4Wall Illuminates Rainbow Kitten Surprise's Bones Tour

	"We landed on an upstage wall of [ACME Lighting] Tornados and Pixel Lines that gave us an incredible amount of versatility while keeping the risers and downstage area clean, which was something the band specifically wanted," says Lenox.

Max Lenox spent years on the road as touring lighting director for the alt-rock band Rainbow Kitten Surprise, with 4Wall Entertainment serving from the start as lighting supplier. Now a project manager at 4Wall Entertainment's Nashville office, he designed the band's iridescent visuals for the Bones Tour.

"Having toured with the band for so many years, I understand what they're trying to achieve creatively and what the crew needs to make that happen every day," Lenox says. "Being on the 4Wall side now lets me help bridge those conversations early in the process and make decisions that support both the creative vision and the practical realities of touring. It's been a really rewarding transition because I still get to contribute to the show, just from a different seat."

The goal was to deliver a spirited variety of looks while preserving the freedom of the stage. To achieve that balance, he says, "We landed on an upstage wall of [ACME Lighting] Tornados and Pixel Lines that gave us an incredible amount of versatility while keeping the risers and downstage area clean, which was something the band specifically wanted. The result was a system that could be subtle and intimate one moment, then completely transform the stage the next."

He adds, "When I was touring, I was living in the show every night. I'd constantly make adjustments based on what I was seeing in different venues and how the band evolved over the course of a tour. "Working at 4Wall now shifts my focus more toward the planning and logistics that make those shows possible. Instead of concentrating on what happens during the performance, I'm thinking about how to deliver a system that's reliable, efficient, and gives the touring team everything they need to succeed."

Discussing the production, he says, "There are a few moments that always stand out. One is the Kabuki drop during 'Dang,' when it reveals the first big beam look with the Tornados on the opening chorus. The crowd explodes and can't get their phones out fast enough. Another is during Ethan [Goodpaster]'s guitar solo in 'When It Lands,' when the entire rig slowly fans toward him as he climbs onto the drum riser," Lenox says. "And then there's 'Workout,' where we spend most of the song slowly building tension before everything peaks during the final chorus, with the [MEGA-LITE] M-Spheres -- our affectionately named 'Robo Discos'-- erupting into a full rainbow strobe."

Lenox worked closely with longtime friend and Rainbow Kitten Surprise tour director Mitchell Kenne, of Boundless Productions, to translate the designs into an optimized rig. "We toured together for quite a few years. He's such a great designer to begin with and a great project manager as well," Kenne says. "Since Max's been on the road so much already, he knows what it takes to put on a show that can be easily toured depending on what venues we go into, especially with a band like RKS, we go to a lot of different sizes at all times and have to do a lot of scaling."

The two first crossed paths in 2018 on tour with Iceland-based band Kaleo, and by the time Kenne officially joined Rainbow Kitten Surprise's crew in 2019, collaboration between them came naturally.

"We spend a lot of time balancing creative goals with venue flexibility, truck space, budgets, and the realities of touring," Lenox says. "There's always a healthy amount of back-and-forth to make sure what looks great on paper is something the crew can efficiently build and maintain every day."

"The focus of the rig we have on this tour revolves around Tyler Ladder truss systems," Kenne says. "Half of them ride on Tyler Rolling Bases and the other half roll in on Tyler Carts. How we deploy them is that we have inverted motors that lift the upper parts of the ladders. We then drop those onto the ladders on the base, which makes a quick, efficient, and easy deployment."

Challenges across the tour were minimal, rarely amounting to more than tight venue logistics. Because Lenox and Kenne's plan accounted for space constraints, load-in and setup often wrapped within three hours. "4Wall takes really good care of our gear," Kenne says. "If we ever run into issues, they're very on top of sending out replacements since there are always things that come up on the road. The number of different products 4Wall carries is helpful to come up with different designs. They're a very resourceful company that allows us to do almost anything we want."

"Huge credit goes to Austin Schneider, our lighting programmer, for somehow translating my endless tweaks, last-minute ideas, and oddly specific requests into reality," Lenox concludes. "I'd also like to recognize Michelle Saintey, our touring lighting director, who executes the show flawlessly night after night on the road. Elizabeth "Nugget" Weller has been an all-star lighting crew chief, and Whitney Wilson has been an awesome lighting technician. A special thanks to Matt King, another project manager at 4Wall Nashville, who has been a huge help assisting me with this project this year from the 4Wall side of things. A design is only as good as the people bringing it to life, and all of them have been instrumental in making this tour what it is."

The full gear list included vACME Lighting Tornados and Pixel Lines, CHAUVET Professional Rogue Outcast 2X Washes and Maverick Storm 2 Profiles, MEGA-LITE M-Spheres, ROBE IFORTE Followspots, ClayPaky Ultimo Sharpys, and a Chabuki curtain drop system.