Lighting designer, Mike Swinford, of UpLate Design Inc, was intent on bringing a fresh new look to the country singer's headline tour, using modern technology and new lighting tools to achieve an inspirational design that would be very different from what Aldean was accustomed to. Included in his design are a plethora of lighting fixtures from Ayrton that include MagicDot-R, MagicRing-R9, IntelliPix-R and the award-winning MagicBlade-R.
"We wanted a departure from the very large 'rock' lighting look that we had last year," explains Swinford. "We started the current tour with a new set based upon many diamond shapes, with diamond-shaped video screens upstage, V-shaped stair treads and thrust tips, and five square lighting pods on Whirligigs which can be twisted into diamond shapes above the artists.
"To add to this cutting-edge look, we wanted a different style of lighting fixture that would really pop. Ayrton was a good place to look as the company produces unique lighting equipment that looks totally different from any others. What we ended up with was a veritable Ayrton showcase."
Swinford is very familiar with Ayrton having been one of the first lighting designers in the USA to tour with MagicPanel 602 fixtures with Florida Georgia Line in 2013. "We had seen the MagicPanel 602 demo video online at first, but when we saw it in rehearsals we were totally floored by it! It also proved extremely reliable and robust so, despite having no direct experience with them, we decided to try the MagicBlade-R and MagicDot-R for Aldean's tour," he says.
"We took the five diamond video screens upstage and decided to add a surround accent around the large central screen. We chose 40 MagicBlade-R fixtures to delineate its outline and create a border. We then use the smooth pan and tilt movement to modulate the shape of the borders during the songs, change the angles of the Blades to create geometric patterns, and use the individual emitters to texture the 'face' of the fixtures.
"At other times, we run some very geometric video content through them, designed by creative designer Raj Kapoor, to make use of the lighting portion of the wall, each time altering the appearance of the border. It's turned out really well."
The five overhead lighting pods provide the most dynamic element of the show. Each is formed of 36 MagicDot-R fixtures (180 in total) arranged in a 6 x 6 matrix and rigged on Show Rig Whirligigs.
Ten of Ayrton's giants, the MagicRing-R9, line the upstage runway behind the band where the large faces of the fixtures are perfect for presenting graphics and creating bold beam strokes.
Finally, 24 Ayrton IntelliPix-R panels are embedded around the perimeter of the front thrust stage, providing an illuminated focal point in close proximity with the audience, with Aldean in the centre surrounded by light.
Jason Aldean's We Were Here tour crossed to Australia for the first time this March before continuing throughout America until the Autumn. The lighting equipment for the tour was supplied by Bandit Lites of Nashville. Ayrton is distributed exclusively in the US by Morpheus Lights.
(Jim Evans)
