Set against the breathtaking backdrop of Montana’s Rocky Mountains, Music in the Mountains brings live music and community together every summer in Big Sky. For the 2026 season, local production company Jereco deployed an almost exclusively ADJ lighting rig to provide a versatile, high-impact house system capable of supporting a diverse lineup of regional and touring artists throughout the summer.
Held every Thursday at Len Hill Park in the heart of Big Sky Town Center, Music in the Mountains is a free, family-friendly concert series that has become a popular fixture in the local community. With a different artist lineup each week, the event requires a lighting system that can deliver everything from subtle, atmospheric looks to high-energy concert effects, while also withstanding the demands of an outdoor summer production.
Jereco has been responsible for the technical production of Music in the Mountains since the event was launched more than a decade ago. For the 2026 season, Head of Lighting Jesse Emby and Stage Designer Brady Cool selected a rig almost exclusively comprised of ADJ fixtures to form the event’s house lighting system, which remains installed on the stage throughout the summer.
At the heart of the design were 16 of ADJ’s Hydro Beam CMY automated beam luminaires, a recent addition to Jereco’s inventory. The fixtures were split between two prominent mid-stage trusses, each flown at an angle to create a distinctive V-shaped structure above the stage.
Offering power, precision and reliability, the Hydro Beam CMY is an IP65-rated moving head beam designed for demanding indoor and outdoor applications. Powered by an OSRAM Sirius HRI 310W PRO discharge lamp combined with precision-engineered optics, it produces a razor-sharp 2-degree beam. Its extensive feature set includes CMY color mixing, 17 static GOBOs, two rotating prisms, a frost filter and integrated Aria X2 wireless DMX control and remote fixture management.
“The Hydro Beam CMY is a fantastic beam fixture,” comments Brady, “it outperforms our previous beam fixture in every way and its intensity really is phenomenal. I particularly like the multicolour effect – which works very well when combined with one of the prism options – and the frost filter is fantastic. It allowed me to generate a nice, soft back wash effect at Music in the Mountains that was perfect for more laid-back moments. The build quality is also very good, they've been in pretty harsh conditions all summer and we’ve not had a single problem. In fact, the only compliant we’ve had is that the stage could get quite warm with sixteen of those fixtures mounted so close to the performers!”
“We’ve been very pleased with our investment in the Hydro Beam CMYs so far,” adds Jesse. “They’re bright, punchy, but not crazy heavy on power and are just all-round great fixtures to work with. We’ve got some good designs going for shows coming up in the fall and we’re excited to let them loose on some bigger stages!”
For performer illumination, eight ADJ Encore LP12Z IP LED-powered zoom pars were rigged to the downstage truss. Featuring an IP65-rated housing and motorized zoom, the fixture provides a variable beam angle from 5 to 30 degrees. Its twelve 20W RGBL color mixing LEDs provide a broad palette, while tunable white color temperature control from 2700K to 6500K allows the fixtures to deliver natural-looking white light when required.
The two mid-stage trusses were each lined with five Jolt Panel FX fixtures, adding a dynamic layer of visual effects to the design. Combining intensely bright white strobe LEDs with zone-controlled RGB LEDs, the fixtures provided the lighting team with an extensive range of options for creating eye-catching looks, from high-impact strobe hits and animated chase patterns to colorful background effects. Eight of the similar but linear Jolt Bar FXIP fixtures were mounted to the front of the downstage truss, providing a complementary source of strobe and color effects while also adding visual definition to the front edge of the stage.
“The Jolt Series was our stepping stone into the ADJ product line,” comments Jesse. “We bought our first panels around five years ago and they’ve been really amazing. They’re bright, punchy and fast. Whenever a guest LD comes in, they always find them easy to work with and almost always comment on how bright they are. We’ve only ever had one go down, which is pretty good going for the amount of use we’ve got out of them. They’ve been killer for us, and gave us the confidence to expand into other areas of the ADJ range.”
Interspersed with the Jolt Panel FX units were Encore DBX twin-cell blinders, providing an additional layer of impact and versatility to the rig. This IP65-rated fixture combines two powerful 150W RGBAW LED cells with secondary RGB color mixing LEDs integrated into the fixture’s textured rear reflector. This allows it to function not only as a high-output audience blinder, but also as a source of colorful background glow. Independent dimming, color mixing and strobing of each main cell provides further creative flexibility, while variable white color temperature control from 2700K to 6500K and a Tungsten Control Mode allow both contemporary and traditional blinder looks.
“We’ve had the Encore DBX blinders in our inventory for around six months and they are fabulous,” comments Brady. “I’ve used them on 98% of the shows we’ve done since then, because they’re just so unique and fun to work with. I love the color mixing on the main blinder cells, as well as the background color which means you can use them all the time and not just for impactful moments. They are really nice, versatile fixtures that I love working with. Every rig needs a blinder, but the Encore DBX gives you that extra level of creativity.”
Together, the ADJ fixtures provide Jereco with a flexible house rig that could adapt to the contrasting requirements of each week’s performance. The combination of powerful automated beams, versatile LED washes, pixel-controlled effects and full-color blinders allowed the production team to build looks ranging from subtle washes and atmospheric backlighting to energetic aerial effects and high-impact audience moments.
For an outdoor concert series that runs throughout the summer, reliability is equally important as creative flexibility. With the majority of the system designed for outdoor use, the ADJ fixtures provided Jereco with the ruggedness required to remain installed on the stage throughout the season while delivering consistent performance for every show.
With its combination of creative flexibility, powerful output and weather-resistant construction, the ADJ-based rig helped Jereco ensure that every Thursday night at Music in the Mountains 2026 delivered a distinctive visual experience – complementing the diverse musical lineup while making the most of the spectacular Big Sky setting.
Event
Music in the Mountains
Band Pictured
Pinky and the Floyd
Production Company
Jereco
www.jereco.com
Head of Lighting / LD
Jesse Emby
Stage Design / LD
Brady Cool
ADJ Gear List
16 x Hydro Beam CMY
10 x Jolt Panel FX
8 x Jolt Bar FXIP
8 x Encore LP12Z IP
4 x Encore DBX
