Lighting designer for Beyonce’s “I am…” Tour is Justin Collie, partner of Artfag LLC, while Pat Brannon is on tour as lighting director. Artfag do more than just the lighting design; they are the ‘Performance Environment Designer’ incorporating set, lighting and video element design for the tour.
Beginning with her first ever solo tour in 2003, Artfag has been commissioned the performance environment design for every touring outing of Beyonce’s career including many TV and award show performances.
Collie decided to use the MAC III Profile on the tour because, he said, they were new, brighter and better.
“Due to the huge video screen, we needed to move the lighting elements into useful positions when required so we have most of the MAC IIIs on ‘pods’ that can track, raise/lower and rotate within the three-dimensional area over the stage,” explained Collie when asked where the MAC IIIs were positioned onstage. “The MAC IIIs are nice and bright, the zoom range is good and the rotating effect wheel is a nice gag.”
Pat Brannon, the man on the road with the twenty-four MAC IIIs is equally impressed by the fixtures.
“I love the optics of the MAC III,” he said. “It has the same features of the MAC 2000 with much improved optics and brightness – in fact, I love their brightness. Of course, the added animation wheel is awesome. I really like the speed at which the fixture will go from zoom to tight beam.”
Each of the six pods holds two MAC IIIs, three either side of the downstage truss and three either side on the floor.
“However the show is all about video and we have to watch the intensity of the lighting fixtures so as not to blow out the huge LED screen at the back. So really, as far as lighting fixtures go, it’s not really that a big of a system. The idea is to use the pods for different looks,” Brannon commented.
Sixteen Martin LC Series™ LED panels form the surface of the B stage while twenty Atomic 3000™ strobes with Atomic Colors™ scrollers add flash to the show.
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