After lighting the Killers for nearly 13 years, experienced Irish Lighting Designer, Steven Douglas knows how to bring the best out of The Killers’ dynamic stage set.
In the midst of the Wonderful Wonderful world tour, the LD has been exploring new dimensions and challenging perspectives by introducing German Lighting Products’s hybrid JDC1 strobe to his toolbox, along with the GLP X4 Bar 20 battens, to help maintain the band’s status.
“We knew there would be Las Vegas references as its such a huge part of the band’s DNA. Once the set designers, Fireplay, were onboard, we moved quickly through their initial sketches and added things to it,” Douglas said, admitting that the X4 Bar 20 is a fixture he had wanted to use for some time, adding: “I needed something almost scenic in appearance which could virtually wash the stage, as other than the front truss I have no conventional wash lights in the rig.
“With the large amount of video surface in use I went for a lot more beam orientated fixtures, so we built the pod structures and lined them with X4 Bars,” Douglas continued. “They are extremely versatile so I knew I could get a full wash from them as well as a narrow beam — and I was able to replicate some of the ‘Vegas-style’ Bulb / Marquee chases through them to capture the old casino look down the Strip. It also became the perfect fixture to outline our upstage video triangle/pyramid because it was so low profile.”
In total Steven commandeered just under 100 GLP X4 Bars, deploying 68 on the overhead pods and the remaining 26 framing the upstage ‘pyramid’ video screen. Thirty-three GLP JDC1 heads were divided into 12 for the over-stage, 8 on the front truss and 13 mounted on pipes set around the band. The LD noted that “the X4 Bars are particularly effective on the upstage triangle — when they cross over at 45° the create a triangular light curtain. As for the JDCs, they are great for being able to get some full stage washes and still be able to harness the strobe element separately.”
Douglas also served as Set and Creative Design Consultant, as well as touring LD and Board Operator, working off an MA Lighting grandMA2 console. As for programming, while the GLP X4 Bar 20s are run in 35-channel mode, the JDC1 operated on 23 channels. In terms of freighting equipment, the overhead pods already had the X4 Bars onboard and cabled, courtesy of Christie Lites. “It was easier to leave them built into the pieces and carry them with us rather than have them constantly repopulated for each leg.”
Neg Earth supplied the remainder GLP X4 Bars and JDC1 strobes. “As always the support we get from Neg [Earth] was top class, and GLP UK and US were both extremely helpful right the way through the design and build process,” Douglas added. “As we start to look at other territories, we will decide how much [equipment] we are going to carry with us.”
Douglas concluded: “I really liked the unique elements of each fixture. The JDC1 not only comes nearest to emulating the old xenon strobes but provides the advantage of being able to hold an all-on blast without them ‘thermalling’ out, as would be the case with conventional strobes. In addition, it’s great to be able to tilt these strobes. As for the X4 Bars, the narrow light curtain effect you can achieve from these fixtures filled the brief and ideas I had in my head to perfection.”