True to its name, Foxing’s Drawn Down The Moon LP captures the evocative, haunting spirit of a full moon sky with a rich mix of captivating grooves and percussive backdrops. For the band’s latest album release show at The Pageant Theatre, Lighting Designer, Gerry Dintleman reflected the mood of the music with a redolent, theatrical light show powered by over 45 CHAUVET Professional lighting fixtures from the Californian venue’s house rig, as well as 10 Nexus panels rented from Arch City AV.
“I wanted things to have this emotional power, with very dramatic highs and lows, using as little front light as possible, with the exception of specials,” explained Dintleman. “Since the album is called Draw Down The Moon, I added a moon gobo with my Ovation ellipsoidal for the backdrop. Overall, I just wanted to match the wide dynamics of the record, and bring Foxing’s live show to a whole new level.”
Back, key and side lighting were critical to Dintleman’s plans to realise this vision for his light show. “I’m grateful to Foxing for giving me creative freedom,” he said. “Before I had any plans for this show, I knew I wanted tons of backlight and key light to set the desired mood. I used lots of hard saturated blues, red, and purples with accents of white. The dark monochromatic looks helped the white burst punch even harder; and the choruses I used with multiple colours to make them look even bigger.
“Side lighting wound up being the foundation of the rig,” continued Dintleman. “I supplemented most of my front light with side light, sometimes only using one side to get sharp shadows on the artists. They were in every cue except blackouts, so everything else was more or less accents on top of this light.”
A collection of 12 Maverick MK1 Spot fixtures and 16 Rogue R2X Wash units played a big role in Dintleman’s design. Hung directly above the sage were six Maverick MK1 Spot and eight Rogue R2X Wash fixtures, along with two STRIKE 4 units. Dintelman positioned six additional MK1 Spots, eight R2X Washes on the house truss directly above the pit, while also using eight Nexus 4×4 panels and six Colorado Par Quad 18 fixtures.
“The key lighting from my COLORados and the moving fixtures was excellent in creating the kind of atmosphere we were after,” said Dintleman. “We had the Pars tightly focused on the singer while the Mavericks and Rouges highlighted the band, the moon gobo, and the audience. Meanwhile, the Nexus fixtures back lit the band in addition to providing some great eye candy.”