Chancelor Bennett, also know as Chance the Rapper, is a 23-year-old hip hop artist whose rise to fame was credited to his highly successful mixtape, Acid Rap. Chance, a Chicago native, is currently on his Magnificent Coloring World Tour promoting his third mixtape, Coloring Book. His mixtape is the first stream-only album to reach top 10 in the Billboards 200 receiving over 57 million streams in the first week alone. LMG Touring is on the road providing video, lighting, LED and technical support for this sold out tour.
“The inspiration behind the show came directly from Chance,” says Michael Apostolos, Chance the Rapper’s Lighting Designer. “He came to the me with the idea of creating a theatrical show that was both personal to himself and his fans. To create the desired look, a key element used for this tour was the use of animatronic puppets as the visual representation of the backing choir within Chance’s music. “The aim was for the puppets to be playful and colorful, yet stand uniform as the choir,” explains Art Director OJ Hays. The production was designed with the thought of blending elements from previous tours with fresh ideas and new music, while still giving fans the high-energy, hard hitting show that they’re used to.
To help bring this vision to life, LMG Touring provided a variety of lighting fixtures including the Mac Viper, Martin Mac Wash, Robe CycFx and the Vari-Lite VL 4000. The Robe Wash fixtures was chosen for it’s power and versatility. “The Robe Wash fixtures gave us the power of a tighter beam field while offering the powerful stage wash features needed for a show with several points of focus,” explains Apostolos.
To create the powerful visual punctuation envisioned, the design team used a combination of the Vari-Lite VL 4000 and the Robe CycFX. The Robe CycFX defined the scenic stage elements and was also implemented to create a more classic foot light and pixel animation presence. The Vari-Lite VL 4000 framing shutters highlighted the puppets and stage performers; but the fixture was utilized for it’s versatility and overall color fixing quality. The Mac Vipers helped create side light definition by offering points of animation onto the stage action. The GrandMA2 Lighting Console was chosen for it’s adaptability, reliability and amazing features that helped Apostolos operate this show.
LMG’s 8MM LED tiles were used for their versatility and ability to deliver a clear and crisp image. “The LED contributed immensely,” Apostolos says. For this tour the 8MM LEDs served as a multipurpose backdrop; ranging anywhere from an immersive backdrop to a choir stall for the animatronic puppets. “They helped us portray custom content to the audience while accommodating to a variety of different stage designs and venues.”
For this tour, a custom camera package of three LDK300s and Marshall POV’s were used to capture the show and distribute video signals. “The camera package allows us to display IMAG of the show with the audience. There are a lot of moving pieces and details that we wanted to depict and the camera package allowed us to capture the incredible moments in the show and relay them to the audience in a larger and more personal way,” explains Apostolos.
“LMG Touring supported the vision from the jump and helped the production team tailor the right equipment to fit this unique show given the short timeframe for prep. Through their hard-work and support, we were able to pull off this incredible theatrical show,” Apostolos states.
“This tour came together very quickly. Once the design was finalized and quoted, we only had a few days before we went into prep and onto rehearsals. The shows have been fantastic! The Lighting and the use of IMAG mixed in with video content is very well done. Michael Apostolos and the entire production team have been a pleasure to work with!” recaps LMG’s Director of Touring, Craig Mitchell.
