Follow-Me 3D replaces traditional follow lights on Counting Crows' latest tour

The Complete Sweets!, the last tour of the American combo Counting Crows, relied on the artist tracking system Follow-Me 3D as the core of your lighting design.

The system was installed by the rental company and supplier Upstaging, with lighting design by Conner Ostrowski, of Wide Open Productions. Ostrowski, who worked with Counting Crows for the first time, It was clear that the actions of the training, dynamics and intense, required a lighting system that could respond to the great mobility on the boards.

“The band, and Adam specifically, They are very theatrical, and everyone plays various instruments; They have different moments of prominence depending on who is doing each solo. At previous concerts, They have used many powerful front lights on the proscenium and four classic follow spotlights dedicated to the house for each performance. With this year's design, we wanted to achieve a very dramatic and theatrical effect, but without losing that rock and roll atmosphere”, remembers the engineer.

After studying the market, decided Dispense with the traditional use of tracking lights. Working in collaboration with Chris Lose, responsible for relations with designers Follow-Me, designed a system that not only replaced this type of luminaires, but as one more element of the creative design of the show. For your part, John Weston, Mike Gionfriddo and Scott Huggins were responsible for programming the Follow-Me system, with Hannah-Grace Harper as Follow-Me Technician during tour.

Flexibility within the chaos of a rock concert

The flexibility of the system allowed Ostrowski “push creative boundaries” de los shows de Counting Crows. Instead of statically assigning key lighting fixtures, almost every song featured a different group of devices assigned to each target, controlled by song macros in the show archive. Among the teams managed by Follow-Me, they were found 10 Robe iForte LTX, 16 iPointes dress, 20 Elation Proteus Brutus, and a row of 12 Chroma-Q Color Force II 48 on the proscenium floor.

“There were moments when the Fortes could separate themselves from their people and launch a large gobo effect towards the audience that illuminated the entire venue.. There was a moment where the entire main light turned red and the animation wheels went into action, creating a super dramatic atmosphere, disturbing and chaotic on stage during an interlude, and then return to their usual looks in a matter of seconds. These are things you definitely can't do with traditional follow lights.. (…) I was very surprised and impressed by how well adjusted that system was., and how quickly Hannah-Grace was able to update things day by day. Follow-Me makes life on tour so much easier”, concludes Ostrowski.