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Carlos Katsurayama pushes envelope on Djo tour with Chauvet

Fans who filled venues for the sold-out shows on Djo’s fall “Another Bite” tour, which concluded October 20, 2025, at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, might be forgiven if they did a double take at the start of the music interlude song “Listen”. After all, it isn’t every day that you see a stage split in two - one side a vivid amber tone, the other stark black-and-white.

The color divide was one of many original flourishes that Carlos Katsurayama had up his sleeve when lighting this 12-city run (a sequel to the successful summer tour) by psychedelic rocker Djo. A multi-talented creative, Djo pushes the boundaries of reality in his music, to open minds to new possibilities. Katsurayama mirrored this ambition in his lightshow for the fall tour, which for many shows drew on 137 Chauvet Professional fixtures supplied by Colour Sound Experiment.

“This show was challenging to execute because we wanted to take a less conventional approach to lighting”, Katsurayama says of his design. “Our goal was to make bold, sometimes ‘weird’ choices that captured the music’s dynamics as accurately as possible - whether that meant visually matching the sound’s intensity, or creating moments of chaos by introducing light in unsettling, unexpected ways.”

Dark space played a huge role in that vision. “We used dark space to create depth and transport the audience into different worlds - like the icy, cold atmosphere of ‘Egg’ or the psychedelic walls of light - sometimes split colors -- in ‘Listen’”, explains Katsurayama. “It wasn’t easy breaking those walls of light into a more theatrical space, but in the end, I think we achieved it beautifully.”

“Awake” was a particularly fun song to light, notes Katsurayama, who says: “It starts with soft vocals and gentle acoustic guitar, carrying a delicate intimacy throughout most of the track. To match this, we lit Djo from selective positions in red, revealing as little as possible and keeping the stage feeling close and personal. Then, we’d blackout briefly before hitting the full band breakdown with powerful white flashes - something that seemed to get the crowd excited every single night.”

For the west coast segment of the tour, Katsurayama used 45 Maverick Storm 1 Flex fixtures, 26 Rogue R2 Washes and 24 Strike 1 units and 29 Colorado PXL Bar 16 motorized battens. Flown on center stage and upstage truss, the Mavericks were used to down light the artist. Using the wide zoom range of these fixtures, Katsurayama varied coverage areas to create different looks on stage. The Maverick units also joined with the Rogue washes to bathe the stage in vivid mood setting colors.

The Strike units delivered intense side lighting from a variety of angles, often selected to create unusual looks. Arranged along the stage deck and on the drum risers, the Colorado battens added an ethereal level to the show with their deck lighting. The amber tones of these battens combined with very low intensity output from the Strike units created a transformative mood when Katsurayama turned most of the stage into a sea of dark space and shadows.

Looking back on the tour, Katsurayama thanks his L2, Colton Sellers, for his work as well as giving a special shout out to Jake Hershland and Joe Keery for pushing him out of his comfort zone and helping him “find beauty in imperfection”.

(Photos: Chauvet Professional/Caity Krone Photography)

www.chauvetprofessional.com

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