Marilyn Manson's Guns, God, and Government tour, in support of his Holy Wood CD, is playing theatre-size venues for a more intimate feel. But there's still a rush for the audience — and from the pulsating lights and strobes of lighting director A.J. Pen.
Pen, a programmer for TLC, Yes, and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, hooked up with Manson through the latter act's Soul 2 Soul LD LeRoy Bennett (see February LD, page 70). “Roy designed this tour and sent me out to program it; we spent a couple weeks on the phone, sending drawings back and forth, then worked on rehearsals. He was out with me for the first week of shows. It's a total pleasure to work for him, with his past experience with Manson and the way he lights up a rig.
“I usually videotape every third show to see if there is anything I can improve on; it's a good reference tool. With this tour Manson was really concerned with timing, and when he saw that I was hitting the cues at the right time he got comfortable with me. I think he trusts me — if he sees something he doesn't like he'll tell me right away. And he's an artist who notices everything — the set changes, the audio, anything with production.
“Everyone involved is interested in putting on a good show, which is fortunate because it's very theatrical. We have seven different stage looks, different set pieces, a lift for one song he does — there's a lot going on.”
The lighting supplier is Upstaging. “We're using High End Systems Studio Colors® and Studio Spots®. We have 42 Diversitronics 3k strobes, and 10 of those have fixtures that are double strobes put together with a color changer in front. I had never done that before, and it's incredible; I can use strobes in every song because I can get a different look for every one.”
For the “evil, weird angles” Manson prefers, Pen has elected not to use followspots. “We're using Strand Beamlight projectors, with a 5k large-format scroller on the front. I have control over those — they're mounted on the downstage truss so they're at a very high side angle, starting with a 20" beam that spreads out to about 40". It's a very solid shaft of light that comes down on him — he doesn't like frontlight. The spot guys can always get him, and I have control over them from the console as opposed to calling spots.”
GUNS, GOD AND GOVERNMENT TOUR
10 | single-cell cyclights |
3 | custom 7kW audience blinders |
42 | Diversitronics80 3kW strobes |
2 | Strand81 Beamlight projectors |
19 | High End Systems82 Studio Spots |
62 | High End Systems Studio Colors |
10 | Wybron83 Colorams for strobes |
2 | Wybron Colorams for Beamlights |
2 | High End Systems F-100 foggers |
2 | Reel EFX84 DF-50 hazers |
2 | Flying Pig Systems85 Wholehog II consoles |
60 | ETC86 Sensor 2.4kW dimmers |
6 | Tomcat117 8' black pre-rig truss sections |
10 | Tomcat 8' black 12"×18" box truss sections |
2 | Tomcat black truss corner blocks |
15 | Tomcat 8' black 12"×12" box truss sections |
16 | Columbus McKinnon96 chain hoists |
1 | Motion Laboratories118 motor control system |
7 | traveler track systems |
2 | underhung spotlight seats |
1 | kabuki system |
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