This year’s CMT Music Awards telecast was lit by Tom Kenny for the fifth consecutive year, who used a variety of Robe fixtures including Pointes, MMX Spots and LEDWash fixtures on his massive lighting rig in the Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee, in the US.
Hosted by Kristen Bell and produced by Michael Dempsey Productions along with John Hamlin, Amy Johnson and Margaret Comeaux from CMT, the live broadcast saw 30 000 country music fans packed in the arena to catch the amazing line-up. Kenny designed lighting for two prominent outdoor performance stages that allowed an additional 15,000 country music fans to enjoy the action and energy of the evening in Nashville.
The event featured 55 x Robe ROBIN Pointes plus Robe LEDWash 600s and MMX Spots – supplied by VER together with the rest of the lighting equipment and video elements. Lighting for the outdoor stages was supplied by Bandit Lites and also included 14 x Robe ROBIN LEDWash 1200s and 16 x LEDWash 600s.
Kenny collaborated with set designer Anne Brahic and Video Content Producer Laura Frank to create the look and feel of the show. He used the Pointes to “bookend’ the set architecture on both stage left and right, as well as lights on the floor and vertical truss sections upstage. There were another 10 units to back and key light the Nationwide Insurance (satellite) stage.
The MMX Spots were on audience trusses above the auditorium and the LEDWashes were positioned stage right at concourse level, lighting some of the set pieces.
Kenny’s team included Programmer and Lighting Director Michael Appel who was assisted by Jess Baker; Broadway Stage Programmer Steve Fallon and Plaza Stage Programmer Andre Peters. There were also four Lighting Directors – Mike Grimes, John Ellar, Tim Donovan and Bryan Klunder.
The control set-up included 10 x grandMA2 consoles and a Hog 4.
