Rapper and producer ИF just finished a US leg of his “HOPE” world tour which featured another lighting and production design created by Chris Denholm and Clay Joiner.
Prominent on the lighting rig was a selection of Robe products including 160 Robe Spikies, 26 BMFL WashBeams and two BMFL FollowSpots running on two RoboSpot systems, together with other luminaires.
Denholm and Joiner wanted the design to reflect the power of the classic psychological juxtaposition of light and dark, and how that tussle can impact anyone’s state of mind. They decided on a chevron truss design for depth and interest, with a multi-level stage layout below featuring a series of risers, stairways, four different stage lifts plus a 16ft thrust, with LED covering the many set fasciae, plus a large upstage LED wall.
With all that LED together with lasers, cryo and fog adding to the visual drama and emotion of the show, lighting fixtures were carefully positioned to add maximum impact. The overhead lights were mainly distributed between LX bars 1 to 5. LX1 was upstage and rigged with 14 of the BMFL WashBeams and the two BMFL WashBeam FollowSpots, which were in the centre.
The BMFL WashBeam FollowSpots were workhorse fixtures, heavily used to underline the moody, contrasty highlighting style so significant in setting the tone for this show, with conventional front-of-house follow spots utilised to fill in and eliminate shadows.
LX1, 2 and 3 were pointed towards the audience and all loaded with a double layer of Spikies. The fixtures on the upstage truss chord were dropped about a foot lower than the downstage ones for added depth and separation. Denholm explained: “In terms of firepower vs truck space, they are absolutely brilliant as you can squeeze a lot of lights into a small area.”
In addition to the top rig, side towers contained vertical lines of LED wash lights and moving LED battens, strobes lined the trusses and the deck, and the 40 by 20ft upstage video screen played a leading role in the action, comprised of Roe CB8 product.
A B-stage was located to the side of FOH, this was lit from a box truss above with 8 Spikies on each side adding another 32 of these punchy little lights to the plot, together with vertical LED bars.
Positioning the Spikies on the chevron trusses gave him and Chris the ‘blocks’ of light around the rig that they so needed for the style of this tour production design, and they were fundamental to accentuating the dark and light concept. “We wanted people to notice and feel these blocks of light coming on and off,” noted Joiner, “it was vital that the light source punched through any and all other visual elements that might also be in play – like video, smoke, lasers, etc.”
Lighting was programmed and run on a grandMA2 console, operated for the US part of the tour by Dane Kick. The full production technical package was supplied by PRG. Stage and set came from Accurate Staging and SFX from Strictly FX.
Denholm and Joiner also wrote treatments for the video, for which content was produced by Luke Schoenhals & Chris Schoenman and included a green screen session with ИF from which footage is woven into the final edit. Video, the colour, and general lighting texturing together with musicality were all blended to produce a overall aesthetic of which all are proud.
Denholm mentioned: “seeing the audience just lose themselves in this atmosphere that all of us have helped create each night” is among the most rewarding aspects of being part of the talented team presenting this tour.
