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Carrie Underwood Takes the grandMA Route to Musical Stardom
American Idol champ and Nashville recording artist Carrie Underwood, touring in support of her album ‘Some Hearts’, is traveling light as she crosses the country with the grandMA light console. Underwood’s album has sold more than four million copies since its release and her national tour is focusing on the fair and festival circuit.
The lighting for Underwood’s show was built in rehearsals with a grandMA console by lighting designer Seth Jackson. Bandit Lites’ lighting director, Drew Gnagey, who partnered with David “Fuji” Convertino to program and direct the show, is touring with Underwood armed with a grandMA light. “We programmed on a grandMA full-size and took a grandMA light on the road and it’s been seamless,” says Seth Jackson. “It’s as if it’s the same console.” Jackson and his team programmed the show so it not only includes the lights they’re traveling with but also features an overhead rig matching their touring rider.
“This has been Carrie’s year for coming up in the ranks,” notes Jackson. “She’s rising a lot faster than anyone expected.” During the summer she opened for Kenny Chesney on his US tour, which also featured a grandMA. “We went into the Vision suite of set designer Mike Swinford, jumped in and started programming.”
“Later, Carrie opened for Brad Paisley and also began touring on her own,” Jackson adds. “With the Paisley system we dedicated a certain number of lights for Carrie. We went into a virtual studio and programmed in Vision so if we did a date with Brad we used the full rig and if we did our own date with Carrie we could specify exactly what we needed. We could replace lights with similar fixtures. We were able to do this because the grandMA could adapt. No matter who Carrie was playing with, it didn’t make a difference - she had a very consistent show.
“Fuji” says that programming the console for Underwood was a unique experience. “We had to program the grandMA with the limited package Carrie was carrying and adapt it to the Paisley rig. We also had to make sure that her lights looked fabulous for her own shows. It was quite a thing to change everyday. But the grandMA made it quick and easy to change the fixture type and update the presets,” he points out. “We did the model and Vision programming on Paisley’s Vai*Lite rig but Bandit’s lights for Carrie were Martin MAC 2000s. We could just walk in, change the fixtures and go. That enabled us to do a lot of cool stuff.”
With Underwood now touring on her own, the grandMa “has been flawless and solid. No crashes. It just rocks!” Jackson concludes. This tour demonstrates the grandMAs flexibility. It is not just for huge shows, it is perfect for shows that change fixtures and format from one part of the tour to another. Flexibility is one of the grandMAs greatest strengths," commented A.C.T Lighting CEO, Bob Gordon. A.C.T. is the exclusive distributor of the grandMA in North America.
8th January 2007
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