Neon Trees Choose ADJ’s Versatile Encore DBX Blinder For Fly-Ready Floor Package
ADJ’s distinctive Encore DBX twin cell blinder has been selected as the fixture of choice for pop-rockers Neon Trees’ new floor package. Bringing visual consistency to the band’s live shows – whether headline, support, festival or corporate – they provide both impactful blinder and strobe flashes as well as subtle background glow effects from compact fixtures that can travel with the band, even on fly dates.
Formed in Provo, Utah back in 2005, Neon Trees found mainstream success in 2010 with the release of their debut album ‘Habits’. Since then, they have released four further albums, most recently 2024’s ‘Sink Your Teeth’. A hard-working band, they pack in a busy schedule of headline shows, festival appearances, support slots and corporate gigs each year. The size of these shows varies from night to night; sometimes they’ll bring a touring lighting rig and for other shows they’ll use the house set up. This poses a challenge for the band’s LD, Corey Easterbrook, when it comes to providing a consistent look from show to show. Having toured with Neon Trees since 2021, Corey has finally found a solution to this dilemma which debuted on the band’s fall 2025 tour of North America.
“Neon Trees have a heavy schedule and we're constantly all over the place, flying to gigs, using different rigs,” explains Corey. “And the money, or the time, often isn't there to source a traditional ground package locally. So, I’ve had this idea in the back of my mind for a while that it'd be cool to have a ground package that could be an anchor point for the show, give consistency, but that I could fly with. Then when I was spec’ing the fall tour, which is in two legs with a break in the middle, it was clear that a fully-fledged traditional ground package wasn’t going to work, so I used it as an opportunity to pitch a new approach.”
Corey’s solution was to invest in a small quantity of a fixture that was bright, versatile and compact enough to be packed into cases that could travel on a commercial flight. This would allow him to use them for all Neon Trees shows, either as part of a larger touring rig or as a floor package to complement a house or festival setup. The members of Neon Trees liked this idea, and it was agreed that Corey would purchase the fixtures through his own business, Hothouse AV, which would then supply them for all Neon Trees shows. Hothouse AV is a turnkey corporate production company that has previously been separate from Corey’s work with Neon Trees, however as this arrangement was mutually beneficial, both parties felt it was the right way forward. When it came to sourcing the right fixture for this application, Corey had a clear favorite in mind.
“I've been really interested in the Encore DBX since I first saw it at LDI last year,” enthuses Corey. “It seemed to check all the boxes for what we were looking for: bright, light and versatile. I particularly liked the background glow effect, which is another arrow in my quiver and really sets it apart from any other full color blinder on the market. I also like the option of point rigging, as well as the hanging bracket, and also that it’s easy to combine multiple units to make larger blinders. It’s just a really flexible fixture and when I showed it to the band they instantly saw the potential.”
Powered by a pair of potent 150-watt RGBAW color mixing LEDs, the Encore DBX’s main light source is capable of generating an intense output of up to 11,465 lumens in a wide spectrum of colors. Each LED offers independent dimming, color mixing, and strobing control, providing complete flexibility. The fixture offers variable white color temperature control ranging from 2700K to 6500K, as well as a Tungsten Control Mode that allows the creation of classic warm white blinder effects. RGB color mixing LEDs are also embedded into the unit’s edges, which illuminate a textured background reflector. These can be used to generate vibrant background glow effects for the primary blinder LEDs to punch through, providing another dimension for creativity.
Discussing his experience of using the Encore DBX so far, Corey states: “I guess right off the bat, the one thing I was worried about was brightness. When you see a fixture on a trade show floor in a booth setting, it's hard to get a true idea of output. I really wanted it to punch through on every show and rig. And, so far, it has done exactly that. I mean, obviously, every LD will always want more in terms of brightness, but I’ve been really impressed by what it delivers. It's a really cool fixture. The color mixing on the main cells is really great; I’m able to achieve nice saturation across all my colors. I’m using a lot of pinks and CTO ambers where I'm really trying to make it so that each light is grabbing its own portion of the spectrum. And the DBXs do a great job, allowing me to tweak it so that I have different shades within the hue and not just a block color, which adds to the visual appeal of the show. And then the backlight gives that something extra, whether it’s for an interlude, or a couple of colors adding ambiance behind the blinders, or even just to add some ambient light for the band to be able to navigate between songs. It really is a great fixture to work with.”
The Encore DBX made its debut with Neon Trees on the band’s fall ‘Sink Your Teeth’ Tour. For these headline shows – including a performance at The Bellweather in Los Angeles, CA (pictured) – Corey deployed four of the fixtures across the stage and utilized two for side wash. However the versatile rigging options offered by the fixture – including a supplied hanging bracket, direct Omega bracket mounting ports on the rear and locking pins to array multiple fixtures – mean that he has the flexibility to deploy them in different ways on future shows.
“I think you can see from the photos, the Encore DBX has become the glue that holds the whole show together,” concludes Corey. “And the final thing I must mention is the build quality. On all the new ADJ fixtures, but especially the IP-rated ones, the game has really been stepped up. They are clearly really well built and rock solid to the point that I feel really comfortable flying with them and am confident they are going to last well.”
With the Encore DBX fixtures now an established part of Neon Trees’ touring setup, Corey and the band have achieved their goal of maintaining a cohesive, professional lighting look across every performance, regardless of venue or scale. Compact, durable, and creatively flexible, the Encore DBX has proven to be the ideal solution for a fly-ready floor package - delivering the punch, versatility, and reliability required to keep pace with a busy touring schedule.
Band
Neon Trees
www.neontrees.com
Lighting Designer
Corey Easterbrook
Lighting Vendor
Hothouse AV
www.hothouseav.com
ADJ Gear List
6 x Encore DBX
