SGM XC-5 Strobes Punch Their Weight with Florida Georgia Line

	SGM LED strobes in action with Florida Georgia Line.

When lighting designer Scott Cunningham first saw SGM's revolutionary XC-5 LED RGB strobes, designed into Taylor Swift's touring set by Baz Halpin, he knew he had to have them for fast emerging country duo Florida Georgia Line (FGL).

The duo, who broke through late last year with their smash single "Cruise," had been doing some support dates on Swift's Red tour. Recalls Cunningham, "Steve Richards, who is out as lighting designer on the Taylor tour, introduced me to the fixtures, and gave me the inside scoop." Having also watched the Beyoncé videos, showing heavy use of the X-5 (white strobe) he immediately became convinced by the technology.

But it was the color function that he could envisage working on the FGL tour, and he wasted no time requisitioning six from Theatrical Media Services (TMS) of Omaha, Nebraska. Owing to supply and demand this was the maximum that could be accommodated in a scaled down production -- but Cunningham has certainly made the most of them.

The XC-5's have been placed inside the floor package, transported within handy truss carts, and have met all the requirements for Cunningham, who was able to replace his traditional power hungry xenon strobes with these far more diet conscious low wattage alternatives. "We carry six truss towers that feature several fixtures, and the XC-5's live inside those," he says.

"As we are playing a range of venues from 2,000-5,000 capacity amphitheatres and clubs, the ability to be able to say that our lighting package draws 100A is huge. Also, the colors the fixture can provide are great -- from white to a deep saturated red."

And at the summer fairs and festivals those capacities have risen to 8,000-10,000. "I think it has been pretty safe to say that our summer headline shows have all been sold out -- which has been awesome to see."

Yet the adoption of the XC-5's still represented something of a leap of faith, since playing outdoor festivals in high summer, the strobes would need to hold their own in all conditions. "They function in the set as a solid LED visual source," states Cunningham, "but the majority of the time I am using them like a typical strobe, for hits and accents."

Another major factor in choosing the XC-5 was the fact that it has the same personality functions as his conventional strobe. "I love the fact that I can use the fixture to burst, flash, or even just as eye candy. With such a similar profile this made them super simple to program and operate from the GrandMA2 Lite, knowing which attributes I wanted."

Summing up, Cunningham says he is already looking to incorporate further XC-5's with FGL come the fall. "These have been great fixtures to use; the price point was excellent and they seem incredibly durable. After having them ride in our truss -- loaded in and out of bus trailers every day -- they are showing little signs of wear and tear."

See SGM at PLASA Focus: Austin, September 10-11.