R90 Lighting was asked to provide the lighting support for the Wildlands Festival in Big Sky, MT. Set against the breathtaking backdrop of Lone Mountain, the festival brings together world-renowned musical artists, local communities, and environmental leaders for a multi-day celebration of culture, nature, and sustainability.
R90 Lighting returned to Fisher Pavilion at the Seattle Center for Blastfest 2025, Seattle’s premier Afrobeats music festival. This was our third year in partnership with the festival and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results! This festival also holds a special place for us, as the lighting was designed by our dear friend Davis Alexander, who passed away earlier this year. The lineup included Adekunle Gold, Fireboy DML and Odumodublvck, Wande Coal, Daliwonga, Moliy, and festival founder BLAST himself.
38 of our brand new Elation Professional Paragon M shining bright and ready for their first concert! Unless Victor Zeiser at Squeek beats us to it, these will be the first major show in the US to feature the new Paragon M! Our onsite team consisted of Levi Plumb , Dwight Upton , and Brian Milliner who didn’t have a single hiccup with these new units. We look forward to seeing these in action over the coming months! Please reach out for booking and availability!
Energized by the overwhelming response to the KMFDM – Let Go 2024 Spring tour, the band reunited this past October to deliver another round of sonic ferocity. Fans from the East Coast to the Midwest gathered to celebrate 40 years of the world’s rotation to the Ultra Heavy Beat. The tour kicked off in Milwaukee at The Rave and concluded with back-to-back nights at the legendary Metro Chicago, showcasing 40 songs across 15 shows. By rotating the setlist each night, no two performances were identical, with songs handpicked from a 23-album-deep discography and the MDFMK side project. R90 Lighting once again provided tour lighting support, continuing an 11-year strong partnership with KMFDM. This marks the eighth tour that R90 Lighting has been a part of with the band. Tasked with illuminating the auditory onslaught was KMFDM’s lighting director and reason-for-the-global-gummy-bear-supply-chain-shortage, James McKenna. Inspired by a single YouTube comment criticizing the lighting designs for KMFDM being too similar over the years, James set out to create something fresh. Pleased with his creation, he sent the design to Megan Moelhman, who was acting as L1 on this build. Megan’s response upon seeing the design? “That’s impossible.” Undeterred, she engineered custom lighting carts to make the impossible possible. The result was a powerhouse setup in a compact frame, with towers designed to roll into place and simply plug in—no fuss. The load-in process took a mere 48 minutes with four hands from cracking the trailer until the rig was fully flashed. This efficient setup allowed us to produce a show that felt massive, even in venues lacking substantial house lighting rigs. The show was feverishly programmed over about two weeks before the tour began, with each of the 40 rotating songs individually programmed cue to cue. Megan did a phenomenal job translating the madness of James’ design into reality. We’ve attached some photos below of the wing truss carts to give you a better idea of how narrow the margins were for mounting all those lights into a 4’x2′ footprint. The rig itself consisted of Showtec Sunstrips, Elation Sixbar 1000IPs, Elation Paladin Panels, Robe Spikies, Chauvet Ovation F-95 WW Fresnels, Chauvet Ovation F-415 VW Fresnels, GLP Impression X4 Washes and GLP JDC1s. The show was programmed on and operated on a ChamSys MQ500M with a ChamSys MQ80 as backup. It takes a village, but we’d like to thank one person especially for helping get the tour equipment prepped and ready to roll, and that’s Brad Teigen. Brad worked tirelessly to make sure the equipment was in proper working order, which was no small task considering the wear and tear on some of our older units. Thanks, Brad! Check out some of the shots below!
A staple of Port Angeles’ Memorial Day weekend festivities, The Juan De Fuca Festival came alive this year with a vibrant celebration of arts, music, not to mention the delicious food offerings. Committed to the development & promotion of the Arts for the cultural, economic & educational benefit of Washington’s North Olympic Peninsula, this year’s festival offered a true taste of the what the beautiful Pacific Northwest is all about. From soul-stirring musical performances, captivating theatre and dance, delicious food, and masterful works of art, attendees were treated to a diverse array of artistic disciplines. JFFA offers Port Angeles, Sequim, and the entire north Olympic Peninsula of Washington a myriad of performances, events, and educational programs for all ages of ARTS lovers. This marks the fourth straight year that R90 Lighting has been asked to take part in the celebrations and we were happy to provide lighting support for the main stage at this important PNW staple! The rig consisted of a conservative, yet potent mixture of: The rig was expertly designed, programmed, and operated on a grandMA2 Light by Lighting Designer and full-time Pacific Northwest enthusiast, Rachid Schultz. His Olympic Peninsula powered lighting rig was assembled by Master Electrician and dinner party socialite, Levi Plumb. Production and Scenic Design were handled by Peter Metz, who also acted as the event Photographer (and who took these great photos below)!
The Decemberists‘ opted to grant us the privilege of providing lighting support for their 2024 concert tour and we jumped at the opportunity! Starting in Kingston, NY, the tour took them on a journey through the Eastern and Central markets of the US, captivating audiences everywhere. Led by the magnetic Colin Meloy, the band delivered electrifying performances, mixing their classic hits with new tracks that included their first new song in six years, “Burial Ground.” The production design for this tour was crafted by the ever talented Zach Sternberg and operated by Kat Rodgers, the latter having the best Instagram handle on this tour. The design called for a well rounded compliment of lighting fixtures including (16) ADJ Encore LP7IP, (6) Chauvet Color Strike M, (12) Chauvet Ovation Cyc 1 FC, (6) Elation Artiste Picasso, (3) Elation KL Panel, (20) Robe Robin LEDBeam 150 RGBW, and (3) HazeBase The Fab. The rig was programmed and operated on a grandMA3 Full with a grandMA3 Light as backup. Our very own Jory Bourgette was along for the ride as the R90 Lighting tech for the tour and Rachid Schultz was the R90 Lighting account rep. The Decemberists’ artist management: Jason Colton and Eric Mayers. It was truly a joy to get to work with these great folks. After a brief intermission, R90 Lighting will be back out as lighting support for The Decemberists later this summer for part 2 of their A Peaceable Kingdom Tour 2024 which kicks off July 12 in Bend, OR and covers the west coast of the United States.
This year marks the 11th year running that industrial juggernaut KMFDM has invited R90 Lighting out with them to illuminate the Ultra Heavy Beat and we couldn’t be prouder of the show that we produced! Promoting their 23rd studio album, Let Go, KMFDM traversed the US showcasing a selection of KMFDM classics as well as a handful of new songs off of their latest release. Longtime KMFDM lighting director and pepperoni Hot Pocket enthusiast James McKenna has a history of taking “whatever is lying around on the shelf” and designing shows out of them that make a statement. This year’s tour was no exception. With a design philosophy of “how big is the trailer?”, the floor package required some T.A.R.D.I.S. grade engineering in order to break down for transport in a bus trailer, while maintaining the ability to be assembled in a little over an hour with 4 hands. Master Electrician and part-time ferret impersonator Megan Moelhman expertly engineered the rig to be as effortless as possible when building. The floor package consisted of Showtec Sunstrips (we lied about retiring them. Not sorry), Chauvet ColorSTRIKE Ms, Blizzard Hotboxes, GLP X4 Washes, Robe Pointes, Elation Sixbar 1000s, Elation Paladin Panels, OmniSistem 2-Light Blinders, Chauvet Geysers, and Chauvet Ovation F-95WWs. The visual onslaught was programmed and operated on a ChamSys MQ500M. Described as both “obnoxious” and “impressive” by Spill Magazine, we feel it’s one of the cooler light shows for a bus and trailer sized tour. Check out the photos and clips of the show below!
Corporate season is upon us! Last week saw R90 Lighting back in the Seattle Convention Center illuminating BECU‘s Day of Purpose event. Lighting designer Rachid Schultz crafted this rig with inspiration from the BECU Day of Purpose logo, which features a sun with rays extending from it. Rachid implemented ELATION Lighting Pixel Bar 60IPs to really accentuate the event branding. The ME on this build was Levi Plumb and seconded by Maryalice Weed, who did a wonderful job executing Rachid’s balmy design. At just over 60 universes used, Rachid also programmed and operated the rig during the show. The rig itself consisted of Artiste Picassos, Fuze Wash FRs, Proteus Rayzor 760s, Pixel Bar 60IPs, and Color Chorus 48s from ELATION Lighting. ROBE Lighting. Robin 150 LED Beams, GLP German Light Products Impression X4 Bar 20s, ADJ Lighting Encore LP7IP Pars, CHAUVET Professional Ovation CYC 1 FCs, and Astera AX5 Triple Pars made up the rest of the rig. All controlled by the grandMA3 Full. We think it’s a pretty awesome design. Great work, Rachid! Check out some of the shots from the event. Thank you to Elliott Bay Productions for having us out as lighting support on this project!
What a truly wonderful feeling it is to be back to doing what we do best! Live music is returning! This past weekend marked the premier of Portland’s first drive-in EDM Concert at the Portland International Raceway and we were lucky enough to be asked to assist in enchanting the optic nerves of the eager concert attendees. “Road Rage,” as the name suggests, was a vehicle focused COVID-19 safe way to finally immerse yourself in the live music experience that has been absent from our lives for over a year. A two day event hosted by Treadway Events in conjunction with sponsor DETOX Nightlife on 4/16-4/17; This was the first event of its kind since Oregon shut down live music in early 2020. Everyone involved was very careful to follow Oregon’s COVID-19 guidelines to the letter. Capacity was limited. Vehicles were adequately spaced in order to keep the attendees isolated to their own pods. Vehicle occupancy was limited so six people per, which helped to keep ticket prices at a reasonable level while still limiting the amount of close contact amongst people. Attendees were required to stay within the confines of their allotted perimeter. Even with the additional safety precautions, the show was absolutely electric, and you could tell the Portland audience had been starved for this kind of entertainment for quite some time. Our radiant lighting production consisted of Robe MegaPointes, Colorstrobes, and 150 LED Beams as well as Elation 5R Beam Extremes and ZW37s. Additionally, there were a great deal of incredibly talented companies who came together to make this production happen. PK Sound provided the PA which not only sounded spectacular, but also contained the aural assault to prevent noise bleed into the neighboring community using science or sorcery. We aren’t entirely sure which. The dazzling high-output lasers were provided by Laseronics and did not disappoint. The staging was provided by none other than Stages Northwest. Without the stage, there’s no show. The absolutely stunning video wall was provided by the always fabulous Positive Systems. They never fail to deliver that crisp image quality with half the calories. The R90 Lighting and Positive Systems teams were Erik Mahowald/Bending Lite Productions, who in addition to being a strong supporter of the ADJ Starburst, is a phenomenal lighting designer. Our ME was Rachid Shultz who was seconded by Jessika Palmer. Video lead was Marc ‘MarcGuyver’ Gelinas who was seconded by Mike Worthen. If you haven’t deduced from the above textual gushing, we have truly missed doing live lighting production. It was an absolute privilege to have been asked to be apart of this fantastic spectacle and we cannot wait to see what possibilities this event results in as far as the continued rebooting of the live music industry. Thanks again to Treadway Events for making us apart of this event and thanks to everyone who came together to make it happen! Check out some select photos from the show and stay positive! Live music is coming back!
