Robe for OLP30 Tour Canadian lighting designer Michael "Herk" Herkimer of HLX experienced a slight career epiphany when lead singer Raine Maida of popular award-winning Canadian alt-rockers Our Lady Peace (OLP) briefed him ahead of the band's 2025 Canadian tour. Raine asked if Herkimer could possibly look at a link to a 2013 Nine Inch Nails touring show video from the Staples Center in LA -- among his inspirational sources. Herkimer has admired NIN designs for many years, so this was music to his ears -- and a highly memorable "I've been waiting all my career to get this email" moment. He took this and other elements as a starting point and produced a totally unique look and original style for the OLP30 tour, which celebrated 30 years as a musical powerhouse. Robe FORTE and MegaPointe moving lights were prominent on the lighting rig, with 6 of the 50 x FORTEs running on three RoboSpot BaseStations, all supplied by rental vendor Soundbox. This was Herkimer 's first time working with OLP. He was offered the gig when production manager Matt Blakely came onboard, with whom he has worked closely on other projects for several years. Herkimer also took on the production and stage designer roles, the LX design and programming, plus video design and programming. It was a demanding, full-tilt schedule, for which he relished delivering a coherent and spectacular visual package. "Clearly there was a commitment to excellence from the artist. I've always trusted Matt implicitly to deliver and saw an opportunity for us to work collaboratively and produce something special," he explains. Four large triangular trussing pods were flown over the stage, each rigged with ten FORTES to produce massive, high-impact rock show looks in addition to lighting the standard upstage positions, complete with another eight FORTES deployed upstage on the deck. The six FORTES used on the RoboSpot systems were all rigged at acute and steep angles to the stage to keep that "God-light celestial look" which on a practical level kept light out of the performer's eyes. The pod FORTES were specifically positioned for producing these big jaw-dropping moments, and with three large LED screens onstage, Herk knew he could rely on the FORTES to punch through. He loves the speed and efficiency of all the FORTE mechanical systems. "The speed of the pan / tilt function really stands out against other fixtures with a comparable output AND the FORTE totally delivers with good animation wheels!" he declares. MegaPointe is a regular choice for Herkimer's creative lighting work, and here they were deployed six a side on ladders, stage left and right, covering all the "high interest" areas near to the band, delivering both beam and spot looks with their "superior optics." They were complemented by 12 Pointes around the front of the stage. He likes the MegaPointe for many features including for producing equally high caliber spot and beam looks, and believes that these are still "unrivalled" compared to any other equivalent multifunctional light source. Talking of Robe generally, he says the "reliability, robustness and continuity" deliver for him every time on all styles of design. For Herkimer, using RoboSpots on a show brings "a level of precision, accuracy, and dynamics that is unachievable using traditional follow kit and operation." For this OLP design, RoboSpots facilitated the steep spot angles that were so essential to the show aesthetic, keeping it looking stylish and raw. RoboSpot tech Mark Tissen was "surgical" in his daily efforts to optimize this element while lighting system designer Rob Mcintosh was instrumental in setting all of it up pre tour. On the road, a barge was utilized to move the RoboSpot BaseStations around at each venue, positioning them side stage when possible, from where it was handy for seeing the rig and for efficient troubleshooting if needed. However, they also had the additional flexibility of being able to deploy the BaseStations anywhere in the venue when this space was not available. Designing both video and lighting in tandem enabled Herk to properly harmonize both these visual entities seamlessly and elegantly with playback and IMAG under his control for outputting to screen. His approach generally played one against the other, a treatment that produced a rawer, edgier, and more genuine look as opposed to fully integrating both mediums. "Lighting would tend to juxtapose and contrast video but still support it," he notes. The creative goals included "leaning into the artful and unconventional wherever possible and also relying on some epic and classic looks for big moments that sweep fans up into the action." Video content was created by Raine Maida, who clearly takes a big interest in the live show presentation together with Dan Fusselman of DFUSS.TV from Phoenix, and Toronto-based Fezz Stenton. The live video director was Taylor Green. He highlights the value and relevance of Raine Maida's creative contributions, mentioning that to date he's not encountered many musicians "with such high taste and understanding of how lighting and video can play into a show." And while initially it was slightly shocking to trade live show references with Raine and discover what productions he likes, "He is an absolute dream client with decisive and refreshing creative direction." Challenges included managing the simultaneous energizing of Herk's collective skillsets to complete the project on a tight deadline. "All my responsibilities / roles for this tour added up to a large additional layer with a narrow margin for error, much more so than if I had been dealing with one solo role or discipline!"...and he is the first to credit the great teamwork that helped achieve this ambitious goal. Lighting crew chief Arnold Pereira made time in his busy schedule to go on the road with them. "His character and loyalty over the years is only outshone by his incredible standards of excellence," praises Herkimer. Tissen looked after dimmers as well as RoboSpots, and they we rejoined by hard working LX crew members Alex Jeffrey and Curtis MacNeill. Stenton was essentially working on camera / content integration and creating some key pieces of content. "His role added a vital layer of complexity and artfulness to the show," states Herkimer who was thrilled to have him at the table during the creative meetings. James Plouffe from Light and Dark Toronto assisted with the Vectorworks drafting and the systems designer was Rob McIntosh. This show was programmed during two very full weeks at Herk's studio in southern Ontario before kicking off in Calgary. 
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