Claypaky and MA Lighting Hit the Road with OneRepublic Headlining 2017 Honda Civic Tour

	OneRepublic on the 2017 Honda Civic Tour. Photo: Brian Jenkins

OneRepublic is headlining the 2017 Honda Civic Tour, the 16th annual edition of the automaker's summer tour, and Claypaky Mythos2, Claypaky Sharpy Washes, and MA Lighting grandMA2 consoles are along for the cross-country ride. A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor of both brands in North America.

The Honda Civic Tour kicked off in Kansas City, Missouri in July and will wrap after Labor Day in The Woodlands, Texas. The pop rock band will play 34 dates nationwide primarily in amphitheaters. It's OneRepublic's first tour since releasing the album, Oh My My, last October.

Production and lighting designer Mark Butts of Los Angeles' Preset Productions partnered with director and co-production designer Raj Kapoor of LA's Raj Kapoor Productions to create a signature look for the band. OneRepublic gave the creatives a lot of latitude to devise a "very clean, sophisticated, architectural look with a limited color palette," says Butts. Video plays a supporting role with two triangular screens framing lighting trusses in a forced perspective pyramid shape.

"The lighting rig was designed to look bigger than it is," notes Butts. "The choice of fixtures and the way we've hung the trusses make the rig look pretty substantial." VER is the tour's lighting, video, and sound vendor.

Butts was one of the first to use Claypaky Mythos, for country music star Kenny Chesney, when the luminaires were introduced to the US market. "I have a long history with the product," he says. "Mythos has become one of my favorites because it's small, lightweight, and does a ton of great stuff."

For OneRepublic Butts is using 62 Mythos2 in the truss as back lights and cross lights. They also deliver big, dynamic effects and some ballyhoos.

He added about 28 Sharpy Washes, mounted in pre-rigged truss turned upside down and quickly deployed on the upstage floor, for back lights and silhouette looks.

A grandMA2 light console controls the show's lighting with a grandMA2 full-size in a back up role. "MA consoles have been part of lighting director A.J. Penn's system for a long time, and I've been a major user, too," says Butts. "It's a big advantage that grandMA2 consoles are easily found around the world. After the Honda Civic Tour ends, OneRepublic will adapt the show's original concept for a series of one-offs, which they can run on grandMA2s anywhere."

Butts notes that Penn and programmer Brian Jenkins were confident about using new grandMA2 v.3.3.2 software for the tour. "With the support of A.C.T Lighting, it's easy for us to take a chance on something new because we know we can always call A.C.T and get answers about new features in minutes," says Butts.

"We're really happy with the performance of the fixtures and the consoles on the tour," he reports. "We wanted to specify the best equipment we could for challenging outdoor venues, and everything is very solid."