Steven Douglas Sets Las Vegas Mood for The Killers Residency with COLORado PXL Curve12 From Chauvet Professional
USA – On 30 December, 1959, travellers heading up Las Vegas Boulevard to go to one of many burgeoning metropolis’s new resorts like The Stardust, The Dunes or The Sands had been greeted by a towering 25-foot pole signal that learn “Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas.”
Although these as soon as glitzy institutions are lengthy gone, changed by new generations of resort casinos on The Strip, the signal, with its distinctive stretched horizontal form and cross piece on the high, just isn't solely nonetheless standing, it has gone on to change into one of the recognisable landmarks on the earth.
Given the long-lasting signal’s evocative energy, the scenic designers at StationSix thought it might make a super backdrop for one more “Las Vegas institution,” The Killers, when the multi-platinum band did their three-week residency at The Colosseum At Caesars Palace, which ended on 1 September.
Steven Douglas, the band’s long-time lighting designer noticed issues the identical manner. He collaborated with the scenic designers to make the signal come to life in all its glittering glory which had a vibrant and dynamic assortment of lights, together with 2,835 individually managed bulbs, LED tape and faux neon. A key addition to serving to him obtain this imaginative and prescient had been 32 Chauvet Professional COLORado PXL Curve 12 pixel mappable motorised tilting battens equipped by Christie Lites.
“We hung the PXL Curves so they augmented the outline of the scenic element, with all of its curves,” mentioned Douglas. “We hid the battens, so that the source of the light wasn’t visible to most of the audience. But even though the fixtures weren’t visible, the beams they projected were very impactful with a lot of movement.”
Drawing on the broad, individually managed zoom vary of the COLORado PXL Curve’s 12 shifting heads, Douglas was capable of produce a variety of seems to be across the scenic piece that built-in it easily into the general set.
“I paid a visit to Chauvet in Florida to see the fixture earlier this year and it was shown to me by Jean Lariviere. After that, I knew I wanted this fixture because I needed to create a large soft sheet of light then, at another moment, be able to come up with nice thin beams,” mentioned Douglas. “The particular person motion provided by this fixture was an enormous promoting level.
“Our Christie account rep Martin Kelley deserves a lot of credit in helping with finding the fixtures after I made the selection,” continued Douglas. “Project manager Russell Benoit, FOH tech Chris Pedersen and crew chief Pete Siller were also big helps in this project as well as our whole lighting crew who had to get creative to make it all hang properly and neatly around the set.”
In addition to the fascinating signal scenic factor, a Las Vegas aura was added to the manufacturing by photos displayed on the venue’s 120-foot broad video wall. A big riser that was designed to seem like an old style Vegas showroom bandstand additionally evoked basic photos of the town.
The Killers’ two-hour present opened with the band taking part in each music from their first LP, Hot Fuss, one of the profitable debut albums of all time. For the second half of the present, they carried out their different hits, in addition to fan favourites, all whereas participating the viewers with tales about how the band began in Las Vegas and the particular place the town holds of their hearts.
“All of the songs in the show are quite dynamic so they easily lent themselves to very different looks,” mentioned Douglas. “Naturally, we tried to stay close to the Vegas aesthetic projected by the set piece and video content in terms of our lighting looks.”
Douglas usually underscored these seems to be with highly effective monochromatic color schemes and distinctive shapes and lightweight angles that had been chosen to replicate the unmistakable vitality of Las Vegas and the irrepressible band the town delivered to the world.
