LONDON – Lighting designer Chad Peters used 28 GLP Impression moving LED lights on the larger set for Paramore's recent U.K. tour stops in arena-sized venues. He sourced the fixtures from Bandit Lites, which has a rental stock of 60 Impressions. "The units are in high demand from many lighting designers," said Bandit's Lester Cobrin, noting the reason for the investment in the units.
Peters first tried the GLP Impressions for the band Rise Against, when he was covering for a colleague.
"They were asking whether it was a green design, and I thought they were talking about the color of their set until I realized they were concerned with eco-issues," he said.
On both counts the Impressions ticked the boxes, Peters added. "Considering how bright and responsive they were they just seemed so lightweight."
For Paramore, Peters used 14 Impressions individually mounted on pipes at different heights, to create the illusion that they are floating within the set.
"There's no clamping – each fixture threads directly into the top of the pipe," he said. The remaining 14 heads are mounted on the overhead truss (including four T-bars).
Collectively, they are used to warm up the set. "You can produce a PAR can white from the Impressions – a nice tungsten – without getting that rainbow lighting effect. "You also deliver a really nice tight beam angle – it really punches."
Peters has been using the fixtures with standard 10° beam angles, but when he realized his conventional automated lights were being washed out by the strength of the Impressions' 90 high-powered RGB lights, he realized he would need to upgrade.
With the set under Roadhog control, he said, "the speed of the color and position is a big plus for me as I am using them as my main wash lights – and for an arena size show this is actually quite small. So it gives me the flexibility to use them for big stops and instant colour bumps that would normally require more lights and the need to set up a cue to make it appear instant. So it's ideal for the LD on a budget."
Peters originally landed the gig with Paramore back in 2007. "I had one of their songs on my Myspace page and my room mate / best friend Robb Jibson sent me an email saying that that they were looking for an LD/tech that could also do video. I replied – and here I am."
The band's popularity in the U.K. has grown since the film Twilight featured Paramode's "Decode" on the soundtrack.
Peters also gave Bandit Lites high marks for support. "This is actually the first time I have used the company – I used Premier Global, another Nashville based company for the last two tours – but Lester and everyone at Bandit UK have been absolutely fabulous."
For more information, please visit www.glp.de.
