Robe for OLP30 Tour

Canadian lighting designer Michael “Herk” Herkimer of HLX experienced a slight career epiphany when lead singer Raine Maida of Canadian alt-rockers Our Lady Peace (OLP) asked if Herk could possibly look at a link to a 2013 Nine Inch Nails touringshow video from the Staples Center in LA – among his inspirational sources. Herk has admired NIN designs for many years, so this was music to his ears – and a highly memorable “I’ve been waiting all my career to get this email” moment. He took this and other elements as a starting point and produced a totally unique look and original style for the OLP30 tour, which celebrated 30 years as a musical powerhouse. This was Herk’s first time working with OLP.

Robe FORTE and MegaPointe moving lights were prominent on the lighting rig, with 6 of the 50 x FORTEs running on three RoboSpot BaseStations, all supplied by rental vendor Soundbox.

Four large triangular trussing pods were flown over the stage, each rigged with 10 x FORTES to produce massive, high-impact rock show looks in addition to lighting the standard upstage positions, complete with another 8 x FORTES deployed upstage on the deck.

The six FORTES used on the RoboSpot systems were all rigged at acute and steep angles to the stage to keep that “God-light celestial look” which apart from looking very cool, on a practical level also kept light out of the performer’s eyes.

FORTE®

The pod FORTES were specifically positioned for producing these big jaw-dropping moments, and with three large LED screens onstage, Herk knew he could rely on the FORTES to punch through.

He loves the speed and efficiency of all the FORTE mechanical systems. “The speed of the pan / tilt function really stands out against other fixtures with a comparable output AND the FORTE totally delivers with good animation wheels!” he declared.

MegaPointe is a regular choice for Herk’s creative lighting work, and here they were deployed six a side on ladders, stage left and right, covering all the “high interest” areas near to the band, delivering both beam and spot looks with their “superior optics”.

They were complemented by 12 x Pointes around the front of the stage. He likes the MegaPointe for many features including for producing equally high caliber spot and beam looks, and believes that these are still “unrivalled” compared to any other equivalent multifunctional light source.

Talking of Robe generally, he says the “reliability, robustness and continuity” deliver for him every time on all styles of design. For Herk, using RoboSpots on a show brings “a level of precision, accuracy, and dynamics that is unachievable using traditional follow kit and operation.” For this OLP design, RoboSpots facilitated the steep spot angles that were so essential to the show aesthetic, keeping it looking stylish and raw.

RoboSpot tech Mark Tissen was “surgical” in his daily efforts to optimize this element while lighting system designer Rob Mcintosh was instrumental in setting all of it up pre tour. On the road, a barge was utilized to move the RoboSpot BaseStations around at each venue, positioning them side stage when possible, from where it was handy for seeing the rig and for efficient troubleshooting if needed. However, they also had the additional flexibility of being able to deploy the BaseStations anywhere in the venue when this space was not available.

Designing both video and lighting in tandem enabled Herk to properly harmonize both these visual entities seamlessly and elegantly with playback and IMAG under his control for outputting to screen. Video content was created by Raine Maida, who clearly takes a big interest in the live show presentation together with Dan Fusselman of DFUSS.TV from Phoenix, and Toronto-based Fezz Stenton. The live video director was Taylor Green.

Lighting crew chief Arnold Pereira made time in his busy schedule to go on the road with them. “His character and loyalty over the years is only outshone by his incredible standards of excellence,” praises Herk.

Mark Tissen looked after dimmers as well as RoboSpots, and they were joined by hard working LX crew members Alex Jeffrey and Curtis MacNeill.

James Plouffe from Light and Dark Toronto assisted with the Vectorworks drafting and the systems designer was Rob McIntosh. This show was programmed during two very full weeks at Herk’s studio in southern Ontario before kicking off in Calgary.

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Photos © Corey Kelly and Brandon Ferguson