Metallica’s current WorldWired Tour, directed and designed by Dan Braun, features lighting by Rob Koenig, who serves as lighting director on the road, a position he has filled since the 2008 World Magnetic Tour with lighting by John Broderick. “Dan Braun really had a vision for this tour,” says Koenig, who had already designed a stadium tour for the band, while this marks his first arena tour for Metallica.
“The band has always done in-the-round shows, so I got a lot of education on the road, as well as working with Butch Allen on Carrie Underwood and New Kids on the Block, shows also in-the-round,” Koenig adds. “The most difficult thing is spotlight placement, especially as the 52 video cubes on the set are moving on the Z axis.”
Koenig knew they needed automated spotlights and opted to use Spotrack. “This is a system with a computer and a mouse,” he points out. “You follow the band member with the mouse, and the rest is controlled from the lighting console.” In this case, the console is an MA Lighting grandMA2.
With 20 automated Robe BFML wash beams using the Spotrack system, with one operator per band member, and five fixtures per operator, there are four operators, seated wherever there is room, usually some place FOH. “These are the same fixtures that are inside the 52 video cubes,” notes Koenig, who used the same Robe units with Phil Ealy on the Guns N' Roses’ tour last year. “I think they are the brightest, most accurate hybrid fixture on the market today, and I wanted to bring them into this. There is one Robe wash beam inside each cube. Tait built the cubes so the light can be replaced if need be. It’s very slick design.”
The FOH Spotrack fixtures are hung on a dasher truss that goes end-to-end in the area, with three in each corner as FOH spots. “We can adjust the height, and get them low enough to get under the cubes when they are flying in,” Koenig says. “Another eight of the Robe fixtures are used as truss spots hung over the stage.”
The rig also comprises eight Martin by Harman Axiom hybrids in each corner. “These are placed on top of the VLFC subs from Meyer Sound, which make the building rumble. This position creates a unique angle I haven’t seen in many arena shows—a straight shot to the band, which also can backlight the cubes,” notes Koenig.
Koenig wanted to have the Tait Navigator system talk to the grandMA2 console and the disguise (formerly d3) media server. “We are using an Artnet merge from Navigator to the console and the server, so everybody knows where everybody is in 3D space at all times,” he notes. The lighting programmers were Troy Eckerman and Joe Cabrera.
“Most of the show runs through the grandMA2, including a lot of movement by the cubes, such as a sine wave roll. This was easier with the console than the Tait Navigator, which set up the rules for the cubes, but most of the cues come from the console,” explains Koenig.
Next in the rig are 44 Solaris Flares from TMB, used primarily for audience lighting. “The band loves to see the audience. They have a very symbiotic relationship,” says Koenig, who carefully places these fixtures so they don’t blind the audience when they are lit. In addition, on the floor are 16 JDC1 new light from GLP, that Koenig describes as: “A super cool light that combines an LED wash strobe with an LED white discharge strobe in the middle, plus it tilts so you get some very cool features out of that light.” There are also three Martin by Harman MAC Quantum spots behind Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, lighting his drum kit. Premier Global PGP Nashville is the lighting shop for the tour, which currently runs into May 2018 but will most likely continue into the summer and fall.
“We’re heavily reliant on the video cubes and video content on this show,” says Koenig about the relationship of the lighting to the video. “Then we program the songs from there. Dan was the driving force, with the idea that every song should be as unique as possible. The arc starts with very little low lighting at the top of the show, and red from the floor; the second song, ‘Atlas Rise,’ the only all white song, utilizing negative space. From there, we use a lot of color schemes, but more monochromatic than usual. Each song has a unique look, you can look at a photograph and know exactly what it is.”
Koenig is still out on the road as Metallica’s lighting director, running every show. “There’s no timecode. It’s all live,” he says. “The show is very organic, and we never know what the band is going to do, and we love it that way.”
Read Metallica WorldWired Tour, Part One, which focuses on the swarm of drones from Verity Studios, and Metallica WorldWired Tour, Part Two with an interview with Dan Braun and more on the design of this in-the-round arena tour.
Register for the live webcast on the tour design on August 21, 2018.