NASHVILLE — Premier Global Production’s brand new Tour Pro eye-pix magic dot fixtures gives EDM’s sensational duo Big Gigantic a big, but flexible look for their recent American tour.
“On the this tour, Big Gigantic played a wide range of venues from clubs, to festival headline slots, to a tour ending in a sold-out show at the 6,000-seat Masonic Temple in Detroit. We needed the lighting system to be flexible and scalable physically,” explains lighting designer/director Ben Dalgleish.
“The band plays up to 2 hours per night, playing 30 songs out of 90 programmed. To create that many looks, every fixture in the rig needed to be used to its full potential. With fans of the band regularly attending EDM festivals with huge fixture counts, and many square feet of LED — we needed to have a lighting system that could provide a world-class show, in a small, ground based touring package.”
The tour’s lighting system featured 96 of Tour Pro eye pix magic dot fixtures, 13 Tour Pro Titan 400 Strobes and 7 Vari-Lite 3500 wash lights. The bulk of system featured the dots on 13 trusses, raked from ceiling to floor behind the dynamic EDM duo, forming a bright, fast and entertaining wall of light.
“We toured with 96 Tour Pro eye-pix magic dot fixtures. The fixtures ran well — and most importantly where accurate recalling pan and tilt positions,” says Dalgleish.
“We where also very impressed with the Tour Pro Titan Strobe, which did triple duty covering as a strobe, wash light and key up light for the band members. For the key light they where normally running at 5% — a very bright fixture.”
Big Gigantic — Dominic Lalli on Saxophone and Jeremy Salken on drums — is known for its fabulous light and video presentation and this spring’s package from Premier Global did not disappoint, says Dalgleish.
“Big G are known for touring creative lighting and video designs — but this time around the band wanted to move away from having video in front of the band — removing that barrier between them and the crowd. The production design from Scott (Chmielewski) of DMD Studios proved the best of both worlds — featuring unique lighting placement, opening up the front of the stage — while having blow-thru LED, with moving wash fixtures behind creating multiple layers.”
The entire production, lights and video, was prepped and then rehearsed in Premier Global’s state-of-the-art rehearsal room located 20 minutes north of downtown Nashville. Dalgleish says the room and Premier Global’s many in-house resources prepared the lighting team with a trouble-free road system.
“Big Gigantic utilized the pre-production facilities at PGP extensively, and the show would not have been the same without it. The previz room was well equipped — and we were easily able to fit the entire A Rig in the rehearsal room for a few long nights of programming. We felt very welcome and taken care of, and greatly appreciated the fridge full of energy drinks and sparkling water!,” recalls Dalgleish.
“We were very happy with how the tour package came together with PGP. Working with a tight timeline Steven Anderson (Creech) expertly negotiated with all parties to get the best result for the tour. Most importantly — the crew PGP provided were world class, and all gear worked well - with any issues being resolved immediately.”
Big Gigantic is an instrumental livetronica, hip-hop and jazz musical group based out of Boulder, Colorado. They combine electronic beats with live saxophone and drums instrumentation. Their dynamic live performance is enhanced by their constantly evolving lighting, stage design and production for a full audio-sensory experience. Big Gigantic has toured the country numerous times, playing to a majority of sold-out crowds across the US.
Premier Global Production is a lighting and staging company based in Nashville, TN. With more than 30 years of experience in both lighting and staging, the company’s client list is impressive and includes names like Tim McGraw, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Cage The Elephant, Josh Groban, Florence and the Machine, C3 Presents, Live Nation, Country Thunder and AEG.