Portman S-TRIBE Takes Center Stage on the George Strait Tour Lighting director Stacey LaBarberaand lighting/designer
/programmer Skylar LaBarbera are using the Portman S-TRIBE modular blinder unit on George Strait's tour, a signature element of a production design made to transition between stadiums and arenas. Strait's tours are guided by a straightforward principle: the show exists for the people in the room. "We're not doing the show to create a look for us," Skylar says. "We're doing it to give the audience an experience they'll never forget, painting a picture, lighting up George, making sure everyone can see him on the stage." The Portman S-TRIBE entered the production design for one reason: nothing else looks like it, and audiences notice immediately. For the arena legs, Strait performed in the round on a 36' diamond-oriented square stage. With 88 S-TRIBE units deployed in chandelier configurations overhead and along the stage perimeter, the fixture became the primary creative focal point on nights where production timelines limited using media content. The stadium configuration, featuring a 56' All Access Staging and Productions rotating round stage, deployed 98 units integrated from down on the stage under the band risers and on a structure behind the band rotating with the stage, to up in the air between IMAG and creative media content video panels. The S-TRIBEs held their presence, drawing comments from audience members. A custom mounting rail developed between production partner ON Services and the Portman team allowed fixtures to be positioned freely along any span of truss. "When we saw it at LDI, it was instant," Stacey says. "We walked over, saw the light, and that was it -- we had to have those on this show. Two years in, that reaction hasn't changed. One word: unique." "Our goal is to make sure our clients have exactly what they need to execute their vision," says Donny LoDico, director of national lighting and concert tour, ON Services. "We don't want all the tours. We want the right ones, and we want to service them the way they deserve. The partnership with the LaBarbera team and with [Inner Circle Distribution, Portman's distributor] and Portman made that possible." Beyond its visual impact, the S-TRIBE's integrated audience blinder capability opened a creative dimension the team hadn't fully anticipated. Running alongside conventional fixtures, the S-TRIBE moles provided a second, distinct audience look at the desk, capable of dramatically amplifying crowd illumination when needed, or fading to a warm amber glow that reads as a natural incandescent source at lower levels. On both stadium and arena shows, this gave the team an additional layer of crowd ambiance control that proved immediately effective. The production also deployed the Astera QuikSpot as backlight for band members, delivering warm-to-white color flexibility and zoom control that elevated the band presentation without drawing attention away from the performance. The team is already planning to expand their Portman inventory for the next production cycle. "Uniqueness in a product is one thing," Stacey says.." But who brings it to you, and who stands behind it, that's something else entirely. I know both Adam Camp and Filippo Frigeri at ICD, and I trust that they would not put something in front of me they weren't fully committed to. That relationship matters as much as the fixture." For more information on ON Services, visit www.onservices.com. 
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