American rock band O|A|R - Of A Revolution - just finished a summer tour of outdoor amphitheaters and a few big Dave Matthews Band Caravan dates as well. Outdoor shows call for over-the-top power in lighting fixtures, and they got it with a selection of High End Systems automated luminaires.
LD Dan “Malibu” Krygowski specified 12 intellaspots and 6 SHOWBEAM 2.5s for the July 6-Aug. 13 U.S. run. Lighting vendor Upstaging supplied the gear.
Krygowski chose the intellaspots -- the only hard-edge fixture in the rig -- after seeing them at the ACL Live at The Moody Theatre in Austin, TX. He was running the John Mellencamp show and encountered the fixtures that are permanently installed in the venue. This gave him a chance to find out more about them while in High End Systems' home territory.
“I knew I wanted to use the intellaspots,” Krygowski said. “I wanted to compare the intellaspot with the MAC III, but the intellaspot gives you more light output when you use color and animation together, whereas you lose light in the MAC III because of the different position of the animation wheel.”
Krygowski added that his decision was further solidified when High End Systems' Craig Burross allowed him to select which gobos he wanted in the intellaspots. “So I essentially had customized gobos for my show,” he said. “He also sent Joe Haller to the prepping of the fixtures to make sure all ran smoothly.”
The 12 intellaspots were scattered on top of the rig.
The 6 SHOWBEAM 2.5s were located between the soft panels -- a series of concave and convex panels created by Atomic Design -- which not only offered texture and flexibility to the staging, but also “took the light really well,” he said.
The SHOWBEAMs were used on big moments to capture a big effect, Krygowski said. Their most prominent play was to enhance the new song, “Heaven,” thereby giving it the nickname of the “Heaven Light” by the crew. “We also used it as a huge fly-in or fly-out for a big wow factor. We liked the split beam a lot and loved the smooth roll in and out effect.”
Once the tour was prepped and ready to rock, Krygowski ran off to run Mellencamp's tour in Europe, leaving O|A|R in control with Lighting Director Tyler Littman.
Krygowski reflected back on his long-term relationship with High End Systems, which dates back to 1998 when he was an LD at the House of Blues. “High End Systems is a top-notch company and I'm always interested in playing with their new products. And I know Tyler Littman enjoyed using the products, too.”
Littman agreed, saying he was happy with both fixtures. “The SHOWBEAMs were cool and looked awesome. They fit with the band so well, that there were a number of songs now that I could not imagine not having them. As for the intellaspots, from an overall optical standpoint they are nice looking. I think it's a welcomed change from MAC 2Ks or VL3000s. High End has really done a great job with these fixtures.”
For more photos and information, visit the High End Systems website at www.highend.com
Photos courtesy of Todd Kaplan
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Press Release: Debi Moen, INK.