Dead & Company tour with Robe rig
- Details
Striking lighting was designed by show / visuals director Chris Ragan of Raygun Design who has worked with Dead & Company since the project started in 2015.
Dead & Company was formed when the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir joined forces with artist and musician John Mayer, Allman Brothers’ bassist Oteil Burbridge, and Fare Thee Well and RatDog keyboardist Jeff Chimenti.
On the lighting plot for this tour were almost 150 Robe moving lights - 62 x Spiiders, 30 x BMFL Spots, 24 x MegaPointes, 6 x BMFL Blades and 24 x BMFL WashBeams.
Chris has been working with Robe products for some time and loves the chance to use new technologies. He first used the MegaPointe on the fall 2017 tour and was very pleased to have these back on the rig this summer, along with the BMFLs and Spiiders.
A major objective with the design was to ensure it was straightforward enough to facilitate quick loads-ins, so they had sound, lighting, video and all the band kit installed and ready to rock for 3 p.m. sound checks every day.
Many HUD trusses were installed above the stage including a 48 ft. long downstage truss, which was loaded with 10 x BMFL Spots, six BMFL Blades, eight Spiiders, some strobes and other lights, plus a 50ft. mid-stage truss, rigged with 10 x BMFL Spots and some LED batten effects lights and strobes.
One of the strongest features of the tour was a grid of 36 Spiiders, three fixtures attached to each of the 8ft. sticks of HUD truss, sub-hung from ‘spanner’ trusses.
The 50ft. upstage truss featured another 10 x BMFL Spots for back-impact, and two 8 ft. side trusses were used for positioning three Spiiders each, together with LED effects batten units. All lighting equipment was supplied by Upstaging
Chris is working closely with lighting programmer and assistant LD Jim Rood who also provides drawings and some design input.
(Jim Evans)
