OneRepublic is headlining the 2017 Honda Civic Tour, the sixteenth annual edition of
the automaker’s summer tour, and Claypaky Mythos2 and Claypaky Sharpy Washes
are along for the cross-country ride.
The Honda Civic Tour kicked off in Kansas City, Missouri in July and will wrap after
Labour Day in The Woodlands, Texas. The pop rock band will play 34 dates
nationwide primarily in amphitheatres. It’s OneRepublic’s first tour since releasing the
album, “Oh My My,’ last October.
Production and lighting designer Mark Butts of LA’s Preset Productions partnered with
director and co-production designer Raj Kapoor of LA’s Raj Kapoor Productions to
create a signature look for the band. OneRepublic gave the creatives a lot of latitudes
to devise a “very clean, sophisticated, architectural look with a limited colour palette,’
says Butts. Video plays a supporting role with two triangular screens framing lighting
trusses in a forced perspective pyramid shape.
“The lighting rig was designed to look bigger than it is,’ notes Butts. “The choice of
fixtures and the way we’ve hung the trusses make the rig look pretty substantial.’
VER is the tour’s lighting, video and sound vendor.
Butts was one of the first to use Claypaky Mythos, for country music star Kenny
Chesney, when the fixtures were introduced to the US market. “I have a long history
with the product,’ he says. “Mythos has become one of my favourites because it’s
small, lightweight and does a tonne of great stuff.’
For OneRepublic, Butts is using 62 Mythos2 in the truss as back lights and cross
lights. They also deliver big, dynamic effects and some ballyhoos.
He added about 28 Sharpy Washes, mounted in pre-rigged truss turned upside down
and quickly deployed on the upstage floor, for back lights and silhouette looks.
“We’re really happy with the performance of the fixtures on the tour,’ he reports.
“We wanted to specify the best equipment we could for challenging outdoor venues,
and everything is very solid.’
A.C.T Lighting is the exclusive distributor of Claypaky products in North America.
