Linkin Park’s lighting designer, AJ Pen, is using 24 Robe Spot 1200s on their massive "Meteora 2004" world tour, which is completely sold out and currently storming through its way through the US and Canadian legs.

Pen has worked with the band for the last 12 months. Linkin Park has toured constantly since then in various configurations in support of the hugely successful "Meteora" album, which is triple platinum in the US alone.

Pen was introduced to Robe Show Lighting’s array of moving lights and the great potential of the Robe Spot 1200 in particular, by Robe America’s Randy Wade through Linkin Park’s production manager, Jim Digby. This is the first time Pen’s used Robe, and the powerful 1200 Spots are proving to be a great creative asset for the show.

Six Spot 1200s are deployed on the upstage truss for beam effects; four are used as ‘pseudo’ follow spots; ten are rigged onto custom trussing and utilised for specials and cosmetics, and four are placed underneath the stage, shooting up through the downstage grill deck.

All are used to produce high-powered hard-edged beams as well as for air texturing and dynamic effects.

Follow spots are Pen’s top priority during the show. Linkin Park’s two singers, bass and guitar players are all highly energetic performers and are never static for more than a few seconds! These four are currently all shadowed by both front and rear spots, while the 1200s are used to simulate the follow spot ‘look’ on the DJ and drummer – anchored to the same spot!

The lighting rig for this section of the tour features two customised over-stage trusses in the shape of the band’s logo – an "L" and a reversed "P". Other lights on the rig include a host of generics and other intelligent fixtures. The show has a colourful array of different looks, produced via kabuki drops, video effects and moving trusses. The articulation angles programmed for the truss combined with the unique beam angles employed by the Robe 1200’s produce some stunning effects.

Pen also designed the show’s video, all of which is run via a Catalyst digital media server from his Grand MA lighting desk. He mixes the mediums of lighting and video into a slick, edgy and coherent visual collage for the show, colour-tinting video elements to match the lighting, etc.

Lighting equipment is being supplied by leading Canadian rental house, Christie Lites Ltd. The Robe fixtures are proving reliable in relation to the rigours of the road as well as an invaluable creative tool. Pen particularly likes the zoom and focus tracking facilities, and comments, “The Robe 1200 AT's are incredibly bright projectors with exceptional optics. They have performed extremely well with NO mechanical difficulties on this entire tour. They do everything that a fixture of this category needs to do.”

The sold-out North American tour is the start of another awesome year in the high energy world of Linkin Park.

Photos: Lewis Lee

For more press info on Robe Show Lighting, please contact Louise Stickland on +44 (9)1865 202679, +44 (0)7831 329888 or E-mail louise@loosplat.com.