Ayrton Fixtures, zactrack SMART and grandMA3 Consoles Take a “Tour of Earth” with Glass Animals

British indie rock band Glass Animals continues their global ”Tour of Earth” headlining some of the biggest venues of their career, including Madison Square Garden and London’s O2.  The band’s unique show is supported by Ayrton lighting fixtures, a zactrack SMART automated follow spot system and grandMA3 consoles, all brands which are exclusively distributed in North America by ACT Entertainment. 

The tour kicked off in Atlanta in August and will wrap up in Australia and Hong Kong at the end of the year.  “Glass Animals are incredibly kind and humble people and are very involved with the creative process. Their input has allowed [Cassius Creative Cofounders and Lighting Designers] Chris ’Squib’ Swain and Dan Hill to push the boundaries and design within a framework that has great creative identity,” says Alex Noel, Tour Lighting Director and Lighting Programmer.  

Mocksville, North Carolina-based Concert Stuff Companies (CSG) provided support for the tour through their companies SES, SET and Musical Coaches. As a longtime vendor for the band, CSG provided audio, video, lighting and rigging gear for the tour along with trucking and tour buses.

“Tour of Earth” references such sci-fi classics as “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” with a set featuring what appears to be a spaceship crash landed on Earth.  Above the stage is a more than 50-foot wide octagon with a central halo containing LED video panels and a large reflective planet with Saturn-like rings and scenic LED elements.  “The set and fixtures carve out a stark and contrasty look, so it seems like the band is floating in space,” Noel says.

He notes that Glass Animals does not rely on backing tracks, timecode or click tracks for their shows.  “Everything is manual and live.  That’s not the norm on large pop tours, so pulling it off was really rewarding.  It was challenging to program lighting that looks complex, but still remains simple enough to play along with the band in real time.”

In order to achieve that live feeling that wasn’t on rails, a zactrack SMART system and a large complement of Ayrton fixtures were chosen to bring the extraordinary set to life.  “We are predominantly an Ayrton house,” says Michael Brammer, Chief Strategy Officer for Concert Stuff Group.  “We chose Ayrton as our flagship brand due to their comprehensive product offerings and the support we get from ACT.”  The company was able to fill the tour’s lighting requirements from its extensive inventory of Ayrton fixtures. 

Seventy Diablos are built within the octagon and housed in custom plastic inserts where they and scenic LEDs shine downwards onto the band.  Nine Domino LTs are flown upstage of the spaceship to give a wash across the back of the set and emanate an ephemeral glow.  Sixteen Boras act as key lights and side lights for Glass Animals; they are mounted on the FOH truss and two side trusses.

Four Perseos are on the upstage truss with the Dominos where they backlight the band and create a hard-edged beam around each band member for solos.  A single Perseo is upstage of the deck to silhouette the band as they enter and exit the stage.  Two more Perseos are positioned on FOH trusses as specials for large rock scenic pieces and moments with the crowd.

A zactrack SMART system with back up server, which provides additional functionality, was selected to create follow spots for the three members of Glass Animals who move around the stage.  SES purchased zactrack specifically for the tour.  

“It’s an exciting piece to have in our inventory,” says Brammer.  “We have traditionally used a different remote follow spot system without automated tracking capabilities.  Now, we have both options to service our clients.”

“Tags on each of the roving band members enable zactrack to follow them with front, back or side light fixtures,” Noel explains.  ”zactrack accurately pinpoints them with the exact color and angle of light wherever they roam — they don’t have to follow a strict choreography.  The back up server expands the number of fixtures you can use to follow each band member: In theory you can track them with 256 lights.”

The tour marks the first time that Noel has used a zactrack system.  “ACT helped us get up and running; they got me up to speed and showed me how to get the best results,” he reports. 

“ACT was instrumental in setting up the zactack system and all its components so it could be deployed as it needed to be,” adds Brammer.  “That support was very helpful.” 

Noel says that “zactrack’s ease of programming and deployment outweighs what other systems can do, and it’s been really reliable.  The accuracy of the trackers is pretty astounding, and programming with it in MA3 was really easy and flexible.”

He describes a moment in the show when Dave Bayley is up on a lift appearing to float in space with fog surrounding him. “zactrack allows us to light him starkly with very little background and spill so it actually looks like he’s unsupported in space.  It’s a key moment in the show, and zactrack really helped us pull it off.”

Noel chose two full-size grandMA3 consoles and a grandMA3 light console for the tour, the first he has programmed with the new software.  “The rig design motivated me to switch to the grandMA3 software,” he says, citing the large octagon with Diablos in an irregular grid and a large halo.  “The way grandMA3 considers the fixtures spatially really allowed me to keep the programming very clean, organic and defined on a rig that’s very irregular.”  All the consoles on the tour share a single show file in session.

For the band’s Red Rocks performances two MDG theONE atmospheric generators were added to the show.  ACT Entertainment also exclusively distributes MDG products in North America. “They ran upstage of all the floor scenic elements to create fog and atmosphere,” Noel points out.  “You get a great deal of wind at Red Rocks, but the MDG units were still able to fill the air with fog.” 

“We were all very impressed by the tour,” says Aaron Luke, Regional Outside Sales for ACT Entertainment.  “The design, production and programming teams did a great job!”

“We’re very grateful to Glass Animals and the designers at Cassius for their trust in us to execute their vision and also to ACT for supporting us, especially with the zactrack system that was new to us,” says Brammer.  “This is an incredible tour to be part of.”