Lionel Richie recently completed his latest residency at The Wynn’s Encore Theater, where Crossfade Design created a dynamic screen surround for the stage with 48 ultra-compact, laser-source Ayrton Kyalami fixtures. ACT Entertainment is the exclusive distributor of Ayrton lighting in North America.
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Ritchie, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer with an array of GRAMMY, Golden Globe, and Academy Award wins, plays several two-week runs annually in his Wynn residencies, a schedule which will continue in 2026. Eric Wade, one of the partners and a senior designer with Crossfade Design, has had a two-decade relationship with Richie and served as the lighting designer for his Wynn 2025 residency, partnering with Richie’s creative director Brian Burke to deliver the production.
For this year’s “Lionel Richie—King of Hearts” show, Wade redesigned the 40-foot LED video wall that acted as a backdrop for the singer. “We got rid of the overhead truss, and, with a U-shaped truss and floor package, we surrounded the screen with Kyalami fixtures for a huge look, bigger than he had before,” Wade explained. The LED video wall played custom mixed media, IMAG and VFX content created by Burke.
Crossfade Design, with offices in Garland, TX, and New Albany, IN, has a large inventory of Ayrton fixtures, including Kyalami, NandoBeam S9s, Veloces and Mambas. “My standard design package for Lionel goes all out with Ayrton,” says Wade. “Aaron Hubbard at ACT Entertainment showed me the Kyalami a while ago, and they were exactly what we were looking for. We have 120 of them in a permanent installation for the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Rocket Arena. We bought another 60 for our rental inventory this spring and have been keeping them busy, including using them on a circle truss for Janet Jackson. Their look is so intense and coloring outstanding with deeply saturated colors.”
One of Kyalami’s features that Wade particularly enjoys is that “the movement keeps within its enclosure, so you can place the fixtures close together and they don’t run into each other. I had some the other day placed about half an inch apart and they worked just fine—that’s very cool.”
Wade also likes “how well integrated zactrack and Ayrton are: The Kyalami’ 360-degree pan and tilt means you don’t have to flip the lights when you’re following a performer. I hope to do a 36-city tour next summer with Lionel and Earth, Wind & Fire and think zactrack would be perfect for that show since Lionel moves around a lot on stage. I expect to use a whole bunch of Kyalami fixtures, too.”
Wade also deployed Crossfade Design’s MA Lighting grandMA3 consoles for The Wynn residency. “Sam Brown and Brandon Wade (systems tech) spent three to four weeks reprogramming the show on MA3 software using three of our grandMA3 full-size consoles in our studio in Dallas,” Wade explained. “They did an outstanding job and gave us more bang for the buck with MA3 software. At The Wynn, we had two full-size systems and four NPU processing unit Ls for lighting control, plus a grandMA3 light on stage as a tech desk.”
“ACT has always been 100% supportive of every project we do,” noted Wade. “They’re part of the team, making sure we have everything we need. Their support and service is unlike anybody else’s.”