Martin Pro shines as Red Rocks returns
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Colorado-based jam band The String Cheese Incident returned to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre for the 45th time this past July to kick off their 2021 tour, marking the first full-capacity events at the venue in over a year.
Red Rocks’ geological architecture and storied history make performing there a major career milestone for many artists, with performers from The Beatles to Vulfpeck gracing the stage over the past 80 years. Because the venue’s steep seating arrangement means a majority of the audience is seated above the stage roof, Red Rocks has historically posed a challenge to lighting designers. However, the venue received a new stage and roof area in 2020 for easier installation and greater production potential.
To give audiences an unforgettable experience, The String Cheese Incident requested a dynamic light show that kept up the excitement throughout their multi-hour improvisational sets and reached every audience member with impactful and immersive visuals. To deliver a truly memorable light show, PHNTM Labs deployed an advanced lighting rig featuring Martin VDO Atomic Dot and MAC Axiom Hybrid fixtures.
“The String Cheese Incident generally do multi-night runs at Red Rocks every year,” said Michael Smalley, creative director, production designer and lighting designer, PHNTM Labs. “Doing lighting there is incredibly tough because 77 percent of the audience is above the roof of the venue. Luckily, Red Rocks happened to get a new roof structure last year that made it a lot easier to rig all kinds of stuff. We wanted to play with the roof’s architecture and be some of the first people to put lights up there. The Atomic Dots, being lightweight enough and at a price point where we could get a lot of them, allowed us to really expand and use the whole width of the roof.”
PHNTM Labs deployed VDO Atomic Dot WRM fixtures on the ground for a warm-looking strobe effect that felt organic to Red Rocks’ natural red-orange hue. The roof featured 40 VDO Atomic Dot CLD fixtures in lines following the roof’s arc to create psychedelic, UFO-like visuals and emphasize the Denver skyline behind the stage.
“With the Dots on the ground, it was a nice fill of colour in the haze zone, directly upstage of the band,” said Smalley. “It lit the smoke up when it was there and gave us a nice kind of vibe for everything else to cut through. We needed to make sure we used something that was lightweight on the roof, so the Dots were great for that. It was a low-intensity installation to have what in my opinion was probably the best aesthetic of the whole rig. The Dots traced the roofline in a really pretty way and made the whole stage look like it was a UFO touching down.”
Martin MAC Axiom Hybrid beam/spot fixtures with diffused wash functionality rounded out the setup upstage and on the roof. The Axioms complemented the Atomic Dots with saturated washes, a wide field of coverage and beams that easily reached audience members in the highest and furthest rows.
Finally, Martin’s P3 visual control interface added additional simplicity and ease of use during the installation and operation process.
