Robe joins Luke Bryan’s Las Vegas party
- Details
As the show design started to evolve, Tom and his team discovered that the house lighting rig at the new 5,500 capacity Resorts World Theatre venue features large quantities of Robe moving lights, all of which were supplied by Solotech, who completed the install and also co-ordinate the venue’s on-going technical services.
Tom lost no time in getting 108 x Robe MegaPointes on the lighting plot for his main effects lights, together with 54 x Tarrantulas – Robe’s largest LED wash beam – and 17 x BMFL WashBeams which are all running on the theatre’s four RoboSpot systems.
All these fixtures were just what Tom needed to develop the “full throttle” rock ‘n’ roll show he envisioned to stun audiences and present Luke Bryan to his fans.
Tom and Brian Burke have collaborated on several other projects including for Westlife’s most recent live shows and enjoy a great creative synergy.
Opting for an epic widescreen look, the upstage LED screen was 100ft wide as Tom knew he had the fire power to blast right through that with MegaPointes and Tarrantulas.
Downstage of that were a three-tier moving set based on a series of diamond shapes which is a cornerstone of the show environment. For time and convenience, the set was designed around lifts and hydraulic products that set builders SGPS / ShowRig already had in their inventory.
Band members are positioned on each layer of the risers which can extend from 5 to 20ft. They have customised video fasciae and tops, and are internally lit with strobes and LED fixtures, offering an eye-catching architectural element combined with the LED screen.
Utilising the straight trusses in the stage roof as hanging points, the riser geometry is mimicked with LED battens.
There is a complete MegaPointe surround to the screen. Thirty along the top and bottom edges with seven a side left and right, consuming 74 MegaPointes in total. “I needed very bright multi-purpose fixtures and MegaPointes were perfect,” said Tom, who has used them on many other designs.
The other 34 x MegaPointes are carefully placed on the overstage trusses ensconced in between the chevron-shaped LED bars.
The Tarrantulas are deployed on these same trusses, sometimes in between the MegaPointes and sometimes in autonomous positions.
Six of the BMFL WashBeams are rigged on the most upstage truss with another 11 on the front truss, and these are used for all the key lighting.
Luke wanted a big party vibe to the show so Tom made sure to reveal multiple optical tricks as the show narrative unfolded, including a 192-fixture PAR can ‘rock wall’.
On Tom’s FOH creative team were Hunter Selby who also assisted with the lighting design, grandMA programmer Joe Holdman, plus video director Scott Chmielewski.
Custom video content was created by Gravity. The day-to-day show lighting operation / direction throughout the residency stints is being overseen by Justin Kitchenman, Luke Bryan’s long-term LD.
The first run – production managed by Gary Chrosniak and Bob Sandon – has just completed, the next is in June and the third is scheduled for September.
