Seattle-based rock band Soundgarden’s new King Animal Tour has hit the road with Chromlech Elidy LEDs – the first tour to use the fixtures – and a grandMA2 console supplied by Upstsaging. A.C.T lighting is the distributor of Chromlech Elidy fixtures and the MA products in North America.
The national tour is in support of the rockers’ sixth studio album, also called “King Animal,” which was released last November. Their first engagement played Washington, D.C.’s D.A.R. Constitution Hall in January.
“We designed a show very specific to a theater space,” says Justin Collie, production designer with PEDG. “The tour is a high-tech ‘old school’ theater production. We used 60 of the S panels, arrayed as truss fascia. We selected them for the novelty of the fixture and because they fit in very well in terms of the color temperature. They feel like an old-school lamp but have an ultra-modern effect. They give a nice warm tungsten color temperature, and you cab map media servers to them. It’s very easy to get effects, and we can make specific QuickTime Movies to get very precise effects.”
French-made Chromlech Elidy fixtures are the world’s first LED matrixes capable of projecting volumetric graphics. They combine high-output, calibrated, warm white LEDs with specific optics to generate extremely narrow beams that far exceed the intensity of LED screens. Elidy fixtures are also decorative items that can blend easily into scenery, backgrounds and décor by using a wide range of accessories, including unique new customized covers. These covers are attached either magnetically or as a snap-on and change the panels’ appearance to take on different colors and textures, including wood, metal, mirror, leather, stone and even grass.
Lighting designer Kille Knobel configured the Elidys in three large rectangular panels rigged “like a roof” with two horizontal and one vertical. “I saw a demo online and thought they looked really beautiful,” she recalls. “I’m a huge fan of tungsten fixtures, and these really had a true tungsten feel about them for an LED. Also, I could pixel map them as well as use them as a light source. They’ve got a beautiful look, and we’ve gotten some really good effects out of them.”
Knobel says once she tracked down the still new Elidy fixtures, “A.C.T Lighting and Upstaging worked tirelessly with us to make sure we could use them on this tour. I like them a lot!”
Adds Collie, “They’re working great – they’re very effective and very flexible.”
The King Animal Tour marks Knobel’s first time using a grandMA2, as well. “It’s an incredibly powerful console with a level of flexibility and user-definable options that outpace other desks,” she says. “The sheer creativity and the power of the console really drove me to use it.” Jason Baeri is the grandMA2 programmer for the Soundgarden tour.
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.
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