NASHVILLE – Jeff Mathews of Borealis Stage Lighting has been lighting country duo Dan + Shay since early 2016. For this year’s tour, the setup includes a ChamSys MagicQ MQ 80 and an extra wing to control an expandable rig featuring Chauvet Professional Strike 1 warm white LED blinders.
More details from Chauvet (www.chauvetprofessional.com):
Earlier this year when Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney approached Jeff Mathews of Borealis Stage Lighting about designing a floor package for their upcoming tour, they asked him for something that looked large yet packed down compactly for travel. The request was totally understandable, given the big time roll that Dan + Shay has been on lately. A little over four years since that day in December when they met as aspiring country artists, this Nashville duo has recorded two Top 5 albums and a slew of hit singles, while winning an ASCAP award in the process.
Mathews, who has been lighting the quickly rising pop-country duo since early 2016, gave them the bold look they were after by creating a power-packed video and lighting package that he runs with a ChamSys MagicQ MQ 80 and an extra wing. Despite the memorable impression that it’s making on the international tour, Mathews’ 79-universe rig is compact and flexible enough to fit a wide variety of venues.
“Our clients wanted a large package for the summer and fall tour, as well as the spring 2018 tour, that could fit in two trailers alongside the backline,” said Mathews. “Since they play a variety of sized venues — from clubs and large theaters, to arenas, amphitheaters and festivals — they also wanted something that could easily be expanded or scaled back.”
After tossing around a few ideas, Mathews and his clients came up with a design plan that called for a lighting and video package on gas-assisted set carts with extended diamond-shaped frames. Hanging between each of the set carts, the diamond frames hold LED video panels. LED video bars outline each of the frames, accentuating their shape.
At the top of each set cart is a T-bar holding a pair of arc beams. LED washes alternating on the top and bottom of the diamond frames are used for specials, backwashing and aerial washing. A collection of eight smaller LED wash fixtures is positioned on risers at the downstage edge, while four ellipsoidals are used for side washing, and a hazer is placed on either side of the stage for atmospherics. Audience lighting and eye candy is provided by the CHAUVET Professional STRIKE 1 warm white LED blinders that run across the stage, alternating between the top and bottom of the rig.
“My lighting takes up four universes, while my video and pixel mapping account for 75,” said Mathews. “I’m using ArKaos MediaMaster Pro for controlling the video and hazers. For pixel mapping I’m using the ArKaos and the Kling-Net mapper. Everything was programmed in ChamSys and MediaMaster. The MQ 80 was great for building our show. Programming workflow on the desk is extremely efficient and detailed, with tools for pretty much anything I want or need to do. The ease of cloning and morphing is tremendously helpful, considering the size of some of the rigs I’ve been working on. There’s also a visual syntax that just makes sense.”
Using his versatile rig and user-friendly console, Mathews is creating a diverse range of looks on the Dan + Shay tour, reflecting his clients’ wide-ranging musical repertoire. Flowing naturally throughout the concert, his lightshow seamlessly takes on different types of looks with almost every song.
“Dan + Shay embrace a lot of different musical influences, so our looks change from straightforward country and rock, to some rowdy pop/EDM imagery, to softer mellow lighting,” said Mathews. “I’m using a lot of varieties of white in their songs — CTOs, CTBs, etc. The CHAUVET Professional STRIKE 1 blinders in my rig have been vital to my design plans. They are super punchy, robust, definitely built for the road and have a very convincing incandescent emulation with a nice looking dimmer curve, so they’re with me every step of the way when I’m creating diverse looks.”
The major part of Mathews’ lightshow is cue stacked with between 10 and 50 cues per song. Drawing on features in his console like its advanced cue timing and powerful effects engine, he is able to create a richly textured design. He leaves a few things like some of the strobe and blinder hits on the STRIKE 1s out of the cue to give himself “more to do” during the show.
Regardless of the venue, Mathews’ cue stacked show always seems to be in harmony with its surroundings. This is due in large part to the flexibility of this cart-based floor package, which can go from 24’ to 40’ wide. (The typical size of the package is 36’ wide by 20’ deep by 15’ high.)
“We have a lot of flexibility,” said Mathews. “We can take the height of the package down to 8 feet, and we can go from four carts to three and still keep the basic look intact. This versatility is important, because sometimes at festivals we’re on a small stage. Our L1/tech J.C. Campbell deserves a lot of credit for this. He makes everything go smoothly day in and day out regardless of venue.”
At Dan + Shay’s festival appearances, Mathews encounters other visiting LDs. They’ll often express surprise that his powerful ChamSys console takes up so little FOH space. “It never fails, just about at every show someone will comment on my FOH setup and how it’s so compact. People are always asking me about my MQ 80. How much does it cost? How does it perform? Things of that nature. When they ask me how I like it, I just tell them it’s helping me keep up and grow with artists like Dan + Shay, who are growing at an immense pace, so you know I rely on it.”
