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Alex Picard chooses Elation for Janes Addiction tour

Janes Addiction were out supporting the Smashing Pumpkins beneath a lighting rig of Elation Artiste Monet and Dartz 360 LED moving heads designed, programmed and operated by Alex Picard. Lighting supply and support was from Legacy Production Group.

The “Spirits on Fire Tour”, which started October 2 in Dallas, played arenas as the Smashing Pumpkins’ special guest openers. Picard got the call to start working on a design in early September, his first ever gig with Janes Addiction, which gave him little time until tour launch.

“When I got the call there was already a stage design and setup in play”, reports Picard, who says he was given a comprehensive rig from the Smashing Pumpkins to use - eight overhead trusses plus wash and hybrid fixtures on the floor, sides and downstage edge. “I was pleasantly surprised by how much they gave me to use, which meant I didn’t need to compensate by adding a lot of gear. So I was looking for a quick and efficient floor package, something we could quickly get on and off the stage.”

After looking at what the Smashing Pumpkins offered, the only position the designer felt he lacked lights was behind and around a large performance catwalk for dancers that sits behind the band and forms the rock‘n’roll cabaret vibe of the show.

“To round out the design, I put together something that could punch through and give good backlight for effects and silhouetting”, he comments. “I knew I wanted to go all LED as it’s nice to not have to deal with lamp changes. Tom Gorman at Legacy had the Monets in inventory.” Picard put together four 8-ft sections of truss on wheels and topped each with three of the 45,000-lumen LED profile Monet fixtures with strobes below. Each truss section could be wheeled on and off the truck as is.

Picard describes the vibe of the show as Hollywood Blvd at night mixed with sunset over the Pacific with a color scheme of magenta orange, deadened reds and cyans. “It’s confined to a certain color scheme and not just primary RGB colors”, he says. Picard then needed to add mid-stage depth to the look and says he initially thought of a sled of strobes. “But I’ve used the Dartz before and knew I could fit quite a few in a small space”, he says. Tom Gorman had those in his inventory too.

Just downstage of the drum riser, and permanently mounted to an 8-ft wide cart sled (“skateboard”), was a line of eight Dartz 360 units that also wheeled right on to the stage. “The skateboard with Dartz breaks up the middle of the stage and gives some depth to the look so that it’s not an open space between downstage and the drum riser. It also adds something visually interesting behind lead singer Perry Farrell”, Picard states.

Alex describes the show as “very moody and shadowy with angular and sometimes asymmetrical looks”, and says he takes his inspiration from bands like Nine Inch Nails and Massive Attack. “I strive to be patient with the looks”, he concludes. “There’s a lot of building up of looks with penultimate moments and then we bring it back in; it’s a design that breathes in and out.” The tour wrapped up on November 19 with a show at the Hollywood Bowl.

(Photos: Elation Professional)

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