Peter Therrien Powers Say Anything on Co-Headline Tour with ChamSys

	"I use color, along with various intensity chases, to change up looks during the show," says Therrien.

Rock bands Say Anything and Motion City Soundtrack took to the stage at Cleveland's Agora Theatre recently, part of the 17-city 2026 leg of their co-headline tour. The Say Anything part of the show features a fast-moving light show from Peter Therrien, of JDI Productions.

Running his show on a ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 with a PC Wing, Therrien busked his way through the 70-minute Cleveland set, calling on penetrating strobe effects, blackouts, fog, and sometimes unsettling light angles to reflect the mood of the music.

"I love busking," says Therrien. "Do I make mistakes? Sure. Is my show perfect? Probably not. But I like the flow of the lights in this genre more than the 'produced' look of a timecoded show. Every song in this show's set has a page built. On that page will be position, color, and intensity. Then on my ChamSys MagicQ MQ80, I use an executor page and all the play/pause buttons to activate movements, color chases, and dimming effects. I also have the new MagicQ Compact Wing, which I absolutely love, where I kept strobe/blinder looks and downstage washing."

Therrien relied on ChamSys Multi-Emitter Color Picker to keep his show varied during the set. "I think all LDs reach a point where certain colors provide a vibe on the stage," he said. "I'm always impressed with the way theatre designers use color. It's such a skill that I really try and work on -- so thank you. Say Anything really is just raw energy and controlled chaos on that stage sometimes. It can be a crazy ride, intense and moody. To me, it's super important that those color choices reflect that feeling. I really believe a crowd can be feel that energy.

"I use color, along with various intensity chases, to change up looks during the show. I've also really started changing the amount of front light I use...lot more light from top and behind rather than a ton from the front."

Given that the show stops at a wide variety of venues, of different sizes and with different lighting rigs, Therrien is always thankful for this console's versatility. "In general, I've always said you can't beat the ChamSys fixture library," he remarks. "It's vitally important when you're in different places every day. Like I said, the new wing is also incredible to have. I'm also not the smartest when it comes to networking, but the ChamSys is so easy to just take over house rigs -- it doesn't matter whether it's the house console or if they run DMX or sACN. You never know what you're getting on an extended tour like this one."