CHICAGO — Hard rock band Disturbed returned to the stage after a lengthy hiatus with a show last August at the House of Blues in Chicago. It heralded the band’s sixth studio album, Immortalized, released the same day. This year, the hard rock band has embarked on its first world tour in five years, hitting 60 cities in the U.S., Canada and Europe and teaming up with co-headliners Rob Zombie and Breaking Benjamin along the way. LD Matt Mills, who worked with the bands’ last tour in 2011, deployed a Christie Lites rig centering on Martin fixtures — MAC Quantum Washes, MAC Viper Profiles and Atomic 3000 LEDs — along with High End Systems ShapeShifters.
Mills, whose previous work includes tours with Nelly Furtado, Mötley Crüe, 3 Doors Down and Linkin Park, crafted a light show that is aimed at mesmerizing huge arena crowds.
Mills built six trusses, each with four MAC Quantum Washes, four MAC Viper Profiles and four Atomic 3000 LEDs. In addition, four ladders are suspended on stage, each equipped with two Atomic 3000 LEDs.
“Their intensity is incredible,” Mills said, of the Atomic 3000 LEDs. “Even for these shows, where I really want to blast the crowd, I usually only turn them up to about 50 percent capacity.”
Along with sheer power, the LED strobes are designed to also serve up “eye candy” visuals similar to the MAC Aura and MAC Quantum Wash. Mills is especially fond of the aura backlight component via internal FX macros for the band’s intros and guitar solos.
Mills also credited the MAC Quantum Wash, MAC Viper Profile and HES ShapeShifter for their power, versatility and beams-and-effects combinations.
He likens the Viper Profiles to a “Swiss Army knife — if I need to quickly light a guitar solo, they’re great for cutting through the wash and capturing subtle textures on stage. But I can also use them to do a big sweep during a chorus, bring them back for a strobe during the bridge and then use the amazing stock gobo package for the verse.”
He also complimented the ShapeShifters, which he had also deployed on his last tour lighting Mötley Crüe. “I spec’d them on Disturbed, and they do some really cool stuff. Great effects as well as a nice beam.”
