Vulfpeck go Rogue in Madison Square Garden
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Formed by four students at the University of Michigan’s music school, Vulfpeck recorded their first song in an Ann Arbor living room. They had the exact furniture from that room shipped 622 miles from their college town home to Manhattan for their Madison Square Garden debut.
The ‘living room’ provided a nice touch that captured the engaging style of Vulfpeck. At the same time, though, it also presented a challenge for Christian Hall, the designer brought in by the band’s production manager to light the show.
Hall, of Borealis Stage Lighting, met this challenge by deftly creating a design that managed to be at once as engaging as the show’s homey set, and as potent as the big arena. Helping him accomplish this feat were his ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 console with an extra wing, and a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue fixtures supplied by Squeek Lights.
“The scenic design for this show was well-executed and different,” said Hall. “We wanted to keep the “living room” the focal point of the set, while still filling in the empty areas above and around the band with lighting. It definitely made the programming for this show become more theatrical. I didn’t want the lighting rig to overpower what is most important: the band on stage and the set design around them.
“However, at the same time this was an arena show, so we needed to look big,” continued Hall. “I designed the flown rig to get the biggest looks possible with what we had available. I kept the lighting fixtures on the floor to a minimum, just some LED bars to uplight the set design. I thought it would look kind of silly to have a bunch of moving lights inside and around the ‘living room.’”
He relied on the 14 Rogue R2 Wash fixtures in his rig to provide a warm colour wash that enhanced the engaging quality of the set, added the kind of impact commensurate with the arena setting, and maintained a level of front washing that made the stage camera friendly.
“I had to make sure the band was well-lit and looked natural to match the set design,” said Hall, who positioned 10 of the Rogue fixtures upstage to wash the band from behind and four mid stage to down light the drum kit area.
Helping Hall light the audience were 18 Chauvet DJ Shocker 2 fixtures, also provided by Squeek Lights.
(Jim Evans)
