Squeek and Chauvet light The Gaslight Anthem
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A bold and powerful Matt Bodner lighting design featured fast-moving aerial effects, and a variety of and bold colour palettes, as well as plenty of audience lighting. Bodner, who lit the band on their summer tour, that culminated at the PNC Arts Centre, beefed up his rig for this hometown show, with extra Chauvet Professional fixtures from Squeek Lights.
“I used Maverick 20 Force Spot fixtures, 26 Rogue R3 Washes, and 16 STIKE Array 4 in the air,” said Bodner. “I designed the lighting plot for the fly package as well, using it for our shows Wembley Arena and Manchester Apollo in the UK. For this show, we added 14 Rogue R1 BeamWashes and another 18 STRIKE Array 4s, for a total of 32 blinders.”
Bodner favoured colour palettes that evoked the aura of the New Jersey’s shoreline as well as its complicated history when designing this show. “I wanted to communicate the feeling and ambience of New Jersey as much as I could,” he explained. “This led me to use a ton of cyan/magenta. When I listen to the songs, I picture the Jersey shore during its off season, with its overcast sky, winds coming off the ocean, and empty beach, except for a few stragglers. I complemented this with blue and red washes with cuts of yellow from the Force S Spots to evoke the summer shore with its carnival lights, 4th of July celebrations, and life on the boardwalk.
Running his show on a ChamSys Magic! MQ 500M Stadium, Bodner created a continuous flow of fresh looks to engage the crowd with different images and reflect the various moods of the music. At times he broadened his design to cover the entire deck with washes and gobo patterns, while at other moments he tightened his looks and brought the focus to centre stage.
“I placed all of my ground package upstage of the band, and saved movement FX for the big choruses and high impact parts,” he said. “Long movement transitions were utilized for the majority of the music. When it became time for Brian to take control of the room, I put some light on him and made all aware that the tone and section of the song was about to change.”
Using the Rogue R3 Wash for front lighting on the fly rig, Bodner zoomed in to create an ellipsoidal-like look that allowed every band member in addition to Fallon to have his own wash focus. “It was an artistic choice that the band loved,” explained Bodner. “Everybody has their day in the sun
The STRIKE Array 4 was critical in helping Bodner achieve his vision in crowd lighting. “This fixture is the best old school incandescent blinder emulation I have ever used,” he said.
