Robe Helps Dave Matthews Band Celebrate 25

	Dave Matthews Band. Photo: Adam Kaplan

The Dave Matthews Band played its 25th anniversary tour in the US and Canada this summer. The lengthy annual DMB summer tours have actually acquired legendary status and are known for improvised renditions of their regular songs as much as for their stunning visual shows which have been designed by Fenton Williams since the early 1990s.

Fenton and his Charlottesville, Virginia-based design company Filament Productions are still responsible for the production design and this year he and co-lighting designer Aaron Stinebrink specified Robe BMFL Spots and PATT 2013 fixtures.

Stinebrink also works for Theatrical Media Services (TMS) based in Omaha, Nebraska, the tour's lighting vendor and he's been involved with Fenton and DMB in various lighting capacities since 2003, the last four years as joint lighting designer and lead programmer.

The design process between the two men is always "a lot of fun" claims Stinebrink, explaining that it all starts with a few conversations to discuss interesting ideas to be explored, from which Williams produces some initial drawings which bounce back and forth between them. Various elements are added and some that won't work are cut, all the time keeping in mind the wide range of venues on the itinerary ... and the need for adaptability.

For this tour, Williams really wanted a balance between lighting and video and was keen to avoid a "conventional" large upstage video wall ... so instead there are five downstage high res LED screens slightly angled back like a digital scoreboard, with three lengths of "ribbon board" video cladding the fronts of three curved trusses surrounding the band.

Ten of the 28 BMFLs are on the top two trusses behind the band, with another 10 on the floor and the remaining eight split into two groups of four, positioned upstage right and left.

The six PATT 2013s are built into custom pods which are lowered in on Pantographs at strategic moments of the show -- to great effect -- a move that also changes the architecture of the entire performance space, so it has big impact.

Stinebrink reports he thinks that the BMFLs are fantastic fixtures, extremely bright and with a very even and flat field of light ... as well as "impressively nimble." He adds that they have a great array of features allowing designers to be very creative.

Williams agrees and underlines the fact that the BMFL Spots hold their own against the video and the beam and wash lights dotted all over the rig.

Stinebrink loves the BMFL animation wheel and the dual prism is another favorite, along with "the overall quality of the light output, which is absolutely second to none."

They chose PATT 2013s because they wanted some fixtures with that "old-school" tungsten-feel. They started with the PATT 2013 light sources and then designed the pod to surround the fixtures. It is a "fantastic visual component of the show," states Stinebrink.

Talking about Robe generally, he feels that the brand has "rocketed to the top with the past years" luminaire releases and "the quality and durability is consistent across the various Robe products."

The overall look and feel of the show's lighting is intimate and personal, capturing the spirit of the DMB performance energy really well. The ceiling height is around 26' with the downstage video wall in place which really draws all eyes in to focus on the band.

For Stinebrink, the best part of working with DMB is the family atmosphere. The show is both challenging and rewarding to light and the chance of working with some of his good friends ... makes the experience all the better.

Lighting crew chief from TMS is Pete Franks and the techs are Bob Chaise, Jerry Kaiser, Josh Albright, and Josh Light. Light is also programming and operating the desk for the tour. TMS president Mark Huber is the account handler.