The team at Harford Sound has set up stages in all kinds of places over the years, but none was quite like the site they worked at for Augusta After Dark. A signature event at this year’s Masters Golf Tournament, the evening gala, which was sponsored by Draft Kings and Sports Illustrated, took place at an upscale private estate near the prestigious Augusta National Golf Course.
Lavish, elegant and stunningly attractive, the ritzy home has a lot to recommend it, but it was never intended to host a one-hour show by a multi-Grammy winner for 500 VIP invited guests. The question quickly arose: where to put the stage? The answer, it turned out was over the swimming pool. This arrangement required more than a little fancy footwork on the part of production managers Evan Kirkendall and Steve Wozniak along with their team at Harford Sound and their partners in this project — Squadra Media and Film, and Stephanie Holland.
“It was a challenge building a stage and tent structure on top of a swimming pool,” declared the Harford Sound’s lighting designer, Gabe Odachowski. “What this meant in terms of lighting was that there were pretty strict restrictions with the weights we were allowed to hang off the tent. This called for multiple redesigns until we finally found a one that met the weight requirements, but still popped.”
Helping Odachowski and L2 Oliver Nelson find the happy spot between lightweight compactness and snappy power punching was a collection of 66 CHAUVET Professional fixtures taken from Harford Sound’s own inventory. “We had 36 Storm 1 Hybrids and 30 Outcast 2X Washes in the rig, which gave us plenty of options,” said Odachowski. “We used the hybrids for soft beam sweeps and added some layered gobos for depth, while the washes helped us shift colors smoothly to match the mood of each song during the performances. Our goal was to keep everything subtle and supportive of the music without being distractive. The same rig served double duty the following night with Sofi Tukker headlining. Thanks to the punchy, quick beams from the hybrids and the pixel control from the washes, creating the club vibe that evening was a breeze.”
For Dave Mathews’ acoustic performance, Odachowski went with soft stage washes and subtle color changes. “Since it was a stripped-down set, I focused on creating a warm, intimate atmosphere,” he said. “We went with slow movements and a nice wash of color and texture across the room beyond the stage.”
In addition to immersing the crowd inside the tent with light, Harford Sound lit a photo booth area outside the main party tent with COLORado 1 Quad fixtures. The photos taken with a display of Mini Coopers provided guests with keepsake souvenirs, but it’s a safe bet that the best memories of the evening came from seeing iconic artists playing beautiful acoustic music on a warm Georgia evening over a swimming pool that looked very much like a concert stage.
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