MAC Rig Graces Grand Ole Opry House

The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee is nothing short of an American institution. Founded over 75 years ago, the Opry has become a part of American folklore, having served as a celebration of country music for generations.

Over the years, millions of Americans have been entertained through its live radio and television broadcasts. In fact, the Grand Ole Opry is the world´s longest running live radio program. A mix of entertainment, pageantry, comedy and American music, today´s Opry is a rich blend of traditional and contemporary performances.

The Opry takes place in Nashville’s 4,400-seat Grand Ole Opry House every Friday and Saturday with seasonal shows on Tuesday nights, and other special events fill the Opry House calendar on other nights of the week. In addition to regular Opry shows, the Grand Ole Opry House has recently hosted performances by Bonnie Raitt, Lyle Lovett, Harry Connick, Jr., Josh Groban, and Robin Williams, among others.

New MAC lighting
In January of this year the Opry House traded in its existing Martin MAC 500 and MAC 600 lighting fixtures for newer models, and added MAC 2000 Profiles and MAC 2000 Wash to the mix. Jem ZR 24/7 hazers were also part of the package, which was supplied by Bandit Lites of Nashville.

“The upgrade of our Martin system completes our upgrade of all of our production capabilities in the Opry House to deliver on our promise to offer a world-class production environment to our television, concert, and corporate clients,” said Opry Vice President and General Manager Pete Fisher.

In addition to live performances at the Opry House, the Opry can be heard on 650 AM-WSM, Sirius Satellite Radio, and opry.com, while a portion of many Saturday night shows is seen as "Grand Ole Opry Live" on GAC: Great American Country or CMT Canada.  Numerous other television specials emanate from the Opry House throughout the year.

Bob Peterson and Ted Wells serve as lighting design consultants for the Opry House, and Tyler Bryan maintains the daily operations of the House lighting system. Bryan says the entire technical staff has to be on its toes with simultaneous live radio, TV, and live audiences to think about, not to mention the various artists that take the stage one after the other. 

Flexible, user-friendly rig 
Bryan has been working with the Grand Ole Opry for 20 years. He comments, “The Opry is not a rehearsed show – it’s not a cue to cue show. You don’t always know if an artist will be singing an up-tempo song or a down-tempo song so I set up many different cues and grab from them depending on what they sing. We do live radio, live TV, and have a live audience all at once, and it all has to come together timing-wise. There are a lot of variables to think about.”

The new Martin fixtures, hung from six overhead trusses as well as house electric pipes, are used for washes and pattern in nearly every one of Bryan’s cues. “It’s a great working system. Because we do so many types of shows, it’s laid out in a way that the lighting covers the majority of the stage so we can light everything.”

“We didn’t want to make it so complicated that people who came in wouldn’t want to use the system, so there are a lot of other shows that come in that are able to use the gear,” Bryan says.  “Some big shows that come in might use our patch and put it in their board, for example. That’s why it’s so user friendly. Instead of renting lights, they’re able to come in and rent our package as-is and use the system to fit their needs. It’s to their advantage.” Control of the automated fixtures is via a WholeHog II with an Obsession II console handling the conventional fixtures.

Martin and Bandit
The impetus for the Martin lighting upgrade originated when a lighting technician came through one week doing a show, Bryan states. Bryan mentioned to him the need to upgrade their equipment and after getting a name of a Martin representative, he paid a visit to the Martin Florida office. “At Martin I dealt with Troels on down and everybody at Martin Florida had a hand in on it,” he states.

Bryan also states his appreciation of local supplier Bandit Lites. “Having Bandit Lites here in Nashville locally for support, we’ve had no problems,” he says.  “Many at Bandit were involved in the deal, and the service and fixtures have been excellent. The transition from the old Martin lighting to this new package couldn’t have been any better.”

Equipment:
27 x MAC 500
15 x MAC 600
14 x MAC 2000 Profile
16 x MAC 2000 Wash
2 x Jem 24/7 Hazer
Source Four
Supertrooper II
Mole Richardson
Altman