“The event gods were not smiling on us,” said John Garberson of Creative BackStage, who set up production for Desert Sky. “It rained off and on for eight hours, creating a lot of mud. There was a power outage, a medical emergency, though fortunately that turned out ok, and networking issues that disrupted the sound and lighting.”
Setting a tone for the festival were the lightshows that fit each artist’s music and personality. The Creative BackStage team made that happen through some careful planning and the thoughtful placement of over 75 versatile CHAUVET Professional fixtures in the festival rig.
“There were no band riders for this festival,” said Garberson. “None of the acts came in with a lighting plot. I had to anticipate what would work best for each artist and the visiting LDs when designing this rig. The challenge was to create something that was flexible enough to allow all the LDs to do their thing, while still being compact and affordable enough to meet the demands of the festival.”
Garberson outfitted his rig with Six STRIKE Array 4 and 11 STRIKE P38 fixtures. These ultra-bright units did more than light the crowd. “I had the STRIKE Array 4s on my downstage truss and the P38s sprinkled throughout the rig,” he said. “Together they added a sparkling effect that engaged the crowd in different ways for each artist.”
Aerial effects were another common design requirement share by all of the festival’s performers. Garberson provided this by including 14 Maverick MK2 Spots and 14 Rogue R3 Beam fixtures to the festival rig. He also positioned Rogue R2 Wash fixtures at different points on his truss structures.
Helping the visiting LDs were the rig’s 12 Rogue Outcast 1 BeamWashes. Positioned evenly on two side trusses, the RGBW IP65 rated fixtures were used for side lighting and specials.
“The BeamWash really added an extra touch to the rig design,” said Garberson, pointing to the fixture’s pixel mappable outer LED ring, multiple profiles, and its wide zoom range. “It really opened a lot of creative opportunities for the LDs, which was what our ultimate goal was for this festival. We wanted to give LDs as many flavors to choose from as possible. Everyone involved did great things with the rig, including Lainey Wilson’s LD. Mitch Mueller, Matthew Berg Festival L1, Charles Jones Festival L2, and Maxine Kickler, our rigger.”
