Two Avolites D7 consoles control nearly 400 lighting fixtures on Godsmack’s tour

Danish lighting designer Niller Bjerrgaard purchased an Avolites D7-330 and a D7-215 in 2026 and brought them on Godsmack's current world tour across North America and Europe, controlling around 400 lighting fixtures transported in four trucks.

Bjerrgaard joined the American rock band's crew during its 2025 European tour. He began working with Avolites Pearl consoles in the early 2000s and had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the D7 series. "I loved those old Pearl Rollacues for creating and improvising shows", he recalls, although he acknowledges that he now works very differently, relying on cue stacks and layering effects on top.

The designer purchased both consoles a month before the tour began: the D7-330 as the main console and the D7-215 as a backup. According to Bjerrgaard, learning to use the D7 "wasn't as hard as I thought", thanks in part to online tutorials by Kade Behn, Avolites' Head of Training and Technical Support in North America, whose workshop he attended in Phoenix.

The same features in a more compact format

The D7-215 offers the same features and hardware as the D7-330, but with one fewer screen. Its design allows it to fit into a Peli case and, weighing 27 kg, makes it practical for one-off performances or television appearances between tour legs.

With lighting fixtures configured in both "sensible" and "wide" modes, Bjerrgaard considers the consoles' capacity to be "more than enough for most good-sized tours".

Palettes, Pixel Mapper and tracking

Among the features Bjerrgaard particularly highlights is Palettes, which makes cloning and morphing parameters between fixtures easier. Through the spatial layout of the fixtures, this tool also enables pixel effects and dynamic chase sequences across the lighting rig's XYZ axes.

The designer uses Pixel Mapper on every fixture with pixels, creating layered effects with a strong visual impact. He also uses Key Frame Shapes as an alternative to traditional chases.

By working in Cue Stack mode with tracking, he estimates that he can now complete programming tasks in approximately two and a half hours that previously took around four hours.

Consoles designed by live show professionals

Bjerrgaard also highlights several practical details of the D7 consoles, including the rear work light, which he describes as "the coolest idea", the keyboard drawer and the two network cards, which allow the band's lighting system to remain on a separate network during festivals.

These small details are very important to me and demonstrate, once again, that the consoles were designed by people who actually work on live shows, he says.

The consoles were supplied by Danish distributor Light Partner, which also provided two days of training. During rehearsals in Nashville and Tampa, Roy Hunt of Christie Lites, Godsmack's lighting supplier, coordinated technical support from Andre Huff of Limelight.

For these sessions, the two D7 consoles were networked, allowing both to be operated simultaneously and their features to be demonstrated. "Avolites absolutely went the extra kilometres in support", concludes Bjerrgaard, highlighting the company's commitment throughout the tour preparations.

Image credits: © Francesca Ludikar