Florida Georgia Line has begun their “Anything Goes” 2015 world tour, in support of their latest album, with a large complement of Clay Paky lighting fixtures, grandMA2 consoles and MDG foggers and hazers. A.C.T Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of all of the brands in North America.
Lighting designer and programmer Scott Cunningham selected the equipment from the inventory of Morris Light & Sound in Nashville. He’s deploying 40 new Clay Paky Mythos fixtures, 24 A.leda B-EYE K20s, 14 Sharpys and 24 Sharpy washes in the lighting rig.
“I’ve been using Sharpys since I started to work with the band,” says Cunningham. “They love a good bright, poppy show, and Sharpys really make themselves known in clubs and arenas. And they’re a real workhorse.”
Cunningham surrounds the stage with Sharpys, which act as floor lights to accent the sets; he also positions them on the thrust. “They fill out the space from ground to ceiling,” he says.
The tour is his first carrying Sharpy washes, which serve as side and wash lights. “They’re good and punchy for highlighting the guys,” he reports.
“Anything Goes” also marks Cunningham’s first time out with the K20 fixtures, which he has mounted on truss, three lights per eight feet to create clusters of six in each 16-foot section. “We love the built-in patterns, and we have programmed in more to accent the show,” he explains. “They’ve been stellar.”
Mythos fixtures are mixed on the truss, too, flying in clusters of five. It’s believed that “Anything Goes” is the first US tour for the highly-advanced hybrid light which serves as an excellent 470-watt spotlight and an extraordinary beam light.
Morris Light & Sound president David Haskell and tour production designer Mike Swinford urged Cunningham to take a look at Mythos, which A.C.T Lighting had introduced them to. “A.C.T did a demo for me, and I saw that Mythos was a powerful, multipurpose light with a beam mode and a zoom option,” Cunningham recalls. “Because of its flexibility and functionality I just had to have it!”
He notes that the tour features “quite a bit of video” from an upstage center videowall and two IMAG side screens and finds that Mythos keeps up with the competing brightness of the video elements.
Cunningham programmed and operates the grandMA2 consoles on the tour. He switched to grandMA2 when he began working with Florida Georgia Line and received training on the system from A.C.T. “Although I was coming from other consoles, it wasn’t scary to jump right in,” he says. “The functionality of the desk is very powerful – more powerful and in-depth than others I have used.” He deploys a full-size grandMA2 at FOH and two grandMA2 lights near-stage for video control and as a back up. The systems are outfitted with five NPUs.
Haze and fog play a big part in the show, too. So Cunningham equipped the tour with MDG’s theONE, a fully-digital dual-mode fog/haze atmospheric generator, and two MDG ATMe hazers, the evolution of the company’s world-famous Atmosphere.
“I use theONE for indoor arenas – it’s amazing the output of haze and fog it can generate to fill an arena,” he says. “I plan to use the ATMe hazers for amphitheaters and outdoor venues when it’s windy and you need to produce more haze.”
Cunningham maintains close ties with A.C.T Lighting during the tour. “They make sure everything is going well at the shows,” he says. “Their customer service has been great, really top-notch.”
Co-programming the tour is Mark Butts. Marshall Blair, Manny Loayza and Zach Schwandt are the lighting techs.
About A.C.T Lighting
A leading importer and distributor of lighting products, A.C.T Lighting, Inc. strives to identify future trends and cutting-edge products, and stock, sell and support their inventory. The company provides superior customer service and value for money to all of its clients.
For more information about A.C.T Lighting, visit www.actlighting.com
# # #
