Reba
McEntire
1998 In The Round Tour
with Brooks and Dunn
In their first tour together, Reba and
Brooks&Dunn decided to perform in the round--- in the center of
the arena....
We designed the stage with two band pits---one for each artist's
band---that would be covered as the other act is on stage.... Also
incorporated were several lifts from beneath, along with a center
lift and fly-in apparatus for their initial appearance on stage, and
their departure at the end of the evening. We borrowed an additional
idea from Reba's previous tour in 1997, by including a small
proscenium stage at the usual proscenium location. This was
connected with the round center stage with a ramp and conveyor.....
In this way, we were able to transport the artists from "homebase/backstage"
to the center stage position without anyone knowing how they
actually made it to the center of the arena...
Most unique to the entire show was the inclusion of the "Robo-Trac"
lighting system, that was originally built for and used by Paul
McCartney and Wings several years previous. This is a remarkable
system that incorporates light pods that travel on
"I"-beams and can be quickly flown into extreme
positions---from straight vertical, to horizontal at head-height, to
full height above the arena....each pod containing nine Varilites.
The resulting lighting effects were extremely dynamic and ,both,
huge and intimate. It was, however, a programming
nightmare...but well worth the effort in the end.
The other challenge was lighting the artists---especially when they
were all on stage at the same time---so that they could be
key-lighted from whichever direction they would face, while not
losing the overall drama of the lighting effects. Part of the
solution was an automated tracking format that allowed specified
automated fixtures to follow a performer of choice via infrared.
The performers and soloists wore tiny infrared transmitters of
different frequencies. We merely programmed the lights to seek
these frequencies at specified times in the performance. This
was a technology that found its true purpose in our show.
The contrast between Brooks&Dunn's semi-rock /
"kick-ass" format, and Reba's down-home performance of
intimate and long-time favorite songs, created a well rounded
evening of music and personalities. We all had a ball on this
one---especially once the programming was finished!!!
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