Elation lights for PPV concert on historic Sacramento Bridge posted: 01/02/2021 Sacramento Production & Lighting provides all Elation rig for Dance Gavin Dance show
Last November 8th, rock band Dance Gavin Dance performed their new album Tree City Sessions 2 in its entirety on Tower Bridge in Sacramento, California, a setting that provided a visually stunning framework for the introduction of their latest music. The PPV concert, executive produced by Danny Wimmer Presents, was lit by Justin Wade and Sacramento Production & Lighting (SPL) using a rig of Elation Professional luminaires.
Formed in 2005, Dance Gavin Dance hail from Sacramento and are local favorites. Last February, the band had just started a tour to promote a new album release when the shutdown hit. Tour manager Travis Wade and Dion Cook of SPL, both of whom have worked with Dance Gavin Dance the last few years, decided to see if there was a market for pay-per-view streaming of the band, a project that culminated in a successful July PPV concert from a recording studio set up in a converted space in SPL's warehouse. When the band decided to do a second PPV concert last fall, Travis and band LD Justin Wade, called on Dion and SPL to help make it happen. Soon thereafter, the three began hashing out a design. Travis, a co-producer of the event together with Derek Brewer, came up with the stage concept while Justin handled lighting design and programming.
The show needed to be an elevation to anything the band had previously done and we treated it as such, comments Justin, who began working with the band on their Artificial Selection tour a few years ago. This show was shot in the round, with each band member facing other directions, similar to the cover of the Tree City Sessions 2 album. With that in mind, the goal was to create a similar atmosphere around the band, where lights would work almost as audience members, encapsulating the stage, while complementing the bridge and adding additional tonal focus to the bridge's architecture.
Justin says that shape and geometry was a big part of the show and that the geometric shape of the rig proved very important. I had created an initial Capture drawing and basic rig, then when I got with Dion at SPL we really started refining things, adding a series of additional truss lining further down the bridge to really hit the architecture around as well. We have a phenomenal relationship with Sacramento Production & Lighting and they have always treated us as family in the Sacramento area.
Extra requirements
Forming the scenic backdrop and surrounding the band for the shoot was Tower Bridge, a historic truss bridge in Sacramento that is among the most beautiful vertical lift bridges in the United States. When I was told the location would be the iconic Tower Bridge the first thing I did was to get a set of the 1934 blueprints in order to make a 3D CAD drawing in Vectorworks, Dion of SPL states. From there we collaborated on the design, taking into consideration extra requirements such as dealing with a major roadway closure and the police departments of two cities, working with the Coast Guard as the event took place on an active waterway, and creating a design that could be clear of the bridge breaks so that the bridge could open if needed. Of course, we also had to be COVID-19 compliant.
In the event that the Coast Guard had to open the bridge, Dion and his crew would have had to move quickly to break the connections at the gaps so the lights and stage could rise up with the center section of the bridge. Thankfully, that was not necessary and all went as planned with no hiccups, Dion said. The weather was good that night as well and everything fell into place.
Elation rig
With the host of extra issues to contend with, Dion was glad the choice of lighting fixtures was a more straightforward task. We chose the Elation gear because of the LD's familiarity with the lights but also because I knew that the fixtures chosen would cover the structure and give Justin a saturated look for the bridge, all while keeping the band the primary focus.
Surrounding the circular stage was a ground-based square of 20 Platinum 5R Extreme beam moving heads and 16 Platinum FLX hybrid moving heads. Justin explains: These were meant to work around the band, never at the band, using geometry in the position of the beams to complement the bridge but surround the band, directing focus inwards towards the stage itself. The positions were meant to reflect that, almost reminiscent of string art and geometric shapes. Needing something bright that wouldnt get lost under the citys ambient light for powerful beams all the way down the bridge or into the sky, the 5Rs and FLXs fulfilled the task. The FLXs were great at showing a nice gobo breakup in the beam and bright enough to add some really cool shape effects to the ceiling and architecture of the bridge as well, Justin adds.
Another key piece of the show, he says, was a circle of Fuze Wash Z350 single source par moving heads in the center of the stage used as a dynamic backlight around the band. Having taken these lights on the Artificial Selection tour as well, I knew they had great zoom attributes and would give a nice punch whether it be narrowed in or washed out. They move quickly and smoothly enough to get in and out of movements and into a clean look very seamlessly.
Additionally, a series of Colour Chorus 48 battens, Platinum 1200 Wash moving heads and additional Fuze 350s and FLXs were used to light the architecture going up and down the bridge. Brightness and clear defined colors were key as these were needed to really accentuate the architecture of the bridge, Justin continues. As mentioned before, this bridge was in the middle of a city with surrounding ambient light, so we needed fixtures bright enough
