Taking Back Sunday’s Lighting Designer Eric Price is the first to tour with Elation’s new SŌL I Blinder, integrating the light into the band’s set on their North American outing.
“I was looking for a low-profile blinder to skirt the risers, set pieces and steps—something powerful, functional, and small enough to put on a pipe for easy travel, install and pull—and the SŌL fit the bill,” Price said.
Price and Tour Manager Andrew Sprague talked design ideas with vocalist Adam Lazzara, who Price says is very hands on with the look of the show. Price said Lazzara wanted a bold, traditional aesthetic with eye candy looks on stage and minimal moving lights.
“Obviously we weren’t going to bring out 100s of PAR cans so we explored custom set pieces,” Price explained. “Looking at venue sizes and logistics, we needed something efficient and effective and we settled on an idea of a lot of blinders.” After talking to Jason Reberski at lighting vendor JRLX, as well as Ross Blitz at Elation, Price says he realised that the SŌL fixtures were an interesting option. “With few moving lights, we needed something with versatility and the SŌL fit the need well,” he added.
The setup included a 24-ft wide by 4-ft tall riser with steps, a drum riser stage left and a vocal riser stage right, all skirted with 44 SŌL I Blinder fixtures. The SŌL live on pipe in racks of four which clamp onto the back of the legs of the riser decks, a quick set-up and tear-down rigging plan that was worked out by stage provider Gallagher, along with JRLX. Elation SixBar 1000 LED battens provide side lighting.
“The colour mixing is great on them, the Lime is nice to see in a fixture like this and makes for a wider colour palette, including nice whites,” he stated. “I enjoy transitioning from big white CTO looks or saturated color sweeps down into a dark moody blue, just following the music, you don’t need a lot of gobos, just colour and tempo.”
Taking Back Sunday music paired with strobe looks, which Price turns to at medium to low intensity. “They would destroy the crowd at full intensity they are so bright,” the designer added, noting that he generally ran the SŌLs at 30-35 percent with an end-of-show walk-off look at up to 60 percent.
Reberski commented, “The SŌL I blinder is a perfect multipurpose blinder fixture for JRLX and we have been very happy with their performance on this tour. The ability to attach any Bowens accessory to the front also increases the versatility in scenic applications!”
JRLX is Prrice’s go-to vendor and has enjoyed a long-time relationship with the Chicago-based company. “We’ve done a lot of jobs together over the years and really have a symbiotic relationship,” he said, adding that Reberski and his team know how he wants things prepped. “I’m able to give them a spec and I know they’ll get it right,” Price said “They know that they’ll be taken care of.”
The designer concluded by calling the grid of SŌLs a “pixel-mapping dream” and that when going into venues, he often meets house LDs who are excited to see the fixtures. “It’s an enticing fixture with lots of possibility and I look forward to seeing what others do with them as well,” he concluded.
