It is one of the most distinctive stage backdrops on the outdoor touring circuit in North America. A trio of 300-million year old monoliths called “Ship Rock,” “Creation Rock,” and “Stage Rock” tower over the stages at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, reflecting red because of the iron oxides inside them, and making this venue a very special place indeed. Designers always make sure to incorporate this distinctive geological feature into their light shows whenever their clients appear here… well, at least almost always!
Fans who turned out to catch the show by EDM titans ATLiens at Red Rocks on Saturday May 17 couldn’t see the famous rock formation during their performance due to the size (36-foot trim) of the stage. But hey, no one was complaining. Instead of gazing at the familiar prehistoric background, they got to be immersed in a fantastical galactic experience, as a big video wall, along with intense variations in light, lasers, atmospherics, and pyro effects, all revolving around a space theme, dramatically altered the aura of the stage at every turn.
Luis Torres of HiLite Designs orchestrated this transformational journey using a powerful, flexible rig from Brown Note Productions that featured a collection of 28 CHAUVET Professional Color STRIKE M motorized strobe-blinders. “The concept behind this design was to emulate the artist being on a spaceship,” explained Torres. “Having a circular booth and the video pillar underneath allowed us to create some visuals of a spaceship. We wanted to create looks that made it seem like the artists were being taken up into the spaceship as if it was an abduction.
“Our show was very high energy and very intense,” continued Torres. “Therefore, we used as much strobe as possible. The Color STRIKE Ms were invaluable in this respect. We positioned them in the diagonal towers behind the video wall and in the circular spaceship DJ booth to maximize their impact.”
Of course, there was much more than just intense strobe flashes involved in transforming the Red Rocks stage on this night. Torres executed brilliant and dramatic color changes throughout the show, washing the entire stage in deeply saturated reds and blues, as well as fiery orange-yellows to coordinated with pyro effects. For added dramatic impact, he silhouetted the artists against bold, monochromatic video wall backdrops at various points during the show. The center stage video wall itself, which had a large triangular LED ribbon over it, often displayed compelling space related imagery.
As part of their vision for this project, Torres and his teammates Tour Director: Malcolm Waldek; Tour Manager Jared Hallal VJ; Tyler White (Management); Griffin Haddrill and Wilcox Weaver of the Media Team); as well as Gabe Bandrill wanted the biggest wall their budget would allow.
“Our content is made for large video walls,” said Torress, who acknowledges that fans. “weren’t really able to see the upstage rock formation.” That may be true, but in its place, they were able to lose themselves in an incredible light and video show that gave “Ship Rock,” “Creation Rock,” and “Stage Rock a real run for the money when it came to creating dramatic impact.
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