CHICAGO – For Alex Warren, it was a dream come true when Luke Combs had him come out on stage at Lollapalooza to join him in a cover of the young, rapidly-rising star’s No. 1 Billboard hit “Ordinary.” Warren, in turn, made another dream come true at Grant Park when David Summers served as the LD and board operator at his show at the festival.

Although Summers has toured the world with hit makers like Sum 41, this was the first time he was part of a show at the iconic festival. “I’m a kid from Indiana, and my first shows were in Chicago,” noted Summers. “I fell in love with live music here. I never attended the festival as a fan without hopes I’d get to work with an artist who was playing one day. It took more than 15 years, but it happened! It was a truly amazing moment for me.”

As the LD and board op Summers worked with a rig designed and programmed by Jeff Maker II that featured 42 CHAUVET Professional COLORado PXL Bar 16 motorized tilting RGBW battens supplied by Performance Lighting. The fixtures were positioned on 3.5 upstage carts, three with 12 battens, one with six.

Maker had the carts arranged in a portal-like shape which provided a nice immersive background for the type of music being performed. “The fixtures added a lot to the show with their pixel mapped and virtual gobo effects, not to mention their colors,” said Summers. “

The show was fully timecoded with some punting for new songs and special moments. Maker made many moments in the magical show that stood out.

For Summers, one was when Warren had special guest, Gigi Perez, come to join him in his new single “Eternity.” The design team, which included lighting tech Matvey Kitchen, created a “cage look,” with light from the 16 tightly zoomed PXL bars surrounding the two singers.

The effect separated the duo from their surroundings and made them appear as if they were performing apart from the stage in a dream… one of the many dreams that seemed to be in the air on this summer night at Grant Park during Lollapalooza.