Sound and lighting for a tribute night

A tribute is a show, not a gig

The audience has paid to see a band they know, playing songs they know, and they will compare it with the record and with the last tribute act they saw. That changes what the room has to do. A function band can get away with a front wash and a good PA; a tribute act needs a stage that looks like a stage before the first note.

What the show needs

• A lit stage with front light for faces and back light to separate the band from the wall behind them.
• Movement in the air: moving heads sweeping the room, and haze to make the beams visible. Haze needs the venue’s agreement and a fire alarm that tolerates it.
• Blinders for the big moments. Used twice in a set they lift the room; used continuously they blind the front row.
• Pixel bars or a lit backdrop rather than a black curtain behind the drummer.
• A PA with enough channels for the full band, plus monitors so the singers can hear themselves over the room.

The PA and the channel count

• A tribute act often carries more inputs than a function band: keys, backing tracks, a second guitar, more vocals and a click if they use one.
• Ask for the stage plot and the channel list at the quote stage. It is the difference between a smooth afternoon and a rewrite at load-in.
• Wireless vocal microphones are worth having for a front person who works the stage.
• DI boxes for keys, tracks and acoustic instruments; drum microphones and stands if the band does not carry them.
• If the band travels with an engineer, we patch for them and hand over the desk.

Power, stage and the venue

• A moving-head rig plus a band backline pulls more than a party PA. Send us the venue’s supply details and we will send back a power list.
• Confirm the stage dimensions, the ceiling height and what the venue allows to be fixed or flown.
• Check the sound limit before the band rehearses at full volume. Many venues have a limiter that cuts the power, and the band should know before the night.
• Agree the curfew and the load-out time. Tribute nights run late, and the venue’s staff usually want the room back.

Programming the set

The lighting is programmed to the set list rather than run as a series of colours. That means a look for the opener, a change for the ballad, something bigger for the encore, and a saved cue for the changeover to the playlist afterwards. We can build the cues from a set list and a few reference videos, and refine them at the soundcheck.

What it costs

The essential stage and band wash is £120 for a straightforward front light. The live music atmosphere package is £460 including local delivery, setup, programming and pack-down. The full concert and party production, with the moving heads, blinders, extended uplighting and haze, is £620. Those three cover the lighting and, on the atmosphere package, the front-of-house tops; the band’s desk, monitors and microphones are quoted against the channel list, so a tribute with a full backline is priced as a package plus a band PA rather than pretending the lighting rig includes one.