Tiësto, Fitz and the Tantrums, Billy Strings and Lotus headlined the four nights respectively with all but Billy Strings performing before a live audience limited to 175 fans per Colorado’s COVID-19 guidelines. As a guarantee against any weather issues, notably Colorado’s notorious cloudburst rain showers, Brown Note dipped into its inventory of Elation all-weather IP65 luminaires to light the four shows with the venue’s spectacular rock formations also lit up for Tiësto’s performance.
With its open-air amphitheater built into the surrounding sandstone, Red Rocks is one of live music’s more iconic venues. From September 24-27, the fabled venue west of Denver was the scene of four glorious nights of in-person and live-streaming music experiences. Red Rocks partnered with video streaming service Nugs.net to cap the summer off in style with local Colorado production house Brown Note Productions providing a full Elation IP-rated rig for the limited capacity 4-night run.
Ryan Knutson, President of Brown Note Productions, designed both the show lighting rig and rock lighting looks using the fleet of Elation IP-rated lighting that Brown Note acquired last fall. Stage lighting gear lists varied slightly per show with the Tiësto show comprising the most fixtures: 36 Proteus Maximus™ LED profile moving heads, 32 Proteus Rayzor 760™ LED wash moving heads, 16 Protron Eclypse™ hybrid LED lights, 18 DTW Blinder 700 IP™ and 12 Seven Batten 72™ pixel bars. The rig provided ample amounts of punch and with all shows filmed for live stream viewing courtesy of 7 Cinematics and its film crew, the rig also fulfilled the needs of a multi-camera shoot.
The 50,000-lumen Proteus Maximus units were used primarily for aerial effects but for Tiësto’s September 24th dance party, Brown Note used an additional 30 Maximus units to light up four rock formations in Red Rocks Park and a further 16 units to light the rock surrounding the amphitheater seating area. The Maximus-illuminated rocks, awash in color as well as static and rotating pattern effects, were ideal eye candy for additional camera shots to the benefit of the live streaming audience. Throw distances varied but the maximum, says Knutson, was about 600 feet.