The Playground Celebrates Disturbed's The Sickness Anniversary with CHAUVET Professional

	Contributing to the show are the rig's 18 Maverick Storm 4 Profiles; they were relied upon to apply textured side lighting of the band and the iconic inflatable that periodically appears onstage. Photo: Britt Bowman

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of its five-time platinum debut album The Sickness. The band Disturbed kicked off a 51-date tour at Ford Center Idaho Arena on February 12.

Setting the stage for the celebration of this achievement was a production and lighting design by Trevor Ahlstrand and Sooner Routhier of The Playground, which included CHAUVET Professional Color STRIKE M motorized strobes and Maverick Storm 4 Profiles. These, like the rest of the rig, were supplied by Premier Global Production.

Joined by programmer Jason Giaffo and lighting director Joseph "Bambi" Morris, Ahlstrand and Routhier drew on direction from Disturbed to build a sense of anticipation right from the start, as the show begins with a video montage of the band's career, including clips from the original recording of their breakthrough album.

Silence follows, before frontman David Draiman, clad in a black prison-jumpsuit, is wheeled out on stage strapped in a standing position like Hannibal Lecter. Breaking free, Draiman lashes out and begins a set that includes all the songs from "The Sickness."

"Trevor and I worked with the band's videographer, Rafa, to build an intro and some intermission clips," Routhier says of the show's dramatic start. "All of the footage and creative direction came from the band. It creates a nice intro moment that set a nostalgic scene for the audience."

Ahlstrand adds, "We used the projection both at the beginning of the show and at the intermission. The opening of the show is very slow, with the Austrian [curtain] building anticipation prior to wheeling David out. We wanted a faster open for the second section of the show, so we lift the Austrian as the video concludes and intro begins playing, revealing a kabuki lit directly behind it. The kabuki is then dropped and sniffed away as the full band kicks into the hits section of the show."

On the stage for both sections of the show, a prominent grid sets a stark, hardcore backdrop that matches the band's music. "We wanted an industrial look with our cubic wall," Ahlstrand says. "Within the cubic wall, we placed video panels in both vertical and horizontal strips. We wanted a lot of the structure and stage to be lit by the light bouncing off of the video.

"Sporadically, but symmetrically, placed throughout the cube wall are profiles that do a good amount of the effects and accents," he continues. "The grid upstage is meant to blow through the structure and create huge looks but also natural shadows and reflections from the structure."

To underscore the intense mood, the design team leans heavily into back and side light angles. "The design was purposely built without an overhead lighting rig to help create a massive monolith of scenic, video, and light," Routhier says. "The empty space above the stage helped make the show look taller because it doesn't have a false ceiling of truss and fixtures."

Aside from fanning the intensity level, the monolithic design also adds a distinctively dramatic effect to the concert. "The band wanted to incorporate theatrics into the show," Routhier says. "In addition to arriving on stage in a straitjacket and mask, David gets electrocuted in an electric chair towards the end of The Sickness album. Another example of drama, and one of my favorites, is during the 'Sound of Silence,' when local string players, who joined the band onstage, play the song on the end of the thrust with a flaming piano. The backdrop for this moment is a medieval hallway with flaming chandeliers."

A collection of 42 Color STRIKE M fixtures on the scaffolding connects the cubic backdrop to the stage by punching through the scenic structure while also bathing it in light. The high-output strobe-washes also enhanced the dramatic quality onstage by washing the haze that sometimes appears behind the band.

"They worked great highlighting the scaffolding structure of the cube and adding to the industrial look of the rig," Giaffo says. The fixtures also adds to the versatility of the rig, noted Morris, by serving as strobes and creating color bumps.

Also contributing to the show are the rig's 18 Maverick Storm 4 Profiles, arranged in six columns of three units. From this position, they were relied upon to apply textured side lighting of the band and the iconic inflatable that periodically appears onstage.

Ahlstrand and Routhier are quick to give credit to tour manager Guy Sykes; production manager George Reeves; video crew chief David "Detroit" Klann; front-of-house engineer Brad Divens; SFX crew chief Shane Davis; stage manager Nick Engle; Stephen "Creech" Anderson of PGP; and Christian Mulville of TAIT; Grant Sellers of Strictly FX, as well as Blair Bondy, Liam Tucker, Seth Newman, Zachary Singer, Aaron Ford, and Todd LePere. The tour concludes at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow on October 28.