New Windsor, NY—August 25, 2009—PRG was pleased to provide production support to the July 18th performance by Limp Bizkit at the Pearl Concert Theater in Las Vegas, marking the band's first US date in eight years. PRG worked closely with Lighting Designer Jeff Rials to supply the band's lighting rig which included two dozen Clay Paky Alpha fixtures. The band, back to its original lineup of Fred Durst, Wes Borland, Sam Rivers, John Otto and DJ Lethal, made a quick detour from their current 2009 Unicorns N' Rainbows tour in Europe and Asia to play the free concert at the 2,500 seat theater at the Palms Casino Resort as a gift to its fans.
In order to give the fans a show worth the long wait, Rials and the band decided on an old-school look with a club feel. “We had Limp Bizkit back together after an eight-year hiatus, so we wanted to bring it back to the old-school for a minute. What we were thinking was floor lighting,” said Rials. “Wes and Fred were really into the idea. It was something that they had never really done before. So, we went with a ground package.”
For the Pearl show, Rials didn't want to use lights that everyone had seen before. “I wanted to bring something else to the table and the Clay Paky lights let me do that. They looked amazing and were extremely quiet.” Rials used 12 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700s, 12 Alpha Wash 700s and one Alpha Spot 700 as his primary lights for the Vegas date. “I had used the Clay Paky Alpha Beam 1500s and Wash 1500s during the band's Europe dates. I loved them so I talked to Tim Brennan at PRG, since he is the Clay Paky distributor, to see what I could get for the Pearl show in the quick timeframe we were dealing with. He got me the 700s which worked great. I think that the Clay Paky Alpha fixtures are the ones to beat right now.”
“It was a kind of a throw and go show,” Rials said. “The challenge was building the rig from scratch that day and putting it together in a three-hour window. We also had to then color-balance the lighting since we shot this show to be released on iTunes. I worked with Stan Crocker, who was great to work with; he acted as video lighting director.”
Rials feels that the Clay Paky Alpha 700s are a good choice for concert touring work. “They are workhorses,” stated Rials. “On other fixtures if you go from a color spin back to an open white, it can get stuck and you have to reset the fixture. You get none of that with the Clay Paky fixtures. They are engineered very well. I really like how everything snaps very quickly. The dimmer is very smooth—both in and out. I also like that you can make clean color transitions with nothing in between. You can go from a red to a Congo blue and it is no problem whatsoever; the color transitions are very, very smooth. The resolution on gobos is great; really nice optics. The output of the fixture, even with that lamp, is hands-down one of the best outputs of fixtures that are out there right now. The Alpha Beam 1500s I used as washlights in Europe looked excellent.”
Having worked previously with PRG on Godsmack, Rials was confident they could support the fast paced production. “I am the head LD for Rainbow Production Services out of New England and whenever we have worked with PRG, it has always been great; it is a great partnership. They have always taken care of us and our company.”
For the continuation of the Limp Bizkit tour in Korea and Japan, Rials is using the ChamSys MagicQ MQ100 console, supplied by PRG. “There are a lot of cool things with the console. I really dig it. I tried it out in London and now I have it in Asia and will take it out with me for the tour in the States. I like it a lot for programming a tour.”
At the end of this year US audiences will again get a chance to see the band when they tour stateside. “It is Bizkit 2.0,” said Rials, “it is an amazing show. We will also have some design surprises coming out for the new tour.”
For more information on PRG, please visit www.prg.com.
About Production Resource Group—Production Resource Group, LLC (PRG) is the world's leading supplier of entertainment technology solutions, including lighting, audio, video, scenery, and automation systems. PRG serves a wide range of markets, including theatre, concert tours, trade shows, corporate and special events, television and film, and themed environments. PRG provides its services worldwide through more than 17 offices in North America, Europe, and Asia.