DALLAS — With over 1 million tickets already sold, Kenny Chesney’s Goin’ Coastal Tour presented by Corona is selling out at stadiums and arenas alike, dazzling fans with a lighting design by Mike Swinford, who has opted for a rig that includes Vari*Lite luminaires from Morris Sound and Light.
“This is my 10th year working with Kenny Chesney and I have been working with the guys at Morris Sound and Light for over 25 years,” said Swinford. “It all began back in 1984 when Dale Morris, who manages Kenny now, was managing Alabama, and I was doing the design for them at that time. It has been a great relationship over the years and I have always been a fan of using Vari*Lite luminaires.”
Swinford and longtime Kenny Chesney programmer Mark Butts set out to make the production fresh in look and feel — and versatile, too.
“There are also three styles of venue that the tour always plays; stadiums, sheds, and arenas. So we have to come up with a design that is friendly for all venues. Plus, there are elements that we always need to leave out of the designs. Between Mark and me, we know his taste and how certain things won’t fly with respect to specific colors and patterns, but there are also many things he loves to put into his designs such as big, bright, white looks with lots of power. His show is extremely energetic and sort of ‘in your face,’ so the lighting needs to support that. It’s a big, fun show.”
The design drew its inspiration from two unlikely places — ancient Greece and the Lee Greenwood Theatre.
Swinford explains, “For this tour, we really erased everything we had done before and started fresh. We started talking about the design back in July 2010 and we decided it would be great if the audience didn’t have to look at video screens all night long. In past tours, we have used large video screens that have been concave, have been convex, we’ve had video walls that move, split apart, go up and down, and Kenny even flew through the video wall once. But this year we needed something different. That’s when I came up with the idea to use Periaktoi columns, which I had done before in my set design for Lee Greenwood. In that show, I used columns to change the scenery, which was taken from a technique used thousands of years ago in ancient Greece. I thought instead of using them for set reasons, what if we made the columns with one side being lights, one side being high-res video, and the third side with mirrors. The various combinations of lighting, video, and mirror reflections that we could create would allow the design to be ever-morphing.”
Now that the idea for change had been identified, Swinford had to figure out how to bring the columns to life. For that, he turned to Show Rig who created 12 Periaktoi columns that would tie together at the bottom with only three inches in between each column. With space being limited, Swinford had to choose the automated luminaires that would go inside the columns very carefully. They had to be powerful with great color, but also small enough to be able to operate freely inside the confined space. For this, Swinford chose the VL2500 Spot luminaire.
“Each column was designed specifically for the VL2500 Spot because the VL3000 Spot would be too large. In order to physically keep the size of the columns in check, we went with the four VL2500 Spots inside each one and they are doing extremely well. They are able to keep up with the power of the high-res video and the larger Vari*Lite luminaires that are used throughout the design, while also providing a lighting fast strobe along with rich colors. They are the perfect light for this application.”
With the new video and lighting columns now in place, Swinford turned his attention to the rest of the design. For the arena shows the tour would use a total of 32 VL3500 Wash, 64 VL3000 Spots, and 48 VL2500 Spots (inside the Periaktoi columns). For the stadium package, the tour adds an additional 28 VL3000 Spots overhead and in the wings, then another 20 VL3500 Wash fixtures on the field and stage floor.
“This year we decided to go with the Tyler HUD Truss designed specifically for automated luminaires that allows us to hang 60 VL3000 Spots overhead with a very fast deployment. The VL3000 Spot has been our workhorse light for many years doing everything we throw at it, and it’s my all-time favorite. We are also using 24 VL3500 Wash fixtures on 12 motorized Pantograph truss systems on each side of the stage that add to the ever-morphing feel of the Periaktoi columns. Since the arena setting has a 270-degree sightline, the Pantograph truss systems with the VL3500 Wash fixtures allow us to have side light that never blocks the audience viewpoint. Then we also have eight VL3500 Wash units on the floor below the amp line. This is the first time I have introduced a wash light into Kenny’s design as we have typically always used hard-edge spot fixtures. Everybody loves the VL3500 Wash with its Vari*Brite mode that gives the light such a powerful and tight beam column. Plus, we can also use them to flood-out and cross-light the band so that everyone is well lit for the video.”
Swinford appreciated support from the touring crew and lighting company.
“I can’t say enough about our programmer Mark Butts, our production manager Ed Wannebo, the full design team, and the crew on this tour. They all have worked and continue to work very hard to pull off a challenging production. I also have to thank everyone at Morris Sound and Light. They have supported our tours for the longest time and continue to do a fantastic job in providing us with excellent gear. The Vari*Lite fixtures have such great color, optics and power, that I don’t see how the design could be the same without them.”
For more information, log on to www.vari-lite.com.
