05.06.2015 | Elation Beam Fixtures Brighten Stages at 2015 StageCoach Festival

Visions Lighting turns to new Platinum BX and established Platinum Beam 5R Extreme for high impact looks at “Country Coachella”

Country music shed its restrained image years ago with today’s country artists requiring the same big impact rigs as full on rock acts. A testament to that more upbeat evolution was this year’s StageCoach Festival, where production company Visions Lighting (www.visionslighting.com) dressed the two largest stages in brazen big beam looks from Elation Platinum BX and Platinum Beam 5R Extreme fixtures.

Country music fans from across southern California and beyond gathered April 24-26 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, for the sold out festival, which featured mainstream country artists Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton along with lesser knowns. A relative newcomer to the country music festival scene yet already one of the seasons’ most anticipated events, StageCoach has grown to become the U.S.’s biggest grossing country music festival.

Todd Roberts of Visions Lighting supplied the Elation beam lights for the "Mane" Stage and Palomino Stage, Visions’ first time working on Stagecoach. Visions also took care of the perimeter site lighting. “We were very happy to have the opportunity to work on StageCoach this year,” Todd stated. “Country music concerts are not what they used to be. The fan base is growing and expects the production to be equal to, if not bigger, than a rock and roll touring rig. The Elation fixtures provided the impactful big beam looks that spectators love and we used them for all the artists throughout the three days.”

On the festival’s “Mane” stage, the Platinum BX and Beam 5R Extremes worked from a rig made up of six large truss sticks with side fingers. On the downstage truss and stage-left wing were 15 of the powerful fat beam Platinum BX effects used for brilliant long throw aerial looks. “The BX’s thick beam looks great and they are really bright, just as bright as a Sharpy,” Todd commented. “And then you’ve got the cost savings advantage too. They worked out really well with none going down. Not one issue!” The Platinum BX powers out over 15,000 lumens of concentrated light along a tight 3-degree beam and its wide lens optics make for a thicker beam that looks great mid-air.

Known as the “Country Coachella,” StageCoach is really the country music version of the popular multi-genre music festival, which ended the weekend prior at the same location. Visions, who also supplied Elation lighting for Coachella, including Platinum Beam 5R Extremes, quickly sent the fixtures back to their shop after the festival for a quick cleaning before being sent out again for Stagecoach. Todd then placed 24 of them on the “Mane” stage from mid-stage and upstage positions to shoot ACL-type beams into the air and audience.  An extremely bright beam light that has been a touring industry staple for years, an additional 48 Platinum Beam 5R Extremes were used on the Palomino stage, which featured lesser known but rising artists.

The Elation Platinum BX and Platinum Beam 5R Extreme fixtures worked with a host of other lights on both stages, including lights from artists who came with their own floor package. Lighting designer for the “Mane” stage was Jamie Jensen with programming by Chad Smith. Todd Roberts handled lighting design duties for the Palomino stage with programming by David Molmer.