12/22/17, 2’30 PM Fall Out Boy 'Mania' Tour - PLSN Page 1 of 6 http://plsn.com/current-issue/60-wide-focus/24229-fall-out-boy-mania-tour.html Mobile App Subscribe Media Kit Submissions Contact HOME NEWSROOM CURRENT ISSUE GEAR PLSN TV RESOURCES SUBSCRIBE FALL NEW PRODUCTS PREVIEW Search... Fall Out Boy 'Mania' Tour by Tommy Howard ▪ in Wide Focus ▪ Created: 09 November, 2017 0 Comments Robb Jibson Designs Band’s Largest-Scale Production to Date. Rock band Fall Out Boy recently embarked on their arena sized Mania tour, kicking off with the Jrst show in Cleveland on Oct. 20. The North American tour leg runs through Nov. 18 before heading overseas, with shows planned in early 2018 in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The new tour, in support of the new album of the same name (due out in January), features hip hop act Blackbear and actor-rapper Jaden Smith. The size and scope of the Mania tour marks “the next chapter in the band’s history,” notes production designer Robb Jibson of Chicago based So Midwest, Inc. “It’s a much larger endeavor than previous tours with lighting, scenic, pyro and visuals.” Jibson is using a grandMA2 console (with another for backup) to drive a lighting rig that includes Claypaky Mythos 2 and A.leda B-EYE K20 Jxtures. VER, based in Glendale, CA, is the lighting and video vendor for the world tour. The B stage -ies in the air. All Access Staging supported this tour. Photos by Elliot Ingham !
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12/22/17, 2'30 PMFall Out Boy 'Mania' Tour - PLSN
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Fall Out Boy 'Mania' Tourby Tommy Howard ▪ in Wide Focus ▪ Created: 09 November, 2017
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Robb Jibson Designs Band’s Largest-Scale Production to Date.
Rock band Fall Out Boy recently embarked on their arena sized Mania tour, kicking off with the Jrst show in Cleveland on Oct. 20. TheNorth American tour leg runs through Nov. 18 before heading overseas, with shows planned in early 2018 in Europe, Australia andNew Zealand. The new tour, in support of the new album of the same name (due out in January), features hip hop act Blackbear andactor-rapper Jaden Smith.
The size and scope of the Mania tour marks “the next chapter in the band’s history,” notes production designer Robb Jibson ofChicago based So Midwest, Inc. “It’s a much larger endeavor than previous tours with lighting, scenic, pyro and visuals.”
Jibson is using a grandMA2 console (with another for backup) to drive a lighting rig that includes Claypaky Mythos 2 and A.leda B-EYEK20 Jxtures. VER, based in Glendale, CA, is the lighting and video vendor for the world tour.
The B stage -ies in the air. All Access Staging supported this tour. Photos by Elliot Ingham
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Sparkular effects line the stage
The overall visual concept for the tour design is to keep things “very clean, symmetrical and linear,” says Jibson, with “no set on stage.The Mania visuals for the record cycle are very linear, and “the show mimics that,” he adds.
The video content design includes hand-drawn illustrations, found live-action footage, CGI animations and I-Mag content for the LEDdisplays, with an upstage LED screen measuring 60 feet wide and 19.5 feet tall serving as a key visual focal point beyond the mainstage, which spans the arena.
With band members starting off on the main stage, then moving down a thrust to two additional automated stages — all in one linearplane from the downstage edge — this is a dynamic, complex show to light.
A Dynamic Production
After opening the show on the main stage, the Fall Out Boy band members run up and down the 100-foot thrust in the middle of thearena that connects to a 16-by-16-foot B stage.
At another point, the band vanishes from the main stage and is shuttled, in the dark, under the thrust. Drummer Andy Hurley and leadguitarist Joe Trohman then emerge atop a stage nested within the B stage, which rises 12-16 feet in the air. An LED fascia trimmingthe elevated B stage displays more video content.
An elevated cube downstage of the B stage, which resembles an arena scoreboard displaying I-Mag, then descends to coor level asthe B stage begins to rise. The cube, which displays pixel-mapped content, then becomes a C stage, as lead singer Patrick Stump andbass guitarist Pete Wentz jump on top, and the C stage lifts them 20 feet in the air.
“The band performs three songs in the air, then the B and C stages are lowered, the guys are back on the thrust, and everything returnsto its original state,” Jibson explains.
With so much activity up and down the arena, Jibson was challenged to design a lighting rig of appropriate scale and functionality.“There’s a lot of square footage to this show,” he says. “We have positions to cover it everywhere.”
Large triangular-shaped trusses form a roof of lighting over the main stage. Seventy-foot trusses line the sides of the arena, a trusshangs over seats at the back of house, and trusses book-end the short sides of the arena.
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Triangular truss shapes @lled with B Eyes and Mythos2 @xtures
Lighting Fixtures and Console
Jibson is no stranger to Claypaky, having chosen the company’s Jxtures for previous Fall Out Boy tours. For the Mania tour, heselected 64 Mythos 2 Jxtures.
“Mythos are my go-to Jxtures,” Jibson says. “When I did another production earlier this year, I wished I had Mythos — a different JxtureI used just didn’t cut it. I can hang Mythos 60 feet in the air and get punch; I know they will cut through the video wall.”
For this show, he’s using the Mythos as hard-edged Jxtures with a lot of versatility. On a truss behind the main stage, for example,Mythos serve as accent and Jll lights “without making the stage strobe all the time,” he explains. “The accents and hits blast throughas sort of a drop shadow or outer glow for the main lighting system. This lets me blast strobes into the air without seeing the face ofthe Jxture and makes for more interesting looks at times without having to get nuts.”
Jibson is mixing 74 Claypaky A.leda B-EYE K20s with Mythos in the same positions. “The B-EYEs are such versatile Jxtures,” he says.“They’re really bright, and the pixel mapping inside is really interesting. It’s like having a 64-pack box of crayons — there are so manythings you can do with them.”
Jibson recently migrated to the grandMA2 for lighting control. “I’ve used a few different control systems in the past,” he notes. “ThegrandMA2 is a very versatile, safe and secure platform. And every lighting director is cuent on grandMA today.”
12/22/17, 2'30 PMFall Out Boy 'Mania' Tour - PLSN
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Jibson uses a grandMA2 to @re off the lighting, visual and effects cues.
Jibson also credits the console’s manufacturer and U.S. distributor for support. “MA Lighting and A.C.T Lighting have been veryreceptive to my questions as I learn the console,” he says. “They’re very open to adding new features and making the product better.”
For the Mania tour, Jibson has one active and one backup grandMA2 light and four active and one backup NPUs and 12 DMX nodes.The systems are integrated with PRG’s Mbox media servers for video control, and screens management/camera effects are handledvia a d3 Technologies 4x4 media server with Notch software.
As for lighting control software, Jibson is particularly pleased with MA 3D, which was used for the tour’s previz process. “It’s amazing— very intuitive, clean and simple,” he says. “Its 3D representation of Jxtures in physical space blows every other operating system outof the water. MA stands alone in that. No other system interprets positional data and makes changes the way MA does.”
Brent Sandrock, who serves as So Midwest’s programmer and assistant lighting designer, is already adept at the grandMA2 light,Jibson says. “He takes my awkward Jnger movements in the air and translates them to the stage,” Jibson notes. “He really makes itsing.”
The So Midwest team also includes content creator Josh Stone, content producer Kyle Flaherty and chief animator Matt Barker, alongwith a host of other freelancers supporting the production.
