Legendary Swedish metal band, Opeth, crossed the Atlantic once again to rock at some of the most prestigious venues in the country. In support of the band's 12^th studio album, Sorceress, Opeth jammed their way across North America for a month-long string of shows lit by 4Wall New York.

Lighting Designer Magnus Boyd started planning for the Sorceress tour as early as March. "I was determined from the beginning to have a ground package with versatile fixtures that could give me the punch needed for a band like Opeth," explained Boyd.

Boyd's lighting design background is in the world of theatre, which he keeps in mind when designing live music. "A show, no matter what kind, should always have some kind of dramaturgical structure to it," said Boyd. "The programming follows suit and is created from start to finish."

Boyd believed Opeth's music wouldn't work well with timecode and needed to be organic, so everything was cued manually with some elements running live.

Wanting to incorporate video into the production, Boyd decided to use the Ayrton DreamPanel Twins. 40 DreamPanel Twin fixtures were mounted on 8 - 18' sticks of truss supplied by S Group in France.

The productions video content features album artwork created by Travis Smith, animated by Scott Rudd. The abstract content was designed and created by Pekka Stokke at LJOS AS in Norway.     

The LD's lighting package consisted of Clay Paky's Mythos, B-Eyes, and Stormys which were the workhorses of the production. The Clay Paky fixtures were mostly rigged on 5' Tyler GT truss and placed around the band in a U-shape. "The Mythos in beam mode were killer and the shape FX of the B-eye created fantastic air effects in combination with just enough haze on stage," explained Boyd.

Boyd was extremely impressed with the Stormy's xenon style LED strobe and parabolic reflector. "Clay Paky's Stormy CC version brings an element that the average concert-goer doesn't see much of," said Boyd.

4Wall NY also provided Martin MAC Aura XB fixtures that were used to uplight the band. "The XB has a nice color blend and a tight zoom that does the trick nicely for the effects it was used for," said Boyd.

Boyd spoke of his most memorable from the tour.

"Nothing really beats a flawless show at Radio City Music Hall in front of more than 5,000 fans. The band was on fire, the gear performed flawlessly, and we got to see the local crew's jaws collectively drop when the band started playing. All in all, a very memorable night!"

The LD was also satisfied with the service provided by 4Wall New York.

"4Wall has been a great deal of help during the entire process. They were helpful from the very beginning and provided assistance while on the road. I changed the design several times and was accommodated every step of the way. Everything was ready when I got to the site in Moonachie. I am very grateful for CJ Westcott's and 4Wall's assistance in making this tour a success!"

Photos by: Oscar Del Aguila