THE EARLY 2000s SUPERGROUP Audioslave consisted of three members of Rage Against The Machine and Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell. For the tour to promote their second record “Out Of Exile” the band was interested in a more “theatrical” look. The lighting system would be a simple pair of concentric U-shaped trusses on which dozens of Source Four Par fixtures would hang. Only 24 automated fixtures were deployed between the air and ground, and much of the budget was spent on several printed back drops and roll drops.

Three of these printed backdrops hung on kabuki releases upstage in front of a final star-drop curtain with red velvet valence treatment. Two of the drops depicted themes from the band’s album art, while the third was a sky-scape that I photographed myself while skydiving. The picture was something that I had snuck in to a rendering as an example, and Chris himself responded to the image, asking for the backdrop to be made for use in just one song: “Shadow On The Sun.”

In contrast to their first tour where they refused to play songs recorded by their previous bands, this time out Audioslave would embrace several tunes from their combined catalog, including the Temple Of The Dog song “Hunger Strike.” This is where the roll drops came in: a banner with an image from the appropriate band’s album art would descend just above the drums when they played a Rage or Soundgarden song.