Indianapolis-based Andrew has worked as Goose’s LD for four years and also owns a busy lighting rental business. When he and Tony – well known for his ground-breaking lighting work with Billie Eilish among others – met randomly at a Goose show, they hit it off as friends and realized that a design collaboration would be the way to go for this project.

“Two minds can be better than one,” they both echo in unison, and in this case, the creative results are evident onstage with Tony having worked on programming, bringing his vast fund of experience to the party, and Andrew continuing his great rapport with the band as their lighting designer and touring with the show.

The Tetra2s were a joint decision made by both Andrew and Tony as they started listening to the new album.

“The music was the starting point for the design, and very soon we knew we needed a moving LED batten to emphasize the vibe of the album,” explained Andrew, “and the Tetra2 stood out to us the most!”

Tony commented that while there are numerous LED batten fixtures out there right now, the Tetra2 “stands out” with its flower effects and other cool features, which together with the excellent zoom “enables us to produce a full range of dynamic design effects, and believe me, we are having had A LOT of fun with them!!”

“There’s no other batten that has that amazing zoom and we do some crazy stuff with it,” confirms Andrew.

On the US tour, the 16 x Tetras are an integral part of the floor package, positioned upstage on the deck on pipe-and-base stands each angled at 20 degrees to get a quirky look.

The fixtures are programmed with numerous fluid and kinetic effects to get the specific ‘drippy’ aesthetic that Andrew and Tony wanted, and they are one of the defining visual elements.

“We have some very cool ‘digital symmetry’ looks with opposite angles of the Tetra2s chasing in and out, etc., and that 20-degree rotation on the stands really adds to the visual impact and intrigue!” enthused Andrew.

Aware that Tetra2s are also becoming a bit of a design trend right now, programming was detailed and thought-through as they were determined to use them imaginatively and in “fresh and diverse ways,” says Tony … “and that’s exactly what we have done.”

“Sometimes new effects will come out of nowhere,” added Andrew who is impressed by being able to transform the Tetra2 pixels into razor-sharp slimline beams that still cut through fog and atmosphere.

Andrew joined Tony in Nashville as they pre-vizzed the show in Capture and worked through all the songs which the band can and do play different every night of the tour. “You simply have to be prepared for anything!” noted Andrew.

Three days of production rehearsals in Pod 2 at Rock Lititz saw some concentrated programming sessions on the grandMA3 console.

Andrew always runs a Goose show with the flow of the music, but this tour saw a drive to get slightly more structured, so 16 songs are now cue-stacked, and the rest are improvised as they play. “It’s great to have a hybrid showfile that supports both MO’s, so I still have the freedom and spontaneity of the jam / live ethos!”

Working alongside him on the road is lighting technician Danny McDonald who is also a master welder and was instrumental in constructing the angled pipe-and-base stands for the Tetra2s.

With a nationwide shortage of kit as multiple tours and live events go ahead post-pandemic, they were extremely lucky to be able to even source the Tetra2s, and that was thanks to Patrick Bellino at Main Light Industries, the principal lighting vendor.

Both Andrew and Tony have used Robe products before in their work.

“It’s been extremely inspiring to watch the company grow and move forward,” commented Tony, who reckons that Robe became established as a major player as it brought legendary fixtures like Pointes, MegaPointes and the ubiquitous BMFL series to the market.

“When I know there’s Robe on the rig, I know it’s rock-solid,” said Andrew who loves BMFLs and Spiiders, adding that these fixtures are great for festival rigs. He loves all the Robe pixel fixtures and all the multifunctional products.

Andrew also has a soft spot for the little Spikie which also has a multi-colour flower effect, “the more flower-power the better,” he concludes!

Photo Credit: Adam Berta, Jesse Faatz