Physicists define time and distance in terms of light for a reason: it seems to be everywhere at once, making it the ideal medium to show the passage of time in extraordinary journeys.
Matthieu Larivée and the Lüz Studio team channeled this power when designing the production for Rascal Flatts’ 21-city Life is a Highway tour, which traveled across North America for three months this year.
The tour spanned the multi-award-winning band’s 25-year career, a journey that has resulted in 16 number one hits and over 11 million tickets sold. When discussing the best ways to reflect the group’s vast achievements, the Lüz team took a small step back from the immersive 3D video elements that characterize many of their impressive designs, and relied more on lighting.
Given the retrospective nature of the tour and the band’s career, we focused on lighting, a timeless resource. Their repertoire includes ballads that require subtlety, power ballads that demand intense light transitions, and rock and roll songs that call for dynamic effects. The combination of the lighting rig with the digital system gave us the tools to support the show, said Larivée.
A key part of the lighting system were the 42 Maverick Storm 1 Hybrid fixtures from CHAUVET Professional, supplied by Bandit Lites. Describing this 420W 7700K beam-spot-wash unit as a versatile device, Larivée used it to create a wide range of moods with colors and gobos.
“We placed the Storm 1 Hybrid in various positions to help us define the shape of the rig without being too graphic or modern”, he explained. “Also, since this tour celebrated the artist’s 25 years of music, we wanted to foster a strong connection with the audience, so we used two V trusses to help bridge the stage and the audience light”.
Larivée explained how light, digital lighting, and video were integrated in this production to create a captivating canvas for the band to tell their story through music. “We used a stage extension with multiple layers, as versatile as a Swiss Army knife. The video, although condensed and dynamic, summarized a 90-minute show in just 30 seconds”.
We started the show with the band’s logo on a 3D sign and lit it differently for three songs. That way, we were able to focus attention on the band at the start of the show. Then we raised the sign to make way for a virtual IMAG canvas. This canvas was frosted glass. Behind the glass was a wall of light that gradually emerged during the next songs, until at one point we reached the wall of lights and stayed there until the end of the concert. The idea was to use digital lighting to enhance the main lighting rig, not to create a stage extension or simulate a specific location, continued Larivée.
To allow the lighting system to integrate with the digital and video elements, a floor cart system designed by Bandit’s Dizzy Gosnell, Jake Tickle, and Andy Knighton was used. “With their two sides, they could light up and generate unique graphic effects that never felt repetitive”, explained Larivée, adding that “they helped the light serve as a bridge between the band and the video screen”.
A bridge to the screen? Yes, it was just one of the many ways the unifying power of light led the Life is a Highway tour for an iconic band that has stood the test of time.
