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NASHVILLE, TN - Max Lenox spent years on the road as Rainbow Kitten Surprise's Touring Lighting Director, with 4Wall Entertainment serving as the band's lighting supplier from the start. Now a Project Manager at 4Wall Entertainment's Nashville office, he returned to his roots to design the band's iridescent visuals for their Bones Tour with a complete lighting and rigging package.

Starting as their Touring Lighting Director in 2018, Max spent the next six years on the road with the band, helping bring their live shows to life and forging a close-knit relationship with the group before joining 4Wall in 2024. Bringing the Bones Tour to life meant approaching the creative process from both sides of the industry, as the band's designer and now their vendor, a shift in the role that shaped how he approached the production.

"Having toured with the band for so many years, I understand what they're trying to achieve creatively and what the crew needs to make that happen every day," Lenox said. "Being on the 4Wall side now lets me help bridge those conversations early in the process and make decisions that support both the creative vision and the practical realities of touring. It's been a really rewarding transition because I still get to contribute to the show, just from a different seat."

The goal was to produce a rig capable of delivering a spirited variety of looks while preserving the freedom of the stage. To achieve that balance, Lenox deployed ACME Tornado and Pixel Line fixtures for their compact dimensions and wide-ranged capabilities.

"We landed on an upstage wall of Tornados and Pixel Lines that gave us an incredible amount of versatility while keeping the risers and downstage area clean, which was something the band specifically wanted," Lenox explained. "The result was a system that could be subtle and intimate one moment, then completely transform the stage the next."

Lenox's vibrant history with the band alongside his extensive gear knowledge, equipped him with a fundamental understanding of the band's visual identity.

"When I was touring, I was living in the show every night. I'd constantly make adjustments based on what I was seeing in different venues and how the band evolved over the course of a tour," he said. "Working at 4Wall now shifts my focus more toward the planning and logistics that make those shows possible. Instead of concentrating on what happens during the performance, I'm thinking about how to deliver a system that's reliable, efficient, and gives the touring team everything they need to succeed."

Though his title had changed, his creative instincts stayed sharp, continuing to draw on the diverse spectrum of emotions and energy throughout the band's frenetic setlists.

"There are a few moments [in the show] that always stand out. One is the Kabuki drop during "Dang," when it reveals the first big beam look with the Tornados on the opening chorus," Lenox said. "The crowd explodes and can't get their phones out fast enough."

The design also featured Mega Lite M-Spheres, which created ethereal mirror-ball-inspired scenes throughout the show.

"Another is during Ethan [Goodpaster]'s guitar solo in 'When It Lands,' when the entire rig slowly fans toward him as he climbs onto the drum riser," Lenox said. "And then there's 'Workout,' where we spend most of the song slowly building tension before everything peaks during the final chorus, with the M-Spheres (our affectionately named "Robo Discos") erupting into a full rainbow strobe."

Lenox worked closely with longtime friend and Rainbow Kitten Surprise Tour Director Mitchell Kenne of Boundless Productions to translate the designs into an optimized rig.

"We toured together for quite a few years. He's such a great designer to begin with and a great project manager as well," Kenne said. "Since Max's been on the road so much already, he knows what it takes to put on a show that can be easily toured depending on what venues we go into, especially with a band like RKS, we go to a lot of different sizes at all times and have to do a lot of scaling."

The two first crossed paths in 2018 on tour with Iceland-based band Kaleo, and by the time Kenne officially joined Rainbow Kitten Surprise's crew in 2019, collaboration between them came naturally.

"We spend a lot of time balancing creative goals with venue flexibility, truck space, budgets, and the realities of touring," Lenox said. "There's always a healthy amount of back-and-forth to make sure what looks great on paper is something the crew can efficiently build and maintain every day."

To streamline logistics, they designed the rig around Tyler Truss Lighting Ladders, creating a system built for easy transportation and adaptability to any venue footprint.

"The focus of the rig we have on this tour revolves around Tyler Ladder truss systems," Kenne said. "Half of them ride on Tyler Rolling Bases and the other half roll in on Tyler Carts. How we deploy them is that we have inverted motors that lift the upper parts of the ladders. We then drop those onto the ladders on the base, which makes a quick, efficient, and easy deployment."

Challenges across the tour were minimal, rarely amounting to more than tight venue logistics. Because Lenox and Kenne's plan accounted for space constraints, load-in and setup often wrapped within three hours.

"4Wall takes really good care of our gear," Kenne said. "If we ever run into issues, they're very on top of sending out replacements since there's always things that come up on the road. The amount of different products 4Wall carries is helpful to come up with different designs. They're a very resourceful company that allows us to do almost anything we want."

Lenox's unique dual role and well-established connection with the Rainbow Kitten Surprise team, combined with 4Wall's expansive and reliable resources, were instrumental in the rig's smooth execution throughout the tour.

From his years behind the console to his current role at 4Wall, Lenox credited his collaborators as essential to the success of the Bones Tour's visual spectacle.

"Huge credit goes to Austin Schneider, our lighting programmer, for somehow translating my endless tweaks, last minute ideas, and oddly specific requests into reality," Lenox concluded. "I'd also like to recognize Michelle Saintey, our Touring Lighting Director, who executes the show flawlessly night after night on the road. Elizabeth "Nugget" Weller has been an all-star lighting Crew Chief, and Whitney Wilson has been an awesome lighting technician. A special thanks to Matt King, another Project Manager at 4Wall Nashville, who has been a huge help assisting me with this project this year from the 4Wall side of things. A design is only as good as the people bringing it to life, and all of them have been instrumental in making this tour what it is."[GU1.1]

GEAR LIST
ACME Lighting Tornado
ACME Pixel Line
Rogue Outcast 2X Wash
Maverick Storm 2 Profile
Mega Lite M-Sphere
ROBE IFORTE Followspot
ClayPaky Ultimo Sharpy
Kabuki Solenoid - Chabuki
Chabuki Curtain Drop Solenoid

About 4Wall Entertainment

4Wall Entertainment is a full-service lighting, video, audio, and rigging company providing equipment rentals, production services, new and used sales, and permanent systems installations across the entertainment industry. With locations across the U.S. and U.K., 4Wall pairs a vast, meticulously maintained inventory with the technical expertise to support productions of any scale. For more information, visit www.4wall.com