Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures showed they are country strong with appearances in the lighting rigs for superstar Kenny Chesney's Brothers of the Sun Tour with Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw and the fan-favourite CMA Music Festival with concerts at Nashville's LP Field.
Lighting designer Mike Swinford used 16 Sharpys in the Brothers of the Sun rig; he integrated 55 in the rig for the CMA Music Festival, which was videotaped over four nights to create a music special to air this summer on ABC.
"I first saw the Sharpys online when they were being introduced to the U.S.," recalls Swinford. "We had some of the first batches; I used them on TV, and then they went on tour. I really like how small and fast they are. Of course, their main attribute is the tight beam that cuts through any other light in the design. I think of them as the new ACL."
For the Brothers of the Sun Tour which plays stadiums coast to coast, Swinford is using four groups of four Sharpys mounted on top of giant Marshall amp replicas. "They stay on the cabinets for shipping, so they don't get handled every day," he notes. "That makes for a very fast set up." Swinford deployed a complement of 55 Sharpy fixtures on the CMA Music Festival spread out on low circular trusses "so almost every camera would get them in frame," he explains.