Kaleo LD Max Lenox has mastered the art of creating subtle white-light-dominated looks, while still providing the versatility needed to reflect his client’s eclectic music.
This balance was on full display in late June, when Kaleo headlined at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, illuminated by a bright, evocative lightshow created by Lenox with help from a floor package that featured Chauvet Professional STRIKE and Maverick fixtures.
Lenox used 6 Chauvet STRIKE 1 and 16 Chauvet STRIKE 4 multi-formatted warm white fixtures, as well as 6 Chauvet Maverick MK3 Washes supplied by 4Wall Entertainment. (Brown Note Productions of Denver supplied the flown rig.) Working with these fixtures, he created a show that kept pace with Kaleo’s music through every twist and turn. He did this while remaining true to his client’s preference to minimize colours.
“The band doesn’t like a lot of color in their show, so I’ve always depended heavily on different hues of white,” he said. “CTO, CTB, and Open White are used extensively throughout my shows for Kaleo. The 16 STRIKE 4s in my rig have a very unique color temperature that adds contrast when I use them alongside ‘conventional’ blinders. I love the look!”
The Chauvet STRIKE 4 fixtures also added a greater sense of depth to the stage. Lenox arranged them 2 apiece on 8 mobile pipe structures of varying heights. The units themselves were positioned in an upstage semicircle, which increased the dimensionality of the design. Hung diagonally, the Chauvert STRIKE 4 fixtures created the impression of diamonds. Through much of the show, Lenox activated only 2 of the 4 LED pods in each unit to vary the visuals.
The Chauvet STRIKE 1 fixtures also were essential to Lenox’s lighting design. “I’ve used the STRIKE 1s in almost every Kaleo design I’ve done,” he said. “I love the color temperature and amber shift. Having virtually no heat output from the light source makes them ideal for being up close to the band members, which really gives me more ways to use them for effects. My Project Manager and good friend Phillips Harbarger has always found a way to get me the gear I need at a price we can afford, and this case was no exception. The STRIKES and Mavericks performed excellently.”
At Red Rock, Lenox positioned the Chauvet STRIKE 1 fixtures behind the band members on the stage as backlight. “Using just the STRIKE 1s to silhouette the band while I had haze in the air created a powerful look,” he said. “Yet it took up very little space on stage. The compact design of the fixtures, along with the lack of heat, let me put the STRIKE 1s close to the artists, which gave us dramatic looks.”
Positioned stage left and stage right, the Chauvet Maverick MK3 Washes in the rig were used as sidelighting. “We love sidelighting,” said Lenox. “It’s a huge part of the Kaleo show. The band doesn’t like a lot of front light, so a lot of the show is sidelight. The Mavericks have a great output; placing them at angles stage left and stage right allows me to pan them into the audience for big moments.”
Based on the success of his Red Rock show, Lenox will be using his floor package of Chauvet STRIKE and Maverick fixtures for the rest of the year. “We’re doing a ton of daylight festival sets across Europe, where we’ll be the third or second act before the end of the show,” he said. “This will create a few challenges, the main one being how we will get on and off stage efficiently during set change. I designed the 8 pipe and base structures to be on wheels for quick turnarounds. The other issue is being seen before it gets dark. This year I cut all floor profiles in order to have more wash fixtures that will be seen during the day. When the sun doesn’t set until 10 p.m., you’ve got to have something that’s still impactful on stage; hence the STRIKE blinders and Mavericks.