ADJ Fixtures Power the Carhartt Stage at 2025 Detroit Jazz Festival

For the 46th installment of the Detroit Jazz Festival – the world’s largest free jazz festival, renowned for showcasing world-class talent – ADJ lighting fixtures were used exclusively to illuminate the Carhartt Stage. Located in the riverside Hart Plaza, the Carhartt Stage plays host to headline performances throughout the Labor Day weekend, with the festival attracting 300,000+ in person music fans and generating a global online reach of 1.5 million from 43 countries.

Lighting production for the festival was supplied by ART Visuals, the recently formed visual arm of well-established Detroit audio production and technology integration company Audio Rescue Team. ART Visuals was created following Audio Rescue Team’s acquisition of Ryan Richards Visuals, with the company’s eponymous owner – a well-known and much-respected lighting professional in Detroit – joining Audio Rescue Team as Lighting & Visuals Manager. In this role, Ryan was responsible for managing lighting production for the Detroit Jazz Festival and also served as lighting designer, programmer, and operator for the Carhartt Stage.

With audiences peaking at around 6,000 people during evening performances, the lighting rig needed to deliver impact both day and night, withstand outdoor conditions, and offer the creative flexibility required for an exceptionally diverse musical program. ADJ’s range of professional lighting fixtures proved ideally suited to the demands of the festival environment, delivering power, reliability, and visual versatility throughout the weekend.

The lighting design for the Carhartt Stage was centered around a carefully balanced rig of moving head spots and washes, complemented 24 Jolt Bar FXIP fixtures which formed the heart of the design. Eight units were rigged to the downstage front truss, while the remaining sixteen were distributed equally across four trusses hanging in pairs at mid and upstage, angled slightly inward towards each other. All the fixtures were mounted at the top of their respective box trusses, pointing outwards to maximize coverage and visual impact.

An IP65-rated linear LED fixture, the Jolt Bar FXIP features a central strip of 112 x 5-Watt cool white SMD LEDs, flanked on both sides by a total of 448 x 0.5-Watt RGB color mixing SMD LEDs. With independently controllable zones – 16 white and 32 color – the fixture offers enormous creative flexibility, from intense strobe hits to colorful pixel-mapped chase effects.

“I love the Jolts,” enthuses Ryan, “I use them all the time. For the price point, you can't beat their bang for your buck. With the strobe in the center and RGB on the outer, you can do so much with them. You can use them for a strobe effect. You can use them for a color wash. You can use them for eye candy pixelated stuff. They're literally one of my favorite fixtures to play with, and they're so bright. Especially when you have 24 of them! I had no problem lighting up the whole audience at night. And then, for a festival like this, they are also great for eye candy effects that can been seen during the day.”

To add depth, texture, and aerial interest, 24 Hydro Spot 2 fixtures were deployed across the rig. Eight were spread across the large front truss, with four fixtures installed on each of the four smaller trusses.

Offering an impressive 15,000-lumen output, the IP65-rated Hydro Spot 2 packs a powerful feature set into a compact, weatherproof housing. With twin GOBO wheels, animation wheel, rotating prisms, CMY color mixing, variable CTO, and motorized zoom from 8 to 41 degrees, the fixture delivered crisp pattern projections and bold aerial effects throughout the festival.

“The Hydro Spot 2s are great, comments Ryan. “I’ve used them on a variety of different events and they’ve always performed well. The build quality of the fixture is amazing, the color mixing is great, and I love the GOBOs. Which isn’t always the case, sometimes I work with fixtures and think the GOBOs are just garbage. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t use loads of them, but a nice cone and a couple of breakups are kind of essential! So, all in all, I really have no complaints about the Hydro Spot 2.”

Primary illumination for the performers came from 10 Focus Flex L19 fixtures distributed evenly across the downstage truss. Featuring nineteen high-output 40-Watt RGBL LEDs arranged in three concentric rings, the Focus Flex L19 combines fast movement with a wide zoom range from 5 to 50 degrees. The inclusion of a lime LED chip allows for enhanced color mixing and a high CRI of 84.2, making it an ideal choice for front light in broadcast and live environments alike.

“We invested in these fixtures with this project in mind, as it represents us growing as a company and taking on bigger events with larger stages,” explains Ryan. “I've been extremely impressed with them, both in terms of build quality and performance. Having the lime chip really enhances the color mixing and clarity of light, which meant I could get exactly the right color temperature to make all the artists look good both on video and for the audience. The output is also very good; I was able to fill the whole performance area with a nice even coverage from the ten fixtures I had on the front truss. I really couldn’t have asked more from a wash fixture.”

Completing the Carhartt Stage rig were 16 Vizi Wash Z19 fixtures, with four units mounted on each of the four smaller trusses. These were used for back and down lighting, broad color washes, and creating eye-catching looks during daytime performances.

The flexibility of the rig proved invaluable when the artistic direction took an unexpected turn. “I was expecting the lighting to be more about illuminating the performers and creating static looks with the colors and GOBOs, but on the opening night Jason Moran, the festival’s 2025 ‘artist-in-residence’, performed alongside Detroit techno pioneer Jeff Mills. They said they didn’t want ‘jazz lighting’ but ‘techno lighting’, which is actually my background! So, I was able to really show off the rig’s potential, which really impressed the organizers. It was the first time in the festival’s history that haze had been used, and they asked me to use it for the rest of the weekend – with the performers’ permission – as they love the look of the stage!”

In addition to powering the Carhartt Stage, ADJ fixtures were also deployed on the festival’s Chase Stage, further underlining the brand’s versatility and reliability in demanding festival environments. 16 additional Focus Flex L19 washes were used both for front and back light while Vizi Beam 12RX moving heads generated aerial effects and static Jolt Panel FXIP fixtures delivered eye candy and served as audience blinders.

Both lighting systems helped to elevate the atmosphere of the festival, which was appreciated by festival goers as well as the organizers, who also appreciated the professionalism of the whole technical team. “Audio Rescue Team has been the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation's go-to for the world-class sound reinforcement artists, patrons and THE MUSIC deserves,” states Christopher Collins, President and Artistic Director of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation. “All the gear in the world means nothing without audio experts, whose ears and concept are tuned into the textural variations and subtle nuances of jazz…and, ART has the very best of both! Now, ART is a proven partner providing exceptional lighting and visual effects at the Detroit Jazz Festival. Their load-in/out is always clean and professional with a focus on safety for everyone. They have a deep inventory of gear, highly experienced and creative technicians, and a vision that enhances the experience for patrons and inspires the artists without intruding on the art form. When you want the best, ART delivers!”

With a fully ADJ-powered lighting rig delivering everything from subtle, elegant looks to high-energy, techno-inspired visuals, the Carhartt Stage at the Detroit Jazz Festival stood out as a bold example of how modern lighting technology can enhance even the most storied musical traditions. From subtle, natural illumination that allowed performers to be seen clearly, to bold, high-energy looks that filled Hart Plaza after dark, the system adapted seamlessly as the festival evolved over the course of each day.

Event
Detroit Jazz Festival
www.detroitjazzfest.org

Lighting Vendor
ART Visuals
www.audiorescue.team

Production Manager & Carhartt Stage LD / Programmer
Ryan Richards

Chase Stage LD / Programmer
Christian "Puffy" Rado

Carhartt Stage Lighting Gear
30 x Hydro Flex L19
12 x Hydro Flex L7
14 x Hydro Spot 2
12 x Jolt Panel FX

Chase Stage Lighting Gear
16 x Focus Flex L19
14 x Jolt Panel FXIP
10 x Vizi Beam 12RX