"The Rogues turned up the intensity on this tour," said longtime Yellowcard lighting designer Cody James of JDI Productions. "It was a trip back in time in a way, with the band returning to some older songs that were faster and more hard-driving than the new material they've been performing. We wanted a fixture that could reflect this attitude - and the Rogues fit the bill.
"Plus they were compact and easy to set up, which helped a lot on this cross-country tour. The user-friendliness of this fixture, together with the help I got from the guys at JDI Productions - Derek, Fred, Mark, Ryan and Dylan made my life easier. I was on the road right before this project started, so I had to keep emailing those guys for information that helped me nail the prep."
James used six Rogue RH1 Hybrids to go along with the 12 Legend 412 RGBW moving fixtures he already had on his Yellowcard rig. The Rogues were arranged three to each side of the drum riser. A pair of the fixtures on each side of the risers was positioned on cases, while one unit on each side was set on the stage deck directly in front of the cases.
"The Legends were positioned to work with the Rogues to give the stage depth," said Jones. "We put two Legends between each set of RH1s on the cases. We also put two more Legends on the drum riser in front of the kick drum, two on the stage deck in front of the riser, and two each downstage left and right. Then we added four Legends downstage."
James used the four downstage Legends primarily as band washes. Meanwhile the Rogue RH1 Hybrids were used to slam the stage with slicing dueling beams of intense colours. "The Rogues move fast and have sharp beams, so crossing them and playing them off against the colour washes from the Legends not only gave us extra energy, it also gave the stage depth, without me having to use a large number of fixtures."
Keeping the number of fixtures in his rig controlled was critically important to James, given the necessities of the Yellowcard tour, a hectic three-month journey with stops everywhere from The Wiltern in LA to the Best Buy Theatre in New York. Yellowcard co-headlined with fellow alternative rock icons New Found Glory. The groups took turns opening for one another on different nights, which meant that James had to adjust his setup time continuously.
(Jim Evans)
