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For Boston 250 celebrations, Firefly developed a drone show (left), while Silence Dogood lit up the Old North Church (right)
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and sounds of the American Revolution, combining colonial re-enactments with live music, a lantern procession and – of course – free Dunkin’ doughnuts. This was followed by a drone show and an illumination of Bunker Hill Monument, which commemorates the Battle of Bunker Hill. Central to the event was drone specialist Firefly, which lit up Boston Harbor with iconic American imagery related to the Revolutionary War. Setting up shop on a nearby athletic field, Firefly launched 250 drones into the sky while 40,000 Bostonians gathered all along the waterfront. The show aimed to detail Boston’s integral role in the revolution, from the Boston Tea Party to Paul Revere’s midnight ride, while also capturing the spirit of today’s city. In Boston’s North End, the grassroots collective Silence Dogood lit up the Old North Church, replacing its old message (‘One if by land, two if by DC’) with a new one: ‘Let the warning ride forth once more: Tyranny is at our door’, quoting Paul Revere’s midnight message. The group, which is committed to using public art to serve as a reminder of resistance, uses a powerful Epson projector and Mad Mapper projection mapping software to light up the city’s historically significant sites with words that still ring true today.
manager at Jianye Display. “With the help of Christie’s advanced projection technology, we are able to reimagine fossil culture through the lens of modern innovation and storytelling.” THE HIGH ROAD TOUR Kane Brown isn’t your typical country musician. Raised by his single mother and grandmother, he only discovered he was biracial when he was seven or eight years old. Around that same time, he took an interest in both R&B and country music – and has since made a career out of combining the genres. Released in January, Brown’s latest album, The High Road , is the driver behind his current tour. Running through to early autumn of 2025, The High Road Tour features an impressive automated lighting design that utilises Follow- Me’s 3D tracking system. “I was determined to make this country show look progressive and cool,” begins production and lighting designer Chase Hall. “I intentionally abandoned the typical country tropes,” wanting to complement Brown’s diverse musical style with something more dynamic. The result is a unique system comprising ‘concentric circles and sticks that form 28 unique sculptures across our 100-minute show’, according to Hall. While the key lights aren’t automated, all the other fixtures are integrated with Follow-Me’s technology. As a designer, Hall is ‘quite picky’ about key lighting. “We need multiple fixtures tethered for long-throw colour output,” he says. “We need excellent tracking backlighting on each target and, photometrically, the spot system adjusting intensities for broadcast cameras at every point along our large arena thrust.” Follow-Me 3D fit into these requirements, primarily used for key lighting and to track fixture positions. Given his tendency to move around the stage, Brown’s team knew they would want adjustable elevation tracking too. “We made the Z-height elevation modifier available on a fader, alongside the internal mesh tracking for each operator,” explains Evan Rodecap, a Follow-Me programmer. Hall and Rodecap agree that Follow-Me offers flexibility and ease of use. “I can grab any light I want,” says Hall, “and it will track the performer seamlessly.”
“The product is very easy to deploy,” adds Rodecap, “and a lot of production managers are realising it’s much faster than other solutions on the market. The time-saver is being able to create one configuration for all of your lights.” At the end of September, Brown will take his tour to Europe, ending on 10 October with a night at the OVO Arena, Wembley in London. BOSTON 250 As the United States heads towards 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Boston has kicked things off early, launching an entire year of celebration with Boston 250. On 18 April, the city came alive with the sights and rock-solid reliability in the GS Series enabled us to craft an immersive and awe-inspiring experience
Follow-Me 3D lights deployed by Chase Hall and Evan Rodecap for Kane Brown
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