03.03.2016 | Elation ACL 360 Bar™ Keeps Lighting Looks Fresh on All Time Low UK Tour
Lighting designer Jeff Maker was looking for a special lighting effect to complement a series of diamond-shaped video screens for American pop punk band All Time Low’s “Back to the Future Hearts” UK tour in February and found it in Elation Professional’s ACL 360 Bar™ moving head batten.
“Their role was to frame four diamond-shaped video walls rigged upstage as well as to help trick the eye into transforming the diamonds into circles or squares,” explained Maker, who has worked with the band for the past seven years. “Since all four of the diamonds moved into different static positions during songs, the ACL 360 Bar was perfect for creating new looks for each new position.”
All Time Low scored a UK Number 1 album with release of ‘Future Hearts’ in 2015 and the string of February arena dates was highly anticipated by its growing fan base in the UK. Wanting to add a special dynamic element to the design, Maker chose the variety of looks that the 360-degree rotation, narrow-beam LED effect light makes possible. “The ACL 360 Bars have infinite design possibilities,” he said. “They're incredibly fast and have fantastic color mixing capabilities. Other LDs I know had high praise for the fixture, which turned me onto them. Once I saw what they were capable of, I was sold.”
Elation’s ACL Series™ of effect lights has become increasingly popular with lighting designers on both sides of the Atlantic for tours, special events, TV broadcasts and entertainment venues. The ACL 360 Bar is a versatile moving head batten with 7 individual 15W RGBW LEDs and advanced collimator optic that produces a tight, 4-degree beam from each lens. Combined with fast movement and continuous 360° pan and tilt rotation, it opens up for a number of fresh, high-energy effects. Jeff used 32 of the units total in his design and names the fixture’s color mixing, movement versatility, and smooth pan/tilt movements as the most important features in his design. “I thoroughly love using Elation products and I will 100% be specing the ACL 360 Bars in future designs,” he says.
Maker, who was nominated for a Parnelli "Lighting Designer of the Year" award in 2012 and TPI Magazine "Lighting Designer of the Year" award in 2015, has been an LD for the past 13 years and has toured with bands such as The Gaslight Anthem, Brand New, The Dresden Dolls, Yellowcard, Pierce The Veil, and Good Charlotte to name a few.
Zig Zag Lighting (zigzaglighting.co.uk) based in Leeds, UK, supplied the ACL 360 Bar fixtures for the tour. “The ACL 360 Bar proved a cost effective solution to fill Jeff's requirements and I'm sure we will see them used on many future products,” Neil Hunt of Zig Zag concluded.
Photos: Adam Elmakias
