Avicii's High Intensity DJ Shows Dance with High End Systems

Top charting electronic musician Avicii took his DJ-run show on a Texas tour with High End Systems, a Barco company, products lighting and controlling the way. Insomniac Events produced the shows.

Lighting designer, Justin Jenkins, owner of Creative Production & Design in Austin, Texas, designed and supplied gear for four of the five cities. The rig featured eight trackspot Bolt moving mirror fixtures, four intellaspot, eight Technospot automated luminaires, and two Studio Spot 250s as keylights on the DJ. A Road Hog Full Boar console with Road Hog playback wing was in control.

The combination of the trackspot Bolt, intellaspots, and Technospots was "a great balance of lighting," Jenkins said. "The dynamic output and mix of all three just made the show."

"Trackspot Bolt is phenomenal," Jenkins adds. "The speed of the moving mirror and the intensity is great for Avicii's music. I love the Indigo Highlighter feature on the intellaspot and Technospot -- it made such an impact. Nobody else's products have that LED feature, that deep UV indigo effect. It's like having another lighting fixture in the rig."

Jenkins added: "We have some Technospots in our rental inventory and I'm pushing it more and more. We waited for a lighting fixture with the most feature set for the value and the Technospot hit it. It's dynamic -- a great product and the right light for many different applications."

As venues varied from 2,000 to 4,500 capacities, HES equipment gave him plenty of flexibility with features to expand the look of his show. "I have an eye on how to layer the lights together, and our shows looked bigger than they really were. We could pack in the gear or stretch it out depending on the venue. The combination of the intellaspots, Technospots, and trackspot Bolts had a dynamic. The balance between all three was fantastic with the output and the mix."

Michael Graham of Graham Lights in Austin, Texas programmed the show, choosing a Road Hog Full Boar with a Road Hog Playback Wing. "It's the desk with the OS that I am most comfortable with. I know how to make the Full Boar do what I want and I can do it quickly."

Graham was also lighting director for the show at the Austin Music Hall, and ran a few songs for the San Antonio show before handing it over to lighting designer Matt Jones to continue. Graham was awaiting a new light in his life: the birth of his first child, so he had to stick close to home.

"Michael did a great job," Jenkins said. "And support from HES has been awesome. Even HES' Richard Belliveau came out to the Austin show and paid me a compliment on the lighting. That meant a lot!"