LOS ANGELES — Ian Hendrick, LD and programmer/operator for Hillsong United, a touring Christian band that emerged from Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia, noted that while the band is on tour, it attempts to take the audience on a journey as well.
“We don’t consider the performance a show or a spectator event,” Hendrick said. “Hillsong United isn’t there to be watched or listened to; we’re there to take the audience somewhere with us.
“It’s all about the backlight,” Hendrick continued, of his design, which uses gear provided by Mid-America Sound Corp. (Greenfield, IN), including 36 Barco MiStrips, 16 Martin Mac IIIs, 12 MAC 700 washes and four 700 profiles, 12 MAC 101s, 12 MAC 2000 washes, six Vari*Lite VL1000s and a dozen Atomic Strobes.
“There’s minimal front-light in the rig, and the bulk of the moving lights sits on six vertical trusses that climb the back wall. The goal is to make an immersive, enveloping experience for the audience without making anyone feel like they’re on display.”
The band’s U.S. tour included stops from LA’s Staples Center to Boston’s Orpheum Theatre. Hendrick, a grandMA user for more than a decade, used a full-size grandMA2 at FOH and a grandMA2 Light at dimmers for backup.
Hendrick programmed the grandMA2 at Mid-America, where the initial setup was done, with support from lighting division manager Bob Williams with gear chosen for its ability to adapt to fit a wide range of concert venues.
Since the band does a lot of song work-shopping while on tour, stages needed to be ready to go by early afternoon each day, Hendrick noted.
“Mid-America Sound came up with a great pre-rig option that was clean, uncompromising to the design and, most importantly, went in really quickly with minimal crew.”
As for the choice of console, Hendrick noted his long history with grandMA. “The original grandMA was a solid platform that was powerful enough for anything you could throw at it, scalable from the smallest gig to the biggest extravaganza, and surprisingly user friendly once you got to know it, with everything you might need at your fingertips,” he said.
The grandMA2, he added, has been “a great upgrade,” with “extra features, even more flexibility, a surface that capitalizes on the strengths of the old system, and fixes for a lot of things that used to drive me nuts. I can hit the big ‘Go’ button with my right hand now. Best of all, they did it without taking away any of the charm or usability of the old console.”
Hendrick also lauded the grandMA2 for its new layout view. “It’s a good way to fill the third touchscreen on the full-size console,” he said. “It’s handy for giving you a quick visual snapshot of what the rig is doing, as well as being able to pull up quick, unique groupings of fixtures without having to think very hard about it.”
The new effects engine, Hendrick added, has become “second nature. I’m very happy with it.”
At Hillsong United, Steve Pippett was the production manager and Ricki Cook was in charge of media servers. At Mid-America Sound, Al Story was the crew chief. Andy Woody and Robert Dilk served as lighting techs. Matt Certa at Big Picture Productions provided the LED.
A.C.T Lighting distributes grandMA gear in North America.
For more information, please visit www.actlighting.com.
