Carlos Katsurayama Pushes Envelope on Djo Another Bite Tour with CHAUVET Professional

	The stage splits in two -- one side a vivid amber tone, the other stark black-and-white, during the song "Listen." Photo: Caity Takes Photos

Fans who filled venues for the sold-out shows on rock singer Djo's fall Another Bite Tour, which concluded October 20 at the Greek Theatre, might be forgiven if they did a double take at the start of the music interlude song "Listen." After all, it isn't every day that you see a stage split in two -- one side a vivid amber tone, the other stark black-and-white.

The stunning color divide was one of many flourishes that Carlos Katsurayama had up his sleeve when lighting this 12-city run (a sequel to the successful summer tour). To accomplish this, he drew on the 137 CHAUVET Professional fixtures supplied by Colour Sound Experiment.

"This show was challenging to execute because we wanted to take a less conventional approach to lighting," Katsurayama says of his design. 'Our goal was to make bold, sometimes "weird" choices that captured the music's dynamics as accurately as possible -- whether that meant visually matching the sound's intensity, or creating moments of chaos by introducing light in unsettling, unexpected ways."

Dark space played a huge role in that vision. "We used dark space to create depth and transport the audience into different worlds -- like the icy, cold atmosphere of 'Egg' or the psychedelic walls of light - sometimes split colors -- in 'Listen'," says Katsurayama. "It wasn't easy breaking those walls of light into a more theatrical space, but in the end, I think we achieved it beautifully."

'Awake' was a particularly fun song to light, noted Katsurayama, who says, "It starts with soft vocals and gentle acoustic guitar, carrying a delicate intimacy throughout most of the track. To match this, we lit Djo from selective positions in red, revealing as little as possible and keeping the stage feeling close and personal. Then, we'd blackout briefly before hitting the full band breakdown with powerful white flashes -- something that seemed to get the crowd excited every single night."

For the West Coast segment of the tour, Katsurayama relied on 45 Maverick Storm 1 Flex fixtures, 26 Rogue R2 Washes and 24 STRIKE 1 units and 29 COLORado PXL Bar 16 motorized battens.

Flown on center stage and upstage truss, the high output Maverick fixtures were used to down light the artist. Drawing on the wide zoom range of these fixtures Katsurayama was able to vary coverage areas to create different looks on stage. The Maverick units also joined with the Rogue washes to bathe the stage in vivid mood setting colors.

The STRIKE units delivered intense side lighting from a variety of angles, often selected to create unusual looks. Arranged along the stage deck and on the drum risers, the COLORado battens added an ethereal level to the show with their evocative deck lighting. The amber tones of these battens combined with very low intensity output from the STRIKE units created a powerfully transformative mood when Katsurayama artfully turned most of the stage into a sea of dark space and shadows.

Looking back on the tour, Katsurayama thanks his L2 Colton Sellers for his work, as well as giving a special shout out to Joe Keery (Djo) and his creative partner Jake Hershland for pushing him out of his "comfort zone and helping him "find beauty in imperfection."