Robb Jibson of So Midwest, Inc. continued his relationship with the pop punk band, this time as production designer for the US amphitheatre tour. Fall Out Boy released its sixth studio album, American Beauty/American Psycho this year; it swiftly became the band's third #1 album.
An enthusiastic proponent of Clay Paky fixtures, Jibson specified 68 Mythos for the tour. Upstaging was the lighting vendor.
"I'm a fan of Clay Paky; they seem to really do things right," he declares. "I had demo'd Mythos but hadn't had a chance to use them just yet. The light is versatile enough I knew if we spec'd them we wouldn't need much else - no typical systems of wash, hard edge or effects systems. I put all my chips on Mythos as our only hard-edged fixture in the show! And they were as awesome."
It was Jibson's goal to design a well-balanced show where the "lighting and video played well together". He wanted to present the video content in an innovative way and eliminate side IMAG screens, which Fall Out Boy dislikes. The band also wants to enter the stage without being seen, and Jibson was challenged to create a fun reveal.
"I came up with a guillotine, an LED wall on winches that was 60ft wide and 12ft tall," he explains. "It acted like a grand drape would work in a theatre and moved up and down to reveal every act. After a short intro sequence Fall Out Boy appeared in a blast of smoke the screen flew up!"
Since Mythos fixtures are still so new to the market most of the lighting teams he met at the venues did not have first-hand experience with their versatile capabilities. And using them as followspots? Crazy!
"The first time George Masek had showed me the prototype Super Sharpy I knew that I had found the next iteration of the automated key light, which we had done with sharpies for smaller gigs. So it was just a natural for the Mythos! I had to fight to use them as follow spots, to rope our fixtures into the spot locations," says Jibson. "I shoved the house spots out of the way so I could clamp Mythos to the hand rail, set them on road cases or put them on stands; two more were flown from the side trusses to cover the drummer position. Upstaging modified the fixtures to add metal handles on front."
George Masek, A.C.T vice president - automated lighting, concludes, "It is such a pleasure working with Robb. You can never be sure what he is going to come up with, and that is the beauty and genius of his work. He pushes the Clay Paky fixtures to their limits and gets results that are exceptional."
Francesco Romagnoli, Clay Paky area manager for North and Latin America, added, "Mr. Jibson is a very innovative lighting designer and we love to see the ways he uses our fixtures. We look forward to seeing his work for many projects to come."
(Jim Evans)
