X-Laser Drives Production Design on August Burns Red / The Amity Affliction Spring Horizons Tour The recently completed Spring Horizons Tour, featuring American metalcore band August Burns Red and Australian post-hardcore band The Amity Affliction, showcased X-Laser Skywriter HPX Mercury laser fixtures as the foundation of the co-headlining production. Running from April 10 through May 17 across North America, the tour relied on X-Laser systems as a central creative element, with equipment supplied by New York-based rental company Squeek Lights. August Burns Red (ABR) lighting designer Noah Connolly took on an expanded role for the tour, serving as lighting designer for both bands and working closely with The Amity Affliction's production manager Nick Loosely and Amity lighting designer Zoe Spratling to bring the looks together. Connolly also programmed the ABR show. August Burns Red has a long history with laser effects, adopting them early in their touring shows. "I've been using X-Lasers on past tours and any of the bigger shows, especially our Christmas Burns Red shows," Connolly says. "They've become an indispensable part of what we do. As the band grew, they wanted that extra trick, that extra thing that set them apart. Squeek Lights bought X-Lasers specifically for them, and ever since that first tour, they've been essential." Although the tour featured full lighting and video backdrop, marking ABR's first time incorporating video into its production, the design process began with lasers. "The X-Lasers formed the base of our production," Connolly explains. "ABR like the big bang, they like those big moments, so I start there and then lighting comes second. X-Laser was the top of the design." The lasers became a shared creative element between the bands. "The Amity Affliction also wanted something extra to help set their show apart. Since we already wanted to use lasers and are big fans of them, they were quick to get on board." The rig incorporated a mix of Skywriter HPX M-20 (20W) and Skywriter HPX M-10 (10W) Mercury laser fixtures, high-performance RGB lasers featuring X-Laser's Mercury control, delivering high-impact professional effects. Four units were deployed in an arc configuration, with two ground-based fixtures mounted on rolling carts flanking the stage and two elevated on a crank stand truss supporting the upstage video wall. Although the tour played primarily smaller venues, Connolly says the combination of fixtures "blended really well and looked great together." The tour utilized X-Laser's Mercury Laser Control System, allowing Connolly to program directly from his lighting console without needing to learn a dedicated laser platform. "The Mercury system makes it approachable without me having to learn an entirely new software package and taking me out of my current role," he says. "Programming from the console straight to the lasers came fast. It was pretty simple to get some great looks quickly. I find it really easy to use." Connolly says the system's precision proved especially valuable for August Burns Red's rhythmically complex music. "Metal bands are so rhythmic and literal, and I often match the lasers to every choke or kick drum. That was actually pretty easy to do out of the gate with X-Laser, which is what has made me stick with them on every tour so far." With lasers, creating detailed, programmed effects can often be time-consuming, but Connolly found the process straightforward with X-Laser. He also relied on X-Laser's XLERATE companion software for previsualization, content management and safety zoning. "It's been very accurate. It's allowed me to zone the fixtures, reconfigure them when there was a network change, or troubleshoot quickly." Rather than using lasers continuously, Connolly strategically deployed them on six or seven songs during the band's 14-song set, maximizing their impact through contrast. "On most songs, the lasers were used at specific moments, like breakdowns that repeat over and over," he says. "I use them for impactful punch-you-in-the-face moments but also like to keep them back a little bit. It's easy with metal bands to have everything going all the time, but I really try to find a way to make it clean." His favorite moments are often the slower tempo. "I love the look of slow waves with haze oscillation. If anything, that's my favorite way to use them -- the slow moments. I tried to break it up as much as I could to make each laser appearance feel like a new moment instead of just EDM laser pop." One of the production's signature sequences came during the song "Invisible Enemy," featuring futuristic video content and highly synchronized laser effects. "There is one big moment in Invisible Enemy where the lasers just work really well with the futuristic technical sound and stealth mission-style video content," Connolly says of the show's first big release of the lasers. "I leaned heavily on the tight rhythms with left-and-right laser chases and zoom pops. Then the song concludes with a dramatic blackout before debuting two new songs from the band's forthcoming album. It's a really great moment." ABR often turns to Magmatic Sidewinder CO2 simulator fog machines to create atmospherics and mid-air projection canopies on their shows, and the Spring Horizons Tour was no exception. "The band will not go without them. Even on festivals or other shows, they'll rent the Sidewinders in. They love those things. They are one of the better water-based fog cannons I've used." Squeek Lights has been ABR's vendor of choice over the years and again handled lighting supply for the tour. "They've got great customer support for the smaller bands and their pricing is unbeatable," Connolly remarks. "They have a lot of rigging options with the carts and other possibilities that a lot of the bigger shops wouldn't offer to smaller bands. They've been good allies." 
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