John Summit’s “Comfort in Chaos” MSG Show Taps Ayrton Rivales and Dominos Controlled by grandMA3 Consoles

Ayrton Rivale and Domino lighting fixtures and grandMA3 full-size consoles played a key role in DJ  John Summit’s sold-out, five-and-a-half hour show at New York City’s Madison Square Garden (MSG).  Chicago-based LEC was the lighting vendor for the performance, the kickoff of Summit’s “Comfort in Chaos” tour.  ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton fixtures and MA Lighting products in North America. 

The show, which also was broadcast on YouTube, follows the release of Summit’s debut album, also called ”Comfort in Chaos.”  Over the last few years Summit has been headlining some of the biggest markets in the EDM World.  He is known for original releases, several of which have hit #1 on the US Dance charts, along with remixes and marathon DJ sets.  

Jason Baeri, who served as the show’s Lighting and Co-Production Designer with Creative Director James Klein of Aeon Point, has an almost ten-year history of using Ayrton fixtures and is believed to have been the first Ayrton MagicPanel user in the US.  “I’ve been a big fan ever since,” he says.  ”Ayrton makes a quality product and is always coming out with something new and exciting.”

Manuel ”Manny” Conde, the Associate Lighting Designer and Programmer, also has many years experience working with Ayrton products, with Diablos and Huracans consistent performers at his gigs.  “Ayrton fixtures are always straightforward with no guesswork,” he says.  “I love that I don’t have to rewrite their profiles and appreciate their craftsmanship, output and the number of looks you can get from them.”

The overall look of Summit’s massive show was layered, Baeri explains, with a large array of looks presented throughout more than 100 songs in three acts.  “The lighting rig had to be flexible enough to expand and contract over time to give different looks over the five-and-a-half hours of the show.” 

The 20-fixture Domino layer “was designed as an omnipresent guide light,” he reports.  “John performed on a floating platform, and Dominos were placed below his riser for an underglow and upstage for silhouette and aerial looks.  We needed a close-in wash that would work clearly and easily, and the Dominos had a huge zoom and clean, flat field that really punched.”

Summit’s show marked the first time that Baeri used Ayrton Rivales, which he calls, “one of the most impressive fixtures I’ve ever seen.  They were the workhorse of the rig with 50 on the floor, 100 in the air and a few more scattered as key lights.”

He says he enjoys using fixtures that “do more than one thing well, and every feature in the Rivales blew me away.  They are built rock solidly and have an almost stadium-level output that’s amazing for a fixture that small.”

“I think we took advantage of everything the Rivales could do during the course of the show,” adds Conde. 

Baeri already plans to use Rivales in another show this fall, and Conde hopes he will have more chances to use Ayrton fixtures in the future.  “I can’t say enough good things about them,” he declares. 

Baeri and Conde jointly decided to use three active and one spare grandMA3 full-size consoles running in MA3 software mode for lighting control.  “They excel at the ability to deal with a large number of fixtures,” notes Baeri.  “In addition to the Ayrtons, we had a couple of hundred pixel lines with hundreds of thousands of parameters, which were programmed on the system.  No other console would have been capable of that.”

Conde has been using MA3 software exclusively for about two-and-a-half years.  “The console creates a space for me to be more creative.  I’m a big proponent of Recipes and Selection Grids, which make it so much easier to deal with so many fixtures and parameters; they’re both game changers.”

Destin Klug was the additional Lighting Programmer for Summit’s show. 

According to Baeri, ACT Entertainment was “an incredible help in every regard” during the project.  “They made sure I could vet the Rivales ahead of time since I don’t like to put fixtures on a show before I see them, play with them and put them through their paces.  They made sure I was very comfortable with them.”

About ACT Entertainment

ACT Entertainment, headquartered in Jackson, Missouri, is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and distributors of industry leading brands of audio, video, and lighting products, services, and education. ACT Entertainment is the choice of industry professionals reaching across six distinct markets; Concert Touring and Live Experiences, Retail Music and e-Commerce, ProA/V – Installation – Broadcast, House of Worship, Film and Television, and Industrial Wire and OEM.