Grammy-award-winning, nu metal band, KoЯn, embarks on a tour of mainland
Europe in March, starting in Zurich and culminating in Slovakia in April, with a set
that features Ayrton MagicPanel™-R fixtures as the focal point of the lighting
design. The 17-date tour follows on from North American and UK legs which were
supplied by Morpheus Lights in the US and Neg Earth in the UK respectively, with
Black Box of Germany assisting for the forthcoming Europe leg. KoЯn’s lighting
designer, Thomas “Church’ Christmann, supplemented the North American tours with
20 Ayrton NandoBeam™-S9 and 6 Ayrton MagicBlade™-R fixtures for KoЯn’s sets in
the Return of the Dreads & Nocturnal Underground tours.

Church designed his lighting to work in combination with a large, rectangular back
video wall, by deploying 56 MagicPanel™-R fixtures, complete with mirror kits, in
five 4×3 arrays across five step risers which back the band and frame the drum kit:
“Everything in the design is straight and the MagicPanel-R fixtures fit perfectly into
it,’ he says. “The straight beam of the panels and their position within the design
make a perfect overall picture.’

To meet the quick turnarounds that touring with a variety of other bands demands,
Church was able to incorporate the MagicPanel-R units into a versatile floor package
that was simple to set up, manoeuvre on stage and transport. “It is the fastest way
to deploy them and the safest way to transport them on dollies,’ he says.

Church reveals the reasoning behind his choice of Ayrton’s MagicPanel-R: “I needed
a flat beam fixture to complement the straight lines of the design and was
impressed by the output of the Ayrton MagicPanel-R. I made the design for the first
tour and the band really liked the result of the show and the design, so we held on
to it. I’ve used them on all KoЯn tours in 2016 now and am continuing to do so. I’ve
become a big fan of the Ayrton fixture family.’

Church controls the panels from a Chamsys MagicQ 100 Pro 2014 lighting desk, run
in extended mode via Art-Net. Using a combination of the desk’s internal pixel
mapping options and the MagicPanels’ own macro patterns, Church explains, “I’m
using all the options I can imagine – from a big white light wall to tiny dots moving
around. I can create frames or movement effects, and the endless pan/tilt motion is
a great effect.’

Church is full of praise for the MagicPanel-R fixtures, and concludes, “I’m already
planning my next design with Ayrton fixtures, I’d use them every time.’

More information on Ayrton MagicPanel-R fixtures, and all in the extensive portfolio
of Ayrton LED fixtures can be found at www.ayrton.eu