Felix Peralta Celebrates with 234 CHAUVET Professional Fixtures on Cafe Tacvba's 35th Anniversary Tour

	"We leaned on the PXL Curve bars to help "bend light," wash the stage, and create unique architectural shapes. The Color STRIKE Ms were great as strobes, shock and awe. and pixel effects."

Cafe Tacvba, a quartet from Naucalpan de Juarez, has blended Mexican musical influences with mainstream rock sounds throughout their 35-year career. "They're music is super eclectic, going from the simplest Mexican folk songs, to the blistering electric punk and rock sounds they are accustomed to belting out night after night," observes Felix Peralta. "They are one of the most amazing live bands I have ever seen -- and I feel fortunate to have seen a lot of live bands throughout my 30-plus years in the industry! Most importantly, they're some of the nicest people you'll ever meet."

Peralta has been lighting Cafe Tacvba for about eight years now. Late this November and early December, he got to use his formidable design chops to create a powerful light show for the band's 35th-anniversary celebration that was as bold and wide-ranging as his client's music.

The magic Peralta worked at the three sold out Cafe Tacvba arena shows in Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Mexico City drew heavily on the color rendering magic and dynamic effects from 40 CHAUVET Professional COLORado PXL 12 Curve motorized battens and 130 Color STRIKE M motorized strobe-washes. Adding extra punch to his diverse three-hour show were 64 high-output STRIKE Array 4 blinders.

"Among the many wonderful things about lighting Cafe Tacvba is that they give you the opportunity to take your design in all sorts of directions," says Peralta. "Working with lighting directors Chris Fernandez and Diego Rabadan, head gaffer/lighting designer Eduardo "Toto" Lopez, and lead technician Angel Alvarado, we had a blast moving through a wide range of looks with the band. Of course, to do this, we needed fixtures that could contribute to a lot of different ways. We leaned on the PXL Curve bars to help "bend light," wash the stage, and create unique architectural shapes. The Color STRIKE Ms were great as strobes, shock and awe. and pixel effects."

Of course, creating a steady stream of looks for a three-hour set without being repetitive is no easy task. Peralta and his team met this challenge by using an automation truss system, and vanish stealth screen that helped them come up with varied backgrounds throughout the 35-song set list.