The Eastern, Atlanta

The Opportunity

The Eastern is a 37,000 square-foot performance venue with a multi-tier, 2,300-person capacity main stage as well as a rooftop performance area. An inaugural show featuring hometown legend Big Boi will take place on September 1. Being Zero Mile Presents’ largest venue to date and first co-operation with AEG Presents, The Eastern required a lighting rig that was visually striking but also cost-effective and adaptable to any genre or event.

The Solution

After many trials and A/B tests with numerous brands, Music Matters Productions (MMP) built the Eastern a rig featuring Martin ERA, MAC and RUSH Series lighting fixtures.

For the indoor stage, the lighting rig includes several Martin ERA 800 Profile and ERA 600 Performance fixtures. Featuring ultra-bright LED engines, full CMY color mixing and 1:8 zoom within a light and compact design, the ERA 800s offer precise framing and striking profile beams upstage and midstage, while the ERA 600s spotlight performers downstage. MMP noted that the ERAs’ clarity and brightness easily stood out compared to lamp-based fixtures in the running, making them a natural choice for the Eastern’s lighting rig.

Additionally, MMP installed 22 Martin MAC Aura PXL multi-source wash lights throughout the main stage’s rig. Set to Extended Mode, each MAC Aura offers control and mapping down to a single pixel across 89 DMX channels, allowing for bold colors and intense washes. Rounded out by six Martin RUSH static LED audience blinders located downstage, the resulting rig is an immersive and visually stunning showcase of some of the most impressive lighting technology on the market today.

On the rooftop, the 250-capacity outdoor bar features a stage equipped with 12 Martin RUSH PAR 2 static LED washes with 10-60º zoom control and 33 color presets, providing a small but dynamic fixture well-suited for lively outdoor performances. All Martin systems installed at the venue are compatible with Martin’s P3 control platform, which MMP hopes to install in the coming months to maximize flexibility and creative programming within a user-friendly software interface. MMP also intends to add Martin VDO Sceptron 10 and Fatron 20 LED video panels to the main stage to further elevate the visual possibilities during live shows.

The Impact

“The request from Zero Mile was to make it adaptable, but also visually stunning without the need to sub rent additional lighting fixtures,” said Nauman Lalani, Director of Special Projects, Music Matters Productions. “When we started the process, there was a lot of internal debate over which lighting fixtures to go with. It got to the point where we started joking about doing a lighting shootout because we own a lot of these fixtures already, and eventually we said, ‘That’s actually not a bad idea.’ We put fixtures from different manufacturers side by side and Martin came out on top with the best combination of pricing and quality.”

“We saw the full rig turn on for the first time recently; it was visually a sight to see with your own eyes,” said Lalani. “Martin has been a brand that we have trusted and kept in our inventory since the inception of Music Matters. We work with these fixtures all the time and think that they are an optimal fit in this venue.”