Show designer Mike Marcario turned to the versatile design options of Elation Professional’s Platinum FLX™ hybrid moving head to help create a unique look for each song on country music singer Eric Paslay’s latest tour.
“Eric had 18 songs in the set and I’d drop a new aspect of the FLX in for each song,” said Marcario, who noted it was his second time creating a lighting design for the artist. “There are so many looks you can create. I’d try to save a trick for each song. I really wasn’t worried about overusing them because I could get so many different looks out of them.”
Eric Paslay initially found success as a songwriter before emerging as a bona-fide country music draw a few years ago. Lighting vendor for the 7-week tour, which played U.S. dates earlier this year, was Nashville-based Elite Multimedia Productions (www.elitemultimedia.com), their second year touring with Eric Paslay. Matt Strode handled lighting direction on the tour.
Marcario demoed the Platinum FLX and after a shootout against another popular hybrid admits he was a bit surprised by what he saw. “I really wasn’t expecting it to ‘wow’ me as much as it did,” he says. “I was really impressed with the gobos and really liked the interchanging 6- and 8-facet prism system. The price was good as well. Although we only used four fixtures, it was twice as many as we could have gotten with the other hybrid, which really made a difference.”
To simplify the load-in process, the FLX fixtures were mounted on 2” pipe at the top of set carts that could easily roll on and off the stage. Once on site, crew members could easily roll the carts into place, flip the fixtures up, unhook the pan and tilt and they were ready to go. “Even though we only used a few fixtures they were really the workhorse of the rig,” Marcario states. “We used every mode and got a lot out of them.”
The variety of looks was great. For one look, Marcario explains how he used gobo rotation into the audience for crowd movement while in another he dropped in the frost filter for a super flooded wash. “I also used it really wide to backlight the band in a white light silhouette,” he explains. “One of my favorite looks was to use prism chases. The prisms interchange instantaneously, which the other hybrid we tested couldn’t compete with. Sometimes I’d put them in beam mode with the rest of the rig on and really throttle them for extra punch. It’s incredible how much punch they have.” The Platinum FLX weren’t the only Elation fixtures in the rig. Six Elation Cuepix Blinder WW2™ white light LED blinders – four on a pipe behind the drum riser and one each in the set carts – were used as audience light and single cell chases with the rig blacked out.
Production manager for Eric Paslay is Norwood Wood, who was happy with the tour and the FLX’s performance. He commented, “Along with Elite Multimedia, Mike Marcario, and Matt Strode we were excited to see what Elation could bring to our 2016 tour. The FLX has allowed us to step up our show and have a variety of powerful looks from each fixture. It packs a huge punch in any venue from clubs to arenas, and even in outdoor venues the FLX looks great!”
Norwood Wood: Production Manager
Mike Marcario: Show Designer
Matt Strode: Lighting Director
Steve Bryan: Tour Manager
Lighting Vendor: Elite Multimedia
Peter Streiff: Elite Multimedia Account Rep
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