiment on how to do shows again but Hardy loves touring so we did what it took.”
Part country storyteller, part rocker, Hardy is a dynamic and versatile entertainer. “Honestly, he’s one of the coolest artists to work for,” Coren says. “He lets you do your thing; he might have a few comments at rehearsals but for the most part he trusts the folks working for him. After showing him some options, I helped guide him toward what I felt was best and we charted a path based on what he likes.”
That combination is reflected in Coren’s design. “It’s not your clean and classic country look for sure but has more of an edge to it. I needed to take what is seemingly country and blend that with elements of a rock show so we have a lot of strobes and in-your-face kind of stuff.”
Coren is on the road with the show as lighting director and says the tour is going great. After sharing transport for some time, they now have their own bus and trailers and are making an impact with an overall bigger setup.
The lighting package consists of 20 compact DARTZ 360 narrow beam moving heads, four Artiste Picasso profile moving heads, four Cuepix Blinder WW2, four Chorus Line 16 LED batten luminaires (used only in headlining shows), and 21x 32 Hex Panels from Elation sister-company ADJ. Lighting vendor is PTP Live (formally Genetic Productions).
The rig is divided into two parts, a floor-based section with the Elation and ADJ fixtures and an upper, flown section with fixtures from Jason Aldean’s rig. Unsure of what he could use of the Aldean rig going into the tour, angles in the upper package ended up complementing well the lower package on the ground, resulting in “a very good-looking show”.
