GLP reports increased demand during the summer and autumn for its skytracker MAD MAXX, a large-format LED luminaire designed to recreate the effect of the xenon searchlights of 3 kW and 7 kW historically used in large-scale shows and events.
With a beam diameter of 750 mm, promoters, production designers and other creative professionals have incorporated the MAD MAXX into stage designs and scenography to generate large-scale beams and reinforce the visual presence of their productions.
The device uses 19 individually controllable 90 W white LEDs, delivering a total output of up to 68,000 lumens. These pixels can be controlled individually or grouped into three segments — centre, inner ring and outer ring — for dynamic effects and pixel mapping.
Based in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Gateway Productions was among the first companies to adopt the fixture, investing in 10 MAD MAXX units after initially seeing them in a GLP video and later in person at InfoComm. Its owner, Alex Sommerfeld, a long-time GLP customer, says the fixture matched what he was looking for to differentiate his offering.
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We’re a small company, a regional provider, and when I go to trade shows or work out in the field I want to bring something different. I’m not looking for the typical product that is just a bit brighter. I want to encourage lighting designers to work more with regional providers and demonstrate some forward thinking. MAD MAXX represents a new scale in size and will allow me to push that market and hopefully offer touring clients something extra that stands out.
The luminaires were used on T-Pain’s TP20 tour, celebrating the 20th anniversary of his debut album Rappa Ternt Sanga. Lighting design was handled by Noah (Nappy Boy) Lucas. “I first saw them last year on Instagram and was really intrigued by the unique possibilities they offer, both for striking visual effects and for extremely wide beams,” Lucas says. “I was looking for a wide beam, especially for amphitheatre shows and Red Rocks. I wanted the light to reach as far as the lasers.”
Lucas first deployed the MAD MAXX on a show at Radio City Music Hall in September. “We used six in an upstage line behind four cars to create a huge searchlight and beam effect in the show. They really stood out. The local crew were impressed with the fixtures and kept talking about them, especially when I asked them to take them out of the cases,” he says with a laugh. “For the tour we used two on the downstage edges. In fact, we built custom scenery around the bases of the flightcases so we didn’t have to take the fixtures out every day.”
They exceeded my expectations and, considering their size, I was surprised at how quickly they can move. They were very easy to program and I used them in full mode. At times I even wrote the names of songs with them. For our track ‘Got Money’, for example, I turned them into casino dice. I loved the variety of effects we could achieve. I’ll definitely be using these fixtures again on future tours, Lucas adds.
Chris Ruppel and Michael Smalley of PHNTM Productions are among the other creatives who used MAD MAXX on the Zodiac stage — the festival’s second stage — at the Valley of the Seven Stars Festival in Arrington, Virginia, which featured a diverse artist line-up.
“We first saw MAD MAXX in person at a GLP roadshow after we had already used them on this project,” Ruppel explains. The fixtures were sub-rented from Volt Lites by Christie Lites, PHNTM’s main supplier.
“We chose MAD MAXX because of the size and the visual language of the face of the fixture, which matched the design language we had already established in some of the scenic elements on the stage,” adds Michael Smalley. The scale of the fixture also aligned well with the overall scale of the stage design. “Ultimately it acted almost like a beacon drawing the audience toward the stage, although the original emphasis was on the size and shape of the lenses.”
A pair of fixtures were mounted on 7.5-metre towers at the far left and right of the stage, just behind the PA system, and programmed in 3 multi beam mode (170 DMX channels). According to the creative team, the setup delivered the visual impact they were aiming for in that space.
They definitely achieved the effect we were aiming for: reflecting the visual language of shapes in the design and providing a large-scale fixture that fit our creative approach to the stage set. We were unlucky with the weather on the third day, but there was a positive surprise: in the air they looked incredible, reflecting in the raindrops and lighting up the low clouds, Ruppel concludes.
In addition to Ruppel and Smalley, the production team included Elliott Little (technical director), William Kessler (production manager) and Chris Olivieri (stage manager). Lighting designer Marcus Jessup also used a pair of MAD MAXX units from Gateway Productions on Playboi Carti’s Antagonist 2.0 tour in support of his album Music (2025). The designer is expected to expand the deployment next year when joining Bad Bunny on a world tour. Gateway has also supplied MAD MAXX fixtures for tours by Falling In Reverse and Ice Cube’s 40th anniversary Truth To Power tour.
Photo credit (T-Pain) – @shawnriddlephoto
Photo credit (Valley of the Seven Suns) – ALIVE
