grandMA2 Tours With Motley Crue and KISS

img_6936.JPGIconic rock bands Motley Crue and KISS teamed for a North American summer tour and took grandMA2 along for the ride. A grandMA2 is being used to program and control lighting and video on 44 shows, which are drawing huge crowds coast to coast. A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor of MA Lighting in North America.

Michael Cooper of Newfangled Lighting, Inc., the programmer/operator for Motley Crue, has been using the grandMA2 since it debuted. For this tour, they are using 18 Universes, two Art-Net lines for the Catalyst Media Server, and SMPTE time code.

"I pulled grandMA2 serial number 2 off the pallet at Upstaging in 2009 and they have come such a long way with the new software. I love it," says Cooper. "I've used it pretty exclusively for the last few years - it goes around the world with me. Christie provided me with grandMA2 Light last year for the worldwide Motley tour, and now Epic has provided us with these 2 full size systems and a command wing for the KISS/Motley tour. It builds on the advanced capabilities of the original grandMA- very solid, reliable and fast. And the new abilities of the clone feature are amazing; it allows me to take existing programming and adapt it to other lighting systems. I can pull up to a festival, take my show program and pull it across."

"The speed of this desk is amazing," Cooper continues. "Even while running lots of universes and NPU's I'm able to program as fast and the desk keeps up. Reliability is also something to note; we sat in pre production for about a week, Sean [Hackett] programming late afternoon until about 2am and I would come in and program till mid morning. I'm not sure if we ever restarted the desk that week. It was on and working the entire time."

Sean Hackett, the programmer/operator for KISS, migrated to grandMA2 for the tour after using the flagship grandMA console for the last eight years. He praises "the speed of the processor and the saving/loading feature" of the grandM2, which he finds useful working side-by-side with Cooper. "Michael and I can jump from show file to show file and both get what we need done in a limited time frame," he notes. "The new effects engine is also cool. And I've always been a fan of cloning and changing fixtures, which can be very useful in festival situations."

He also likes how "you can get grandMA3D for your laptop and link it to the console so you can get a lot of work done with just the console and laptop or even at home with a second screen."

"Both Sean and I have also been very happy with A.C.T. lighting support and training staff," concludes Cooper. "They're always on call, willing and able to help with any issue. Their training style was very conducive for us to learn quickly and efficiently.

Sooner Routhier, Robert Long(SRae Productions) and Patrick Whitley are the lighting and production designers for the tour. Epic is the lighting supplier.

About A.C.T Lighting

A leading importer and distributor of lighting products, A.C.T Lighting, Inc. strives to identify future trends and cutting-edge products, and stock, sell and support their inventory. The company provides superior customer service and value for money to all of its clients.