Jagged Big Rig

With her albumUnder Rug Swept in stores, Alanis Morissette has spent the summer and early fall on tour. For the European leg, LD Jim Fitzpatrick, working with Entec Sound and Light, created a dynamic, asymmetrical rig consisting of six trusses — a 60' angled front truss, a 50' rear truss and four others, ranging between 24' and 40', and hung at erratic angles. Scattered randomly over this arrangement are 26 High End Systems Studio Colors ^® and 16 Martin MAC 2000s, along with PARs, ETC Source Fours, and Moles. An additional six Studio Colors and four MAC 2000s are placed on the floor.

Using this rig, Fitzpatrick created a large-canvas series of looks, with dramatic beams in saturated colors projecting from all angles. The design was conceived to deal with the intense mood swings in Morissette's show, ranging from hard-rocking to moments of deep introspection.

The rig is controlled by a Vari*Lite^® Virtuoso^™ console. Fitzpatrick is also the operator and chose the board, with which he is very familiar, as it allowed him to make the best use of his short rehearsal and programming time.

Entec, which also supplied sound control and a monitor system for the tour, was chosen by Morissette's tour manager, Andy Proudfoot, after competitive bids were tendered. Other personnel on the tour include Nigel “Skippy” Monk, Simon “Boff” Howarth, and Andy Mountain. Morissette's tour concludes this month with a number of dates in Japan.