AARHUS, Denmark — As John Mayer travels the world on his 4-conintent “Born and Raised” tour, lighting designer Nathan Alves ensures the lavish set is deployed quickly and easily to wow fans beyond Mayer’s renowned guitar playing. Supplied by Upstaging, 50 HARMAN Martin Professional MAC Vipers and 18 MAC III Quadrays light up the stage for the 9-month tour.
“We chose Viper because of its size and weight. It’s really the only full-feature light that will stand up to our video backgrounds and the wide variety of other beam-driven graphics on stage. Viper’s crisp beam and flat field really impressed me,” stated Alves. “I have eight instrumentalists on stage at every venue and I require a light that will hold up to everything from the bright spots to the ware and tear of international travel.”
The Quadrays were originally slated as MAC III Arifx fixtures, but after a demo Alves was content with the change. The versatility and dynamic shift the fixtures provided, from a frosted, even wash on a performer to its 4-beam explosion of light in multiple directions, left his options open to keep up with the high energy of Mayer’s performance.
“We never know which way John is going to turn next on this tour, so it’s almost an exercise in clairvoyance,” Alves continued. “I needed to design a system that could go in almost any direction creatively at any moment. Between the speed of the fixtures and the attention Martin paid to the demand of lightweight fixtures, I can do twice as much with half the fixtures, fewer trucks, fewer stagehands and smaller vendor costs.”
The Born and Raised tour began in summer 2013 and runs through April 2014.
For more information on Upstaging, please visit
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As a world leader in the creation of dynamic lighting solutions for the entertainment, architectural, and commercial sectors, Martin lighting and video systems are renowned the world over. Martin also offers a range of advanced lighting controllers and media servers, as well as a complete line of smoke machines as a complement to intelligent lighting. Martin operates the industry’s most complete and capable distributor network with local partners in nearly 100 countries. Founded in 1987 and based in Aarhus, Denmark, Martin is the lighting division of global infotainment and audio company HARMAN International Industries. For more information please visit:
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HARMAN (
) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands, including AKGA®, Harman KardonA®, InfinityA®, JBLA®, LexiconA® and Mark LevinsonA®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of 14,600 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.5 billion for the last twelve months ended September 30, 2013.
