Niller chooses Ayrton for Volbeat’s ‘Greatest of All Tours Worldwide’
Formed in Copenhagen in 2001, Danish rock band Volbeat is known for its driving fusion of rock and roll and heavy metal music with undertones of punk, gospel and country. Fronted by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Michael Poulsen, and with drummer Jon Larsen and bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen, the band is currently concluding a demanding 70-date international tour in support of its 9th studio album God of Angels Trust, released in June 2025.
Lighting this Greatest of All Tours Worldwide is Niels (Niller) Bjerregaard who has worked with the band for 17 years. Key to his design choices was a rig featuring Ayrton Rivale Profiles as his work horse fixtures, Argo 6 FX, Domino LT and the mighty Mamba! All supplied by award-winning UK-based lighting rental company, LCR.
“The band wanted a return to a retro feel that focused on the music, so we devised a set and lighting rig that paid homage to the old ‘80s/’90s rock’n’roll/heavy metal set up, with a central overhead star-shaped finger rig and a visual style based on strong versatile beams,” explains Niller. “I decided to give it a new twist by rigging and programming every fixture type into groups of three (3 washes, 3 spots, 3 strobes etc) and give an overall ACL look to the rig.”
Niller populated the star-shaped rig, the triangular B stage truss and stage risers with 48 Rivale Profiles (https://www.ayrton.eu/produit/rivale-profile/), interspersed with 81 Ayrton Argo 6 FX fixtures on the finger rig, a 3×3 central cluster, and on side ladders.
“The overhead rig is where Rivale came into its own,” explains Niller. “I needed a fixture that was not too big or heavy, but punchy and still able to hit the ground at a distance of 50ft/16m. It also needed to give a nice flat, or very tight, beam in haze. The Rivales are great for all of this, even when I put gobos in and started stacking them with colours.
“They are my workhorses for the strong beam work, with some really cool features: a great selection of gobos, excellent colour mixing, bright colours and an output strong enough for even the big arenas. The iris is a great feature – one moment the beam can be so tight with a really sharp pinspot, then it expands to give me those nice, fat profile beams which are super-nice!”
Just as important is Rivale’s size and weight. “Rivales are very compact which is important for this tour as we have a lot hanging in the rig in close proximity, so they need to fit within the available space. Their size also makes them super-fast; I use them for sweeps of all kinds across stage and crowd which, especially in groups of three, give me some really interesting looks – I really get a lot out of this fixture.
“I was surprised how well the Rivales fulfilled the ideas I had imagined and I only have good things to say about them!”
Niller is no stranger to Ayrton fixtures but this is his first time using Argo 6 FX. (https://www.ayrton.eu/produit/argo-6-fx/) “I took a chance on the Argo 6s but they turned out to be a good choice. They are extremely bright, have a really nice beam and no flare. The challenge when grouping them in threes was that I could end up with just a solid wash effect, but Argo 6 FX zooms in so tightly (4°) that I can get a very clean beam all the way to the ground from 16m, which means I can use them to get that magic CP60 ‘parcan’ look! So, they are great for a huge variety of beam effects as well as washes.”
Argo 6 FX also operated as illumination for set pieces and drapes, adding a theatrical element to the set, including for the show’s four kabuki drops and Volbeat’s trademark skull wing fly piece. “Argo 6 functions really well as a set piece light because it has such a good zoom range,” confirms Niller. “The stage is 50m wide and some set pieces are only 2m from the light itself, yet I don’t have any problems fitting the whole set piece into the beam.”
Argo 6 FX’s LiquidEffect™ was only brought into play in a subtle way, with Niller using contrasting colours to break up the appearance of the fixture in the grid rather than for illumination, adding depth and texture to the rig.
The finger rig is outlined with LED bars, curtailing available space, so Argo’s size proved a perfect fit within the framework, able to move freely, and with a compact form factor that ensured the LED outline upstage remained visible. “It was also important that I picked fixtures with the same output range, so no single fixture type overpowered the whole rig,” says Niller. “By pairing Argo 6 FX with Rivale Profile I can chase between spots and washes and have a very consistent output, which makes blending them easy. I can definitely recommend Rivale Profile and Argo 6 together – they work well in size and fit well in the rig.”
Another first for Niller was his use of Ayrton’s new laser-sourced Mamba (https://www.ayrton.eu/produit/mamba/), 18 of which he installed in sets of three beneath (three!) sections of grill deck, behind the drummer and across the main performance area.
“We are very excited about these!” says Niller. “We wanted something different from the old-school ‘lights on risers’ so switched to ‘The Pillars of Rock and Roll’ powering up through the stage deck at 90°!” says Niller. “We chose Mamba specifically with this in mind as we needed very powerful uplights to create these immense pillars of light. I use them with chases, gobos and strobing for some massive looks, and for breaks where I solo out the band. The Mambas shine through the deck like you’ve never seen before! They look really cool, especially in haze. In the rig they would be insane! I was very happy with them and will definitely be using them again!”
At Niller’s request, Ayrton, in collaboration with Volbeat Production’s Dennie Miller and LCR, developed a software that could disengage Mamba’s pan and tilt calibration. “This ensured we were able to rig them close together without them knocking into each other on power up in the tight space below stage,” explains Niller.
Niller worked closely with the tour’s production manager, Dennie Miller, (‘the magician who made things happen practically and budgetwise’) and with supplier, LCR, to truly make this Volbeat’s Greatest of All Tours Worldwide.
“I’ve used Ayrton fixtures several times before and have been extremely satisfied with them, so I was really happy when I could pick what I wanted from LCR’s stock,” says Niller. “Their recommendations based on the kind of show I was creating were spot on.
“LCR is, as always, very dedicated and interested in our tour. Rob Watson is very service-minded, open and good at problem solving, and the team is great at keeping in contact when we are on the road to make sure we have all that we need. I’m very honoured to be part of their organisation for this tour.”
“Niller has been a pleasure to work with and, from seeing the pictures and videos on socials, I’m looking forward to catching the tour when its touring in England as it looks stunning!” says Watson, LCR’s senior account manager.
The last remaining shows of Volbeat’s tour with Niller’s dynamic and dramatic lighting could be seen until 13 November when the nearly sold out, 21 truck, 70-date, 6-month run across Canada, USA and Europe finished in London at Wembley Arena.
Credits:
Text: Julie Harper
Photos: © Britt Bowman
