Concert lighting

Just this past weekend I went to a concert. This concert was filled with lights. Until taking this class and having to write about lights, I never noticed how many lights are used and how much lighting design goes into concert performances. There was a huge difference in lighting design between the opening acts and the main acts at this concert. The opening acts only had dim lights on stage and in the house. It seemed like they did not incorporate any lighting design aspects into their performance because it was just the normal, dim house lights on. This lighting did not make the audience excited but rather bored and unenthusiastic. It was kind of disappointing because the dim lights definitely did not add or match the upbeat tempo that the DJ was playing onstage. It was so interesting to notice how much of a difference it made in the mood of the crowd when the main act came on and started to utilize the different lighting designs on stage and in their performance. They had LED lights and strobe lights and a backdrop with visuals that would light up on the LED backdrop. There were different color lights and these lights were also projected and moved around the house. It is so fascinating to see how much the energy of the crowd changes when there are moving lights and strobe lights involved in a performance. Even though the opening act had good music, their lighting design made it really dull and boring; the crowd was not enthusiastic nor excited about the performance. But when the main act performed with their different changing lights, moving lights, LED lights, and strobe lights, the crowd had a very different energy: excited. As soon as the strobe lights went off, people were jumping up and down and were excited. The lighting definitely did affect my mood because I was much more energized and felt alive with all the different color changing light and the lights that moved around me. Also, one aspect I really liked about their lighting design was that they turned off all the house lights and projected lights from the stage into the house. This technique created silhouettes of the performers, and so it gave off a very mysterious energy because you could not see the performers but only their movements. This concert definitely had a lot of work in their lighting design and I am finally noticing how much lighting affects my mood and the environment around me.