British metal band TesseracT’s current tour utilizes a collection of CHAUVET Professional Rogue fixtures, supplied by Squeek Lights, and a ChamSys MagicQ PC with a MiniWing.
“I’ve known the guys in TesseracT for some time,” said lighting designer Mike St-Jean. “We first crossed paths when I worked with the Devin Townsend Project, and we toured together in 2010. I was LD on the Canadian dates of their Polaris tour, but this marked the first time we really got to dig in and truly collaborate. I pushed myself to try new things on this tour and really write a show that reflected the group’s music and developed around a theme from beginning to end. TesseracT were wonderfully communicative and collaborative throughout the process, making it succeed creatively.”
Featuring an ample amount of beautifully saturated colors, sometimes served up in monochromatic fashion, evocative backlighting and angular geometric patterns, St-Jean’s lighting design punches and moves in tight sync with the music. Key to helping him create these multi-faceted visuals were the 12 Rogue R1 FX-B moving fixtures in his rig. St-Jean positions six of the RGBW Rogue R1 FX-B units vertically on floor-based pipes at staggered heights to form a V around the drum kit. Rotating the drum riser 45°, St-Jean orients the fixtures in a perpendicular pattern around its edge, creating a diamond shape.The six remaining Rogue R1 FX-B units are positioned on upstage truss towers.
“These fixtures light the musicians, but ultimately they do much more,” said St-Jean. “I consider all 12 FX-Bs as elements for designing shapes in the scene. I have been really impressed and even surprised by what they have done on this run.”
Although the Rogue R1 FX-B has infinite rotation of pan and tilt for its five independently controlled heads, St- Jean often keeps them stationary.
“There are times when I used the FX-Bs to design architecture with light, and build interesting environments that we otherwise would not perceive,” he explained. “I wanted to be sure not to over-complicate the look of the stage, and focus on enhancing the presence of the band. The FX-B fixtures create ample options for light design, as well as subtle changes and deviations that can be interesting to the eye without detracting from the performance, or otherwise distracting the viewer.”
TesseracT’s rig also has four Rogue R1X Spot fixtures. The 170W movers are arranged on the floor just downstage of the upstage truss towers. The units are arranged on the back and two sides of the stage and are used energize the room with crowd light and for backlighting the musicians.
“I am of a couple minds on backlighting a band,” said St-Jean. “The more I experiment with it, I think it is a powerful tool to create contrast, strong impressions, and even disorientation, before returning to a front-filled look. Of course, the audience has come to see and hear the band, but I think there is an opportunity with these modern, lightweight and quick fixtures to do some fun stuff that people don’t get to see every day. When the band is playing a crushing riff, I think it’s ok to put on a bit of a lightshow and not worry too much whether the audience can see their grimaces from the back of the room!”
Photo Credit: Randy Edwards
