grandMA2 and Sharpy Head on Tour with Bruno Mars

Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Bruno Mars is taking grandMA2 and a complement of Clay Paky Sharpy lighting fixtures on the road for his international tour in support of his debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans. A.C.T Lighting is the distributor of both grandMA2 and Clay Paky lighting in North America.

According to lighting designer/programmer/operator Cory FitzGerald almost two truckfuls of lights are accompanying Mars, who is known as one of today's most versatile pop singers. To control the extensive lighting complement, "We have two full-size grandMA2s running the latest version software -- the first time we've taken the grandMA2 on tour," he reports. "We're using overhead and double-hung diagonal trusses and have a pretty well-rounded lighting inventory."

FitzGerald has been "working with grandMA for a while" and has teamed with A.C.T "to tweak and get it perfect. It's been a good process - grandMA2 is different from grandMA, and I'm very pleased with it and like where it's going. The macros make things go much faster, I have three times as many playbacks for more flexibility per song or per page, and the console layout is great."

Among the lights controlled by the grandMA2 are six Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures on the floor and fourteen in the truss. "I saw them at LDI and have been trying to get them on a show ever since," says FitzGerald. "Upstaging [the lighting vendor] had them, and it worked out perfectly that we got them. They're awesome - super-reliable, super-bright, and so dynamic. Much more dynamic than I thought with gobos, prism, and frost. Their speed is also amazing."

The grandMA2 also controls two Hippos, double-stacked Barco projectors, and a large LED wall. Nocturne is the video equipment vendor.

FitzGerald, who also did the production design for the tour's set and screens, reports "no issues" with the grandMA2. In fact, he's thinking about how to fine-tune the system to further meet his needs. "I've been very active in giving ideas for future macros to A.C.T, and they've been very receptive," he says.