The Tedeschi Trucks Band is known to make contemporary bluesy rock music while playing homage to the sounds of classic blues, soul, and funk. The Lighting Director, Brian Pirrone, ensures that the Grammy Award winning band carries that big but smooth vibe throughout the entire performance by going for appropriate scenes and timing, setting it up and landing. “This is our third year with a BML-Blackbird rig for the summer tour”, said Pirrone of the tour, which began on June 29th in Jacksonville, Florida.
With lighting supplied by BML-Blackbird, the fixtures on the ‘Wheels Of Soul” tour rig include Viper Profiles, Viper Performances, MAC Auras, MAC 101s, MAC Quantum Profiles, Sharpys, Chauvet LED Fresnels, and 2x2 Blinders. “This year, we went all LED with no conventionals and brought #2 instead of 4/0. Small rig, small draw”, continued Pirrone.
To best express the cool swagger and soulful mood of the tour through stage lighting, Pirrone’s design relies on N/C, deep ambers, reds, blues, and purples as well as some teal. He planned the visual story by listening to a lot of the band’s music. “I get into the songs, and into my head, and do the visualizing. The set list changes, and I put certain types of cues in different parts of the set. I use the set list so I can plan out some attacks.” Doing so, he successfully tantalizes the crowd, from the front to the back of the house.
When asked what fixtures he loves most on the “Wheels of Soul Tour”, Pirrone replied, “The Quantums and Vipers are still great. Great looking, smooth fixtures” and “those Chauvet LED fresnels with the great color temperature and dimmer curve.” He relied on his skilled technicians to carry out his vision, “with the phenomenal skill of my lighting team, Kevin Pampel and Mike Deitz, you just can’t get better company on the job. They’re literally the best. We roll in our inverted pre-rig truss with all cable inside and connect and fly!”
Stage lighting fosters a sense of unity, helping the audience to share the experience with the band. BML-Blackbird is proud to work with Brian Pirrone and The Tedeschi Trucks Band for another successful tour!
Photo Credit: Andy Tennille