Stone Sour’s whole performance style revolves around the simple concept: rock hard, rock loud and being ferocious. This nonstop intensity led Lighting Designer Scott Warner to feature the high-output Chauvet Nexus Aw 7×7 in the first light show he designed for Stone Sour in 2017.
Returning to a similar style, for the tour in December 2018 he specified the warm white LED panels with narrowly focused beams for his client’s co-headline appearance with The Offspring at Australia’s Good Things Festival.
“I really liked the way these panels worked on my last tour with Stone Sour,” said Warner. “So, when I learned that they were available for this festival run, I didn’t hesitate to add them.”
The Good Things Festival takes place on consecutive days in three cities: Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. A leading hard rock and metal event in Australia, the festival draws passionately dedicated fans that come seeking intense sounds and sights. Stone Sour and Warner didn’t disappoint. Along with the band’s heavy guitar riffs, double bass drums and growling vocals by frontman Corey Taylor was a bright, searing and punchy light show with plenty of audience lighting from the Chauvet Nexus Aw 7×7 fixtures.
“I focused the Nexus units so they would punch up the incandescent blinders on my front truss,” said Warner. “They work great as audience lights, which is very good because our lead singer Corey loves to see the crowd.”
Warner used seven Chauvet Nexus Aw 7×7 fixtures supplied by Creative Productions. He flew three of the panels on the midstage truss and four on the downstage truss. Although they were surrounded by high-output moving fixtures, the Chauvet Nexus units had no problem standing out.
“Matt Doherty, my fantastic tech, and Jeff Pavey, our Production Director, did a fantastic job making all our fixtures work together for a seamless look,” said Warner. “We all really liked the way the warm light of the Nexus looks against the cool light of other fixtures.”
Although Warner didn’t plan things this way, the configuration of the seven Nexus units in the Good Things Festival rig provided an attractive background for photos. “We positioned the panels in a way that allowed us to get the most bang for the buck,” said Warner. “We weren’t thinking about people taking photos.” But given the popularity of this band, the status of this festival, and the stunning looks in Warner’s design, the cell phone cameras were out in force for three hot days in the Australian summer.
