Robe Lighting has created a striking lighting scheme for the onstage live performances of rising rap star and songwriters Young Thug and Machine Gun Kelly for their joint US show.
Robe’s lighting and production designer Stu Dingley was asked to onboard the production team of the show by creative director and production designer Meggan McKenzie.
McKenzie originated the creative concepts for the set and staging designs, which they worked on together to evolve a look and style that would support both headline artists. This acted as the base for Robe’s lighting scheme of 40 Robe MegaPointes, 20 BMFL WashBeams and 24 Robe Robin 600 LEDWash units as the main moving lights. These were supplied by LMG.
The set elements included a large upstage LED wall and a prominent high riser accessed by two grated sloping ramps, a swing, a DJ booth and several transparent scenic shards lit internally with LED tape to create an infinity effect. The front edge of the riser was also clad in blow-through LED panels with a wall of LEDWash 600 fixtures behind.
Being a co-headliner, a major requirement was having enough dynamics in the scenic and lighting designs to offer both artists completely different and individual performance environments.
A box truss was installed overhead, flanked by two ‘finger’ trusses for the main lighting positions, together with an upstage and downstage truss. The box and fingers trusses were automated to create multiple looks and shapes with the rig, from flat overhead wash looks to 45° positions mirroring the riser ramps.
The team wanted to be able to close the stage space right down for some sections of the show, effectively transforming it into a room for a separate performance area. To make this a reality, a trussing configuration was created with the box truss being able to start the show at ground level and rise throughout the introduction.
The MegaPointes were positioned on the two finger trusses and around the box truss alongside a number of strobes. They were used to create all the big signature looks. The BMFL WashBeams were along the back truss, and also in a row on the floor just in front of the video wall.
