Chicago’s Wintrust Arena hosted an ambitious audiovisual production for Levity’s show, designed by Ryan Warffuel and the team at Antic Studios.
Designed for a 360º format, the production integrated 330 FB4 lasers coordinated through a network of nine laptops, along with a lighting system featuring 60 CHAUVET Professional Color STRIKE M motorized strobe-washes, creating an immersive experience built around the synchronization of light, video, and music.
Antic Studios developed the design together with LEC Event Technology and Slick Lasers, transforming the 10,000-capacity venue into an immersive environment of light and colour synchronized with the hardcore bass trio’s performance on a central 360º stage. The combination of lasers, dynamic lighting, and visual content allowed the show to adapt to the arena’s complex architecture while maintaining visual cohesion.
This was a 360º show in an arena with multiple levels and a highly asymmetrical structure, so the main challenge was projecting the lasers safely in every direction without losing visual cohesion. To achieve this, we distributed the beams from the centre of the stage towards the audience, around and above the ‘Lasership’, and even incorporated crowd-scanning lasers directed at the audience. All of this required extensive technical planning, zoning, and scene programming, explained Warffuel.
Warffuel and his team also carefully studied the placement of the Color STRIKE M fixtures throughout the venue. Antic Studios supplied these units along with part of the lighting system, while LEC Event Technology handled audio, rigging, power distribution, and network infrastructure. Most of the laser system was provided by Slick Lasers, with additional equipment supplied by Antic Studios and Levity.
“We made sure to position enough fixtures at ideal viewing angles so they could all be seen clearly”, explained Warffuel. “The tilt function is also extremely useful in a setup like this, as it allows us to adapt them to the different levels of the arena”.
The STRIKE M fixtures work extremely well in a show like this because their intensity allows them to stand out even among a large number of lasers. In addition, their pixel-mapping capabilities provide extensive programming possibilities to integrate visually with the rest of the system. Our goal was to coordinate lighting, lasers, and video so that all elements worked together without competing with each other, while still giving each one its own moment to shine. Achieving that level of synchronization required very precise planning and many hours of programming and rehearsal, continued Warffuel.
Working in harmony across the entire system, Antic Studios and the full Levity team — including Alyssa Miller (Video Director/VJ/Cameras), Owen Howell (Lighting Director/LD), and Corbin Sharpe (Laser Director/Operator) — created a series of hypnotic visual sequences throughout the two-hour concert.
At certain moments, the lighting completely transformed the perception of the venue, with laser beams projected from the circular stage turning the space into a futuristic spacecraft-like environment suspended above the audience, reinforcing the immersive nature of the show.
“We wanted the show to evolve constantly, avoiding the use of all the visual resources right from the beginning and introducing new effects and scenes as the performance progressed”, explained Warffuel. The goal, he added, was to keep the audience immersed throughout the concert through a continuously evolving visual narrative.
