Gare has followed the company’s journey right through to the latest impression X5 washlight, to which he was introduced by Matt Shimamoto at Volt Lites – the company that now services all their lighting and rigging requirements “with a level of service and professionalism that’s second to none.”
“I loved them, and we immediately substituted all our usual LED wash fixtures,” he adds in reaction to the X5. “They are very bright, with a super-versatile zoom range and fantastic colours. Although we use them as key lighting only on this show, I am intrigued to use them in the future in the full-pixel mode.”
Scaling the rig to accommodate both indoor and outdoor stages – with capacities ranging from 8,000 to 25,000 – he deployed 36 of the impression X5s. He uses six fixtures on each flank as side lights, with six on the truss for key light (two for each band member). A further 12 are positioned underneath the risers to shoot through the perspex tops, with the remainder on the front truss for general stage wash purposes. This saw them successfully through a US itinerary highlighted by such iconic venues as Red Rocks, Hollywood Bowl and The Gorge before returning to their native Australia for their first headline tour since before the pandemic.