Elation's Rayzor Q7s a Smash Hit on Smash Mouth's Under The Sun Tour

	Smash Mouth's Under the Sun tour with Elation Professional's Rayzor Q7s

This summer's premier North American '90s group tour -- Under The Sun -- is aptly named, since the five-band show plays in just about every type of venue "under the sun" during its marathon 36-city sweep. Traveling on tour buses with limited space and having to quickly set up gear to illuminate stages of all shapes and sizes presented some tricky challenges for Ian Staer of Circuit Six, lighting designer for Smash Mouth, headliner of the show, which also features decade icons the Gin Blossoms, Sugar Ray, Vertical Horizon, and Fastball.

"We're playing a lot of differently sized venues all over North America, and it's important to me that no matter whether we're on a free-standing outdoor stage or in an amphitheatre, the band looks BIG," said Staer. Although bright, dynamic lights were a must for Smash Mouth's performance, the lighting designer also needed fixtures that were lightweight, compact, and fast and easy to set up, tear down, and pack away.

This tall order was filled by a very small fixture -- the Rayzor Q7 from Elation Professional. The smallest and fastest LED moving head Elation has introduced to date, the Rayzor Q7 emits a powerful razor-sharp 7-degree beam (5,442 lux at four-meters) that can dramatically cut through other visual effects. The tiny unit (11lb. / 5kg., 9.25" x 5.5" x 12.5"/ 235 x 140 x 318mm), also comes loaded with features, including RGBW quad-color mixing, four-zone chase effects, and new high-speed three-phase motor technology that makes the beams fly.

Elation is making the Rayzor Q7 available in a new "six-pack" boxed in a convenient roadcase that's ideal for a tour like Under The Sun. Using just one of these Rayzor Q7 six-packs, Staer says, he's been able to create stunning visuals for Smash Mouth that stand out amidst the tour's "fairly straightforward rock rig," consisting of "120K of par, six flown hard-edge moving lights, and a bunch of lekos and blinders."

"Since this is a festival tour with five platinum-selling bands, the flown rig must service them all equally while complementing the individual character of each band," Staer pointed out. "The Rayzors, however, visually differentiate Smash Mouth from the other bands on the tour. They kick off the show -- the band starts in full blackout, and the Rayzors sweep the crowd like searchlights as their intro music rolls, with additional layers of light fading in one at a time until the downbeat of the first number."

The six Rayzor Q7s are integrated into Smash Mouth's drum/keyboard riser -- a setup that is "super-quick and makes changeovers a snap," said Staer. "The Rayzor not only packs up small -- six lights and all cables, in a tiny quarter-by-quarter case -- its footprint onstage is also very conservative. The tour has four or five risers total which move on and off stage during the festival-style changeovers, so it was important to have a deck package which integrated with Smash Mouth's backline without interfering with things like mic stands and cabling. They really excel in that regard!"

"After load-in and soundcheck, the riser disconnects and pushes back, then since both power and data daisy-chain from fixture to fixture, there's just a single cable connection for each to be made before Smash Mouth take the stage. Very thrifty."

Seeing the Rayzor Q7s in action along the tour stops made believers of local crews, many of whom were skeptical at first that lights so small could make a substantial impact. "For many of the local vendors this was the first time they'd seen the Rayzors in person," Staer said. "I was asked how I liked them, how they compare to other similar products on the market, etc. I simply stated (the lights' attributes), and during the loadout their commentary has invariably affirmed my own observations. A few vendors even expressed interest in adding the Rayzor Q7 to their rental inventory based on its performance during our show."

See Elation Professional at PLASA Focus: Austin, September 10-11, and PLASA Focus: Nashville, February 18-19, 2014.