Robe enjoys a Moment Apart on Odesza tour
- Details
Their creative team led by Luke Tanaka, Sean Kusanagi and the two artists called on Kyle Kegan of Voyage Productions to help sculpt a lightshow and add extra visual magic that would work harmoniously around their video and striking overall concept.
Kyle, known for his lighting and visual designs for Major Lazer and others, specified 185 x Robe fixtures to assist him in the task, with 27 x BMFL Spots, 74 x Pointes and 84 x Spikies.
“By the time we came on-board the concept design had been evolved and developed by Luke and the team, so we took that and applied practical elements like truss, motors, fixtures and all the associated production to support the overall creative design,” explains Kyle, adding the lighting was a vital part of the bigger picture, “not just for us, but it was critical to the artists.”
They all spent considerable time in the initial meetings discussing different fixtures, the precise effects they wanted and which fixtures would work best in achieving these goals.
Harrison, Clay, Luke and Sean all wanted fast beam fixtures with plenty of versatility, so the Pointe was chosen and this became the design’s base fixture.
Kyle suggested BMFL Spots as a nice balance. They also needed all these dynamic BMFL features for lighting the architecture and as the main source of key lighting the band.
The last “big but little” fixture as Kyle describes is the tiny Spikie. These accent the structural design of the set risers and the over stage shape and were chosen for smallness, lightning speed and their beam-to-wash capabilities, “and we simply love having them in the show” confirmed Kyle.
The BMFLs are rigged in three systems of nine fixtures each, upstage, downstage and upstage on the deck. In addition to the key lighting mentioned above, they highlight the structural elements and provide textural lighting throughout the show. Their massive brightness cuts through the ambient lighting emitted by the large LED screen at the back and differentiated them from the 84 Pointes.
The Pointes are distributed around the rig in groups of 10, with 24 used for burn-through effects from behind the video wall. Some are also rigged on ladders that frame the upstage video wall, offering a wide range of alternative options and striking fly-out looks.
“We even used the beams as a source of hot key lighting, utilising the incredible frost as a low footlight wash to illuminate our drumline, and generally for creating some unique looks over and above just being a beam onstage.”
The 84 Spikies are positioned around the hexagonal trussing centrepiece which is flanked by two rectangular shapes, mirroring the outlines of the risers below. The hexagon also reflects the ODESZA logo. In their home position, the Spikies create architectural looks around the risers. They are also used for multiple spectacular fan up and out scenes that are a visual signature of the show.
The major challenge, for which Aaron Kovelman is lighting director on the road, was getting this tour design from pre-vis to reality. Kyle knows WYSIWYG inside out and uses this tool to pre-programme the entire show before getting to rehearsals where the fine details were polished and updated. Jack Davis, co-programmer, spent weeks with Kyle, Luke and Aaron in the Voyage studio pre-programming this show.
They utilized grandMA2 for lighting control, also playing the video, lasers and SFX cues from one cohesive showfile.
Clearwing Productions, based in Denver, Colorado is supplying the tour’s full technical package – rigging, lighting, sound and video.
(Jim Evans)
