Lighting for pub bands

jesone

Want is the recommended way to light a 5 piece rock covers band playing pubs & clubs?
lights in front, behind, to the side? Sound activated or washes? Etc.

Roland

Typical pubs don't have much space, and it's not possible to have spotlights throwing across the room. So you are limited to side lighting. Also, unless you bring your own backdrop to hide the dartboard and other paraphernalia, it's difficult to have effective back lighting. The easiest thing to do is to have LED lighting bars on stands either side of the band. These can be sound activated, and linked so that they change colour at the same time.

We use two of these linked with a long DMX cable. The one on my side of the stage is configured as the master, and t'other as a slave. We use the sound-to-light setting, with the sensitivity set very low so that it only activates from the bass drum or loud chord, ie on the beat of the music. I use the footswitch to kill the lights between sets.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kam-Lighting-Led-Partybar-V2/dp/B00603XK8K

Where floor space permits we have static blue LED pars on the floor to light the drum kit. Chrome shows up well in blue. 

If the pub is large enough I put three or four long PAR cans on a lighting bar and stand at the back of the room, aimed at the mics, to pick out our faces. They have straw and blue gels to get the right colour. These are old fashioned bulbs, delivering lots of heat, so I'm glad to have them far away. They look like these: 
http://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_par_30_e27_black.htm?sid=b159841dfc498ae10ec84e51e2002f4b

Lastly, we carry a back drop. Nothing fancy. A 5m x2m sheet of black cotton which I bought on the market. My wife hemmed the loose edges, and I put in metal eyelets so that it's easy to hang with string or cable ties. We can pin it to the wall, hang from a washing line, or from a gantry which I picked up on his forum. For me this ties everything together, and hides the bloody dartboard, television screen, and cabbage rose wallpaper.

EricTheWeary

The bass player in my old band got some PAR  cans off ebay for about £25. We were illuminated like Pink Floyd at Wembley but up close in a pub they were unbearably hot. 

We have party bars at the side of the stage but there isn't always much room and sometimes the light in the room means they are washed out. We also don't have a backdrop so lighting up the dartboard isn't always the best. Good point about the sensitivity,  endless flickering  is annoying. 

In the blues band we had a couple of very cheap rotating things the drummer picked up as Argos seconds ( he used them as a lighting rig when practising at home!) but they only really did anything in very dark rooms. 

I've played pubs that have lighting rigs fitted but the aim seems to be to blind performers rather than do anything useful. 
I blame the smoking ban for the lack of ambience. 

StageStruck

Our ex-singer had a couple of LED side bar lighting boxes that could be clamped to the PA speaker poles. They could be controlled by a footswitch, if memory serves you could set several patterns or have it operate via sound-light. They weren't hugely expensive, around £120 for the complete set which included extra tripod stands. For the money, they were fairly decent and done the job. We used them a good few times, but as Roland states, many pub venues just didn't have the floor space to set them up once the band's kit was in place. I believe Maplins carry a range of lighting rigs at a reasonable price, might be worth having a look in there to see if they'd be any use for you.

jesone

A couple of those party bars are easily in budget, so I'll grab those. Does no one use lights on the floor in front of the singers? I was thinking maybe a par can under each mic stand might work.

Roland

Our singer doesn't like close lighting from the front because it blinds him from seeing the audience. If you're playing a large theatre the this might not matter, but in a pub we need to see and communicate with people. It also blinds him from seeing his SetList and pedal board.

Lighting upwards from the floor can cast weird shadows on your face. It's better to put a PAR can on each speaker stand shining across the performance area.

TheBigDipper

Roland said:

Our singer doesn't like close lighting from the front because it blinds him from seeing the audience. If you're playing a large theatre the this might not matter, but in a pub we need to see and communicate with people. It also blinds him from seeing his SetList and pedal board.

+1 for this. If you're going to use lighting, especially uplighting from the floor, make sure you do a dress rehearsal with it before screwing up in front of the public. Don't ask me how I know...  

andyoz

I'd use minimum 4no. LED Pars that are DMX controllable (relatively cheap now).  If you're playing with a wall behind you that you can light up then then use two on the floor to wash the wall behind you.  Use the other two to the side of the band - either two on a single stand up high to one side or better still one each side of the band integrated on top of the speakers.  Get a simple DMX controller and set the lights on the rear wall for a slow changing color wash.  The lights either side can be set to do some more flashy stuff but don't go crazy.

Trying to use lights down on the floor to the front or front/side will blind the guitarist/bass players.

You will get shadows lighting from off to the side but it can look dramatic and you're not trying to light up a Theatre show... it's rock so a bit of mystery doesn't hurt.

Here's a shot of band taken with two lights washing the back wall and the other two on a high stand on one side.  Using the lights at the rear gives the 'stage' some depth if you get them different colors to the side lights.

I'd personally avoid having the classic 4 lights either side of the band flashing away like crazy. As said above, if using sound level triggering set sensitivity low so they mainly reach to the kick.