Lighting Co
Pulse Lighting LLC
Venue
Various (Tour)
Crew
Lighting Designer: Kenny Gribbon
Co-Designers: Mikey Cummings, Paul Hoffman
Lighting Director/Programmer: Kenny Gribbon
Tour Manager: Bryan Sandell
Production Manager: Joseph King
Stage Manager: Daniel Thigpen
Lighting Crew Chief/Lighting Tech: Carrie Ravitz
Laser Tech: Josh Platt
Pulse Lighting Account Rep: Paul Hoffman
Lasers: Mega Lasers/Mark Nath
Trucking Co: Stage Call
Gear
1 grandMA2 Full console
1 ETC Smart Fade 12/96 controller
15 Robe MegaPointes
12 Robe Spikies
32 GLP impression X4 fixtures
10 GLP impression X4S fixtures
27 GLP XBar 10 fixtures
10 GLP JDC1 Strobes
2 GLP LED Tubes
8 Martin MAC Viper Profiles
18 Chauvet Strike 1 fixtures
6 Elation Cuepix Strips
4 15 Watt Kvant Lasers
4 30 Watt Kvant Lasers
2 Antari 1000 Hazers
2 Antari 500 Hazers
4 Chauvet Vesuvio II units
2 Antari Ice 101 low fog machines
2 Mirror Balls
Tour Notes:
California reggae act Rebelution recently finished their Free Rein summer tour. The tour kicked off June 22 at the Orlando Amphitheater in Orlando, FL and wrapped up with one last show at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre in Chula Vista on Sept. 8.
Designer Insights by Steve Jennings:
Rebelution Free Rein Tour
Kenny Gribbon
Lighting Designer and Director
Lighting designer and director Kenny Gribbon started working as tour designer and director with the band Rebelution in 2013, his first client to truly design for. Both the band and Pulse Lighting grew together from there. That first winter tour started with four moving lights and some LEDs while Pulse was operating on a small level. Now the band has invested into large summer designs carrying full rigging and Pulse now has a home base in Nashville with a proper warehouse for prep and programming. Gribbon’s link to Rebelution came through Paul Hoffman. In 2012 Hoffman did a short run with the band and brought them on as a client. Hoffman put Gribbon on a 3-night holiday run over New Years’ in 2012 as a trial and it really worked out for him. “I can’t answer the history before me, but when I started working for Rebelution it was with Pulse Lighting. Pulse has been the vendor and designers since then.
Mikey Cummings and Paul Hoffman (co-designers for the tour) are both veterans of the business compared to my time in it. We are a family at Pulse and both those guys have been great mentors to me all around. When it comes to the design process to the final product, I would say there is a lot of collaboration going on. The band was very involved in the design process and had specific ideas they wanted to see. As different variations of the design were going on, I would consult Mikey often. He has great ideas for design and his input helps bring all our designs to the next level. He often challenges me every tour I go on to either take something out or add something new to push me out of my comfort zone. My programming and style for the Rebelution show has evolved a lot because of Mikey’s input and constructive criticism over the years. Paul was more involved in the engineering side and planning of the tour. Finding some custom pieces and helping take the design ideas to a touring production to be built and broke down night after night. Paul was also with me throughout the programming process. There was a good week straight of programming late nights with a live rig in our warehouse. A few times I had a creative block and asked for some input. There were a few moments in the show that were Paul’s direct ideas too.”
In past summer tours before this, all Rebelution had was a backdrop design, says Gribbon. This year the band requested to get away from that as a priority. That opened the lighting design to have lights layered behind the band. The band also had the idea to have a heptagon shape as a center piece hanging from the upstage truss. “We hung GLP XBar 10s and X4S’s off the heptagon. The shape itself sort of became the theme of the show design. We made custom heptagon cone gobos for our Robe Megapointe fixtures. The gobos worked out great to have the cone look but also have the option for a gobo spin effect.”
The newest fixture featured is the GLP JDC1 strobes which Gribbon quickly became a fan of. The band requested the riser set up to have lighting shooting out to create a hovering effect. As if the band themselves were hovering in midair, notes Gribbon. “To achieve this, we used two Antari Ice 101 Low Fog Machines to fill the space under the risers along with 4 JDC1 fixtures underneath the risers, facing away from the audience. We used riser skirts on the back and sides of the risers leaving the front open. The brightness of the JDC1s really worked to create the desired hovering effect.”
The last major addition on this tour were lasers. Rebelution and Gribbon had worked with lasers a lot over the years. They only added them on bigger shows in the past and Gribbon would work with a laser programmer/operator calling cues during the show. “This was my first opportunity to get hands on with the laser software and programming show cues into my grandMA. For this tour we used four 15-watt KVANT lasers and four 30-watt KVANT lasers. Lasers bring a great wow factor to any show but getting the time I had to program and experiment this tour really allowed for a subtly and a finesse throughout the show that I hadn’t been able to achieve in the past.
It’s been a great experience working with both Rebelution and Pulse Lighting. Both invested in me and allowed me to grow as an artist and designer. It has been a true honor and a privilege to work with such great people.”
More Rebelution Free Rein tour photos by Steve Jennings: