One of my favorite shows that I've seen was the Goo Goo Dolls tour in early 2007. The lighting was simple but incredibly effective and many-layered. Small
fixture count, but all fixtures were used incredibly well. Each song was carefully cued and different parts of the rig were used in each song. Freshman year of college, definitely influenced my style of how I want to light concerts.
The rig consisted of MAC2K profiles - I think 7 of them, 10 or so MAC600s, some movers on the
FOH truss that I didn't recognize at the time (didn't yet have my encyclopedic knowledge of what different moving lights look like), and 20-lite
MR16 blinders with scrollers arranged in 3 levels plus a set of them on the floor lighting a theatrical curtain in the back. I'm fairly certain there were two levels of subhung
truss (with spansets, I think). The rig also had white stretch panels in it that were lit with
Source Four PARs with scrollers on them. Some of the S4 Pars also punched down between the panels. The result was a very organic, multi-layered rig that had a phenomenal variety of looks possible and a great range of layers and options for lighting.
Combine that with an LD who really cued the show quite well (I was watching him occasionally during the show, and every go and flash and swop
button press was very deliberate and right on). There was also a
system of Source Fours with gobos &
CTB gel in them (
gobo was a version of Pointed Breakup I think) that was one of the between-song washes. Also used during several songs. Looked great. Another thing of note is that the LD also tried to keep the light on the
stage and didn't keep movers focused on the audience for extended periods of time - they were on
stage of above the audience, not just punching people in the
face other than for some move effects, flyouts, and flyins.
Here's a couple of videos of shows from that tour that let you see parts of the rig (warning for bad sound quality; they're live videos from 07 - not much you can expect there):
Goo Goo Dolls Live at Robinson Center in Little Rock, AR - YouTube
Goo Goo Dolls - Iris - YouTube
Goo Goo Dolls-Stay With You - YouTube
Broadway - Goo Goo Dolls - YouTube
Can't Let It Go - Goo Goo Dolls - Kirby Center 2/3/2007 - YouTube
There are three other shows that I really enjoyed lighting-wise, not all in person though. Out of these I only saw TSO 07/08 in person.
One was the 07-08 Trans Siberian tour. Before they added too much video and it got to be a trash n trash show. Back when he took more care in cueing the movers. (I think that the TSO tours have gone way downhill since video elements were added in heavier - I still think the snow
cue looked way better with a real fiber optic curtain not an
LED curtain that attempts to simulate it. Even the 3
LED screens in the 07/08 tour were not great
IMO, but I did quite like the chevrons of Versa-Tubes). The rig had 10 pods over the
stage, each with a Showgun, other movers (VL3K Spots, MAC2K Washes), ACLs, PARs, strobes, versa tubes & CB12s. Heavy upstage wall &
deck rigs as well, as with any TSO show, and there was also plenty of
pyro as usual. I will have to say that the
truss moves with the 10 pods were definitely the best part about the show. Great looks with moving them to different positions. Oh, and the
truss did the wave. Links:
SHOWGUNs and Wholehogs Play Instrumental Role on Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Trans-Siberian (Carol of the Bells- Sarajevo) LIVE 12/07 - YouTube
Next up, Paramore Final Riot Tour. Well cued, low
fixture count, but a well designed rig with a good amount of lighting layers. Showguns, MAC2K Washes, 4-lite & 2-lite blinders, Atomics, and some other toys including Versa-Tubes in the shape of "RIOT" in the
truss. Links:
Paramore- The Final Riot! Live In Chicago- Misery Business- Track 15 - YouTube
Paramore- The Final Riot! Live In Chicago- Fences- Track 4 - YouTube
Finally, anything recent from Umphrey's Mcgee. Just look at the live stuff on the
umvideo channel on youtube. It's amazing. Jeff Waful is a master with MACIIIs and an MA. His strict separation of MAC301s out front and various spot fixtures on
stage (generally profiles/spots only on
stage Some of my favorite stuff from them is actually covers, but I also like the live versions of their original stuff. Here's a few links:
From early on,
Cemetary Walk
More recently,
Much Obliged
And quite recently, two covers,
25 or 6 to 4 and
You Can't Always Get What You Want.