ON Services has acquired 100 Robe WTF! fixtures, IP-rated LED strobe, wash and blinder luminaires with continuous movement. Of these, 88 are featured on country music legend George Strait’s 2026 tour, with lighting design by Stacey and Skylar LaBarbera.
The LaBarberas—Stacey and his eldest son Skylar, who runs his own production design company and serves as the tour’s co-designer as well as its lighting and media programmer—specified 88 of these fixtures because they were looking for a new IP-rated luminaire that could literally wash, twist and flash, according to Donny LoDico, ON Services’ Senior Account Executive for Touring & National Lighting: "So we bought them".
Donny added that the purchase of 100 units—a nice round number—will allow the WTF! fixtures to become part of ON Services’ rental inventory, where they will be used on festivals, tours, exhibitions and corporate events. Some have already made their debut on other productions, including concerts by rock band Def Leppard.
Donny, who still works on lighting design projects, had been evaluating several strobe fixtures with a large-scale investment in mind.
For me, the WTF! is a truly multifunctional product and a luminaire that met a wide range of requirements for both us and our clients, he said.
As a lighting designer, he particularly appreciates its continuous 360° pan and tilt movement, zoom, segmented light output and exceptional brightness. "We were looking for an IP-rated outdoor fixture that was powerful enough to cover the audience while also being capable of creating high-impact visual effects", he explained.
With more than 1,500 Robe moving lights in ON Services’ inventory—including iFORTE, iFORTE LTX, Spiider, ESPRITE, Spikie, Tetra2 and LEDBeam 350—Donny already knew the WTF! would be a reliable, robust and well-engineered product.
As a company that already considers Robe one of its key brands, it made perfect sense to continue investing in the same manufacturer. The fixtures will be distributed among ON Services’ six locations.
Stacey and Skylar LaBarbera share the same enthusiasm. After many years working with Robe, Stacey believes they "build innovative, high-quality and reliable fixtures," and he is constantly looking for something different to make each lighting design stand out. Both believe the WTF! fixtures are "perfect for the profile of this tour and the scale of the stadium shows George Strait is playing today".
When you're lighting stadiums, you need serious intensity, and the WTF! is impressive, especially thanks to its colour performance and its strobe capabilities combined with pan, tilt and zoom. It allows us to precisely adjust the fixtures' coverage to suit the size of each venue, while the different zoom sections provide tremendous flexibility for creating striking visual effects. It's an incredibly versatile fixture for audience lighting with colour and strobe effects. On top of that, it retains the central 'CTO Mole' strip, which adds even more functionality, and we use it on virtually every song to light the audience during George's show, added Skylar.
On George Strait’s tour, they use 40 WTF! fixtures mounted on eight trusses positioned above and below the four onstage video walls to wash the audience with light. The production is staged in the round, with the audience surrounding the stage. In addition, each of the four corners of the rig features 12 WTF! fixtures arranged in grid-like pods, which are used both for eye-candy effects and audience lighting.
The fixtures are operated in full pixel mode, allowing them to create sparkling, shimmering and kinetic effects, as well as many other visual looks. "I spent a lot of time programming them to get them exactly the way I wanted. In full channel mode, the possibilities were endless", said Skylar.
The LaBarberas first saw a demonstration of the WTF! some time ago and decided to use them at the first opportunity. Donny also supplied a couple of units so they could begin programming and previsualising the tour. "It's so bright you can't even look at it while you're programming", Skylar joked. "Anything above 5% and I have to wear sunglasses".
Stacey likes the fact that the WTF! is based on a simple concept: a square wash fixture with a pixel array. Yet behind that simplicity are advanced features including continuous pan and tilt movement, focus, zoom, a wide range of high-quality whites and colours, plus the central tungsten-style "Mole" strip and tungsten emulation on the centre pixels.
According to Skylar, the IP rating makes the WTF! an ideal solution for outdoor events, festivals and large stadiums by offering a level of control far beyond that of a conventional molefay or standard colour blinder. "You can focus them directly from the console and easily fill every dark corner of the venue with light. It's an incredible fixture—powerful and truly unique".
Stacey also highlighted the excellent relationship they have with Donny and the ON Services team, praising them for always staying up to date with the latest technological developments in the industry. He also noted that everyone involved understood this was a major investment that needed to deliver long-term value.
After more than 37 years working with George Strait, Stacey is a clear example of a professional relationship built on trust and of how lighting design evolves alongside technology and the changing demands of live production. Reflecting on that experience, he said:
I have seen lighting evolve in so many ways, both in techniques and in technology, and I am always looking for something different that stands out. Josef Valchar, Robe's CEO, and his team continuously develop cutting-edge ideas and technologies that help all of us in the industry keep pushing the boundaries of creativity and originality.
For his part, Donny also praised the excellent relationship ON Services enjoys with the Robe North America team, which supplied the fixtures, highlighting the outstanding level of support the company receives from the brand.
Photo credits: Donny LoDico, ON Services
