Since 1998, Train has been at the forefront of the pop/rock industry with multi-platinum records and several Top 40 hits. Now at the conclusion of the California 37 Tour, the San Francisco-based band has been selling out venues of all sizes across the world.
To make sure the show was unlike any the band had produced before, lighting designer Brock Hogan had the opportunity to create their largest rig to date and he filled it with VL3500 Wash FX, VLX Wash, VLX3 Wash, and VL3000 Spot Luminaires. Lighting and LED equipment was provided by LMG Touring.
"This is was my fifth tour with Train and I was brought in a little later than usual in the production process, so we were very short in time," began Hogan. "They gave me complete freedom to design what I wanted and to set the tone for the content of video for the overall look for the show. With my automated fixtures I would definitely need something powerful, to cut through the video wall and I have always been a fan of Vari-Lite luminaires. In working with LMG's inventory, they are very well stocked with Vari-Lite fixtures and since we wanted to bring a big rock-show look to the tour, it was sort of a no-brainer."
"This is our sixth tour with Train and the big difference this time was the size of the rig," added Craig Mitchell, national sales manager at LMG. "Vari-Lite luminaires have always been very reliable for us, and they are very high-quality and in-demand fixtures. As a vendor you want to have fixtures in your inventory that people want and need, and that is what happens with Vari-Lite luminaires."
Hogan commented, "Last year I went down to Dallas with LMG and saw a demo of the VLX3 Wash and I thought they were amazing. Then when I learned that you could also have individual LED Engine control, I definitely wanted to use them quite a bit on this tour. So I placed all 18 of them overhead with six per truss equally spread across to mirror the VL3000 Spots. For a spot fixture, the VL3000 Spot is an easy choice because if the quality of the gobos and the consistent color mixing across the fixtures. Since we wanted to have the big, rock show feel with this tour, I had to have them. I then use the VLX Wash for my downstage wash and they work beautifully. Finally, the VL3500 Wash FX fixtures are used on an upstage ground row to give me nice, tight beam of overhead shots with a few gobo breakups, but I mostly use them for their nice and tight beam and the look great."
