As the LD on the Rend Collective tour, which has crisscrossed the globe from Sioux Falls to West Sussex and Manhattan to Budapest, Santangelo has frequently called on the Nexus panels to create new looks to fit different venues and keep pace with spontaneous flow of the group's performance.
Rend Collective, which reached the top of the Billboard Christian Album charts (and number 13 overall) in 2014, has played in venues ranging from small churches to large arenas. "At the start of the tour, I knew that given the wide variety of stage sizes we'd be dealing with, we would need a lighting rig that was not only road worthy, but also very flexible," said Santangelo. "The Nashville office at 4Wall Entertainment worked closely with me to put together a rig that was simple, easy to transport and very flexible. Nexus panels were at its center from day one."
Santangelo makes frequent use of his rig's flexibility as the tour stops at its widely varied mix of venues. "At most stops we use 10 Nexus 4x4 panels on four towers, which really fills out the stage nicely," said the LD. "However, we're often in a position where we have to use only half or fewer of the Nexus panels. Yet we're still able to create an interesting looking show, because of the output and versatility of the Nexus panels make the stage look full - plus we have full 53-channel control, which gives us the capability to match our design to Rend's songs. We use a Martin M1 Console, and other additions included TMB 4-lite Punch Lites, Leprecon ULD-360 Dimmers, and Lex Distros with the ability to switch between single and three phase to program the rig."
The colour rendering capabilities of the Nexus panels also create an engaging look on stage through various venues. "We've used the full spectrum of colours, but we've tried to stick mainly with warm colours such as amber and CTC," said Santangelo. "I've been amazed by the colours from the Nexus. None of the colours were off from some of my other LED fixtures on stage. It was nice to have matching reds and blues."
The low power draw of the Nexus was also critical to the versatility of the touring rig. "I had to make sure the show could go on whether we had lots of power or were plugging into a couple of sockets in a wall," said Santangelo. "The Nexus panels allowed me to fill a lot of space on stage using low amounts of power -- not to mention, they can get so bright! It was nice to have so much colour on stage."
(Jim Evans)
