I take it that should be “Not many…” ?

It has been a baptism by fire.
Here is a link to some recent video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3rU6hMhJpg\

I own my controller+ a 4way opto/distro(not to mention a whole light show consisting of 4 x 54watt moving LED washes, 4 x MSD 250 scanners with rotating gobo’s and a rotating prism, 4 x 30watt led moving head spots, 24 12 x1watt LED par 36 cans, 6 x LED rain style par cans, 4 x OLD American DJ P64 cans(they work well as crowd blinders) 4 x omega 250c color changers(14 color +white) 1x 900watt RGB stage wash and 3 old Chauvet Mini Legends.
It is not the greatest gear but my controller lets me get a lot out of it.
I can do 512 channels right now and I have operated 53 fixtures with the gear that I currently have. 11 movers and 34 RGB fixtures.
I would prefer to operate my own controller.
I also prefer fo work with music that I know but I have enough of a music background that I can anticepate changes fairly well.
I play a fair number of one offs with band in the video(The Mantras) but they still keep me on my toes.

Please let me know what you think.
Have a great day all!

Just made an show 2-3 hours ago without knowing the console or the rig, with an programmer who helped me programming subs, and i made it thru all the way great.

I spent the first 15 years of my career knowing the rig, but not the band, as happens when you work for a lighting company. I ran the desk for many opening acts, quite a few club bands, and the occasional headliner.

Rock, and it’s father “the blues” are pretty easy to find changes on if you can count to 4, and can do it 4 times in a row. Most musicians will telegraph the changes if you watch closely. If there are two guitar players, 9 times out of 10 the singer will look at the one who is about to solo, most musicians change their posture just before taking a lead, and drummers can’t help but tell you the changes. If you can see them well enough, you will probably hit the all the major changes. On the other hand, modern jazz is hopeless for getting hints from the stage, and the counts can change without warning.

After 15 years of that, I toured with the same band for 10 years straight, doing about 200 shows a year.
On about half the gigs I got a rig I designed, and the other half were of the “find out when you get there” variety. Festivals are a good example, but proper theaters with 6X12s, 8″ fresnels, and a desk that has 8 faders and a go button were also common.

Knowing the rig but not the band is more fun, because there is less pressure to get it right. If you miss a solo, or get thrown off by a fast intro to a slow song, nobody is going to get bent out of shape. Let’s face it, if the band was concerned about making the lighting cues tight, they would pay an LD.

Knowing the band but not the rig produces better lighting. There may be a few gems in the rig that you miss, but the audience doesn’t know that, and besides, I’ve never walked away from a desk thinking I got all there was out of the rig. I settle for knowing I got what I wanted and needed. The lighting should be judged by what the audience saw, not by what they could have seen.
Timing of the bumps is important, but timing of the fades and moves are what make the lighting a seamless part of the show. You have to know the band well for that.
Knowing the band also means knowing what they need, and what they don’t. If the lead singer can’t hit a mark and sing at the same time, you won’t waste lights on specials for him. You’ll put them to better use, and let the follow-spots cover him.
Spot cues are another obvious benefit. You might as well take off the headset if you don’t know the band. The spot ops can guess just as easily and with better timing than if they wait for a go on your guess.

If I want to have a good time, give me my rig and desk. It won’t matter who’s on stage, I’ll have fun showing off the cool things my rig will do, and if I’m lucky, most of it will fit what the band is doing, most of the time.

If the goal is for an audience to see the best show possible, the band needs to have an LD.
Just my opinion…

LtheC

You sound pretty bold with your Moles tho. Dunno if I’ve ever had the balls to run a set of Moles at 100% for fear of spooking the genny, tripping the rack or just blowing some o’ those pesky DWEs.

Molefay Moment !!![crowd] Waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyoooooohhhhhhhh [/crowd]

We get an awful lot of bands through the venue where I work, and the smaller ones rarely tour LDs, so I end up doing lights for most of them (to varying degrees, depending on how much of their ‘style’ of noise I can bare….). But on odd occasions, we’ll get a band through of whom I am actually a fan, and those are the shows I REALLY enjoy.

Case in point – Thrice, a melodic rock band from Irvine, CA, recently played a Cardiff date on their UK tour. I hoped and prayed for weeks that they wouldn’t have an LD, and when I got to do the show, it was one of those days when you’re really glad you work in a crappy little music venue!

You can check out videos of the show (and my lighting skills, or lack thereof….) at some guy’s YouTube site:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBatsMouth