NASHVILLE – Country music super group Little Big Town’s Pain Killer Tour, which launched in Aug. 2014, continues this year. LD Chris Shrom is using Bandit Lites-supplied gear for the looks that have evolved as the band’s shows have progressed from smaller festivals to arenas.
More details from Bandit (www.banditlites.com):
Originally, Shrom had to design a rig that would fit in one shared truck as well as on a StageLine 320. This lighting rig consisted of 28 Magic Panels, 8 Martin Atomic 3000 Strobe lights (with color scrollers), 8 VL 3000s and 6 VL 3500 washes, with local 120K for general wash.
“We literally couldn’t fit one more road case in the truck, and I think one more case would have put it overweight,” said Shrom.
Following the tour’s move to arenas, the new design could include more truck space and a weight-bearing roof, although playing half-house, he had to design around a scoreboard.
For that leg of the tour Bandit supplied 12 VL3000s, 12 VL3500 Washes, 8 sharpys, 6 mac auras, 16 Atomic 3000s (yes, still with color scrollers), 12 2-lite mole-fays, 12 GRN PARs for sidelight, 8 GRN washes for uplight, 8 GRN moving washes for front light, 8 single cell cyc lights, 4 10-way ministrips and 42 magic panels.
As the Painkiller Tour kicked off its 2015 leg, Shrom was asked to keep the general design the same, but shrink the look for theatres. To accomplish this (and fit it all in a truck shared with a video wall), he ultimately sacrificed some magic panels and combined two trusses from the fall run to one truss.
“I used to think that the more lights I was able to cram onto a truck, the better the show would look,” said Shrom. “I’ve learned that a few lights with purpose can be just as effective. The Painkiller lighting rig wasn’t that big if you really took inventory, but every light on that rig has a purpose. The only exception to that statement would be the magic panels, but they were also the key to the big look. They filled every dark space from the floor to the lighting rig 30 feet up.”
