Fitz and The Tantrums Get to The Pointe

	Fitz and The Tantrums on tour with Robe's Pointe

When Fitz and The Tantrums' lighting designer, Chris Smith, asked for a demo of the Robe Robin Pointe moving light, he got more than that -- given the opportunity to use them on Fitz' December show in Austin, Texas, Smith put them to the test.

Robe Lighting Inc.'s Heather Busch explained that Smith became interested in Robe products after using another Robin fixture, the MMX Spot, on Cat Power's 2012 tour. As lighting director on this, Smith worked with production designer/lighting designer, Cory Fitzgerald to meld the touring rig with the local lighting rig each night. Having the MMX Spots on hand was an integral part of the design and gave the ability to smoothly transition from rig to rig.

When Smith began hearing impressive feedback among other lighting professionals about the Pointe, he wanted to see what all the hype was about, and worked with Busch to see a demo.

Says Busch, "He wanted to give the Pointes a try and thought that Fitz' Austin one-off show would be a great opportunity. Chris used four Pointes, along with several other moving heads which he had used on the rest of the tour, for the band's show at ACL Live at The Moody Theatre."

The Hollywood, California-based lighting designer has been designing tours, event productions, and theatre shows for eight years. Smith explained that he was using a competitor's product at the beginning and throughout most of Fitz' tour, but not toward the end. "I was missing the beam fixtures from our more recent shows. When I got the chance to try out the Pointes, I was excited to see how they compared [with the competitor's product] and if they could do other things as well," he said.

Smith positioned the four Pointes on top of the main truss towers on stage in front of several LED washlights. He said he was pleased with their performance and impressed with the several additional features the Pointes offered over other beam fixtures with which he was familiar.

"I liked them a lot," he said. "The dimming curve on [the Pointe] is very good for a beam fixture, the prisms are great and so is the zoom."

The Pointe is a fast, bright, and truly multi-purpose beam, spot, wash, and effects fixture. While featuring the classic bright beam that so many lighting designers enjoy using, the Pointe offers more flexibility and a greater range of looks through the use of features like the zoom, multiple gobo wheels, and multiple prisms.

The Los Angeles-based neo soul/indie pop band Fitz And The Tantrums' recent hits include "MoneyGrabber" and "Out of My League." Their Spring 2014 US tour will begin in April following several dates throughout Europe in March.

See Robe at PLASA Focus: Nashville, February 18 - 19.