Bands
Bands & Artists Illuminated by the Electric Collage Visual Music Show
Electric Collage created the full-scale, analog visual-music light shows for the main stages of three landmark festivals:
- Atlanta Pop Festival (1969)
- Dallas International Pop Festival (1969)
- Atlanta Pop Festival (1970)
Below is a curated list of the artists whose performances unfolded under Electric Collage’s live, hand-mixed visuals.
🎸 Atlanta Pop Festival — 1969
- Led Zeppelin
- Janis Joplin
- Joe Cocker
- Ten Years After
- Sweetwater
- Blood, Sweat & Tears
- Chicago Transit Authority (Chicago)
- Canned Heat
- Spirit
- The Staple Singers
- Al Kooper
- Poco
- Dave Brubeck
- The Chambers Brothers
- Booker T. & the M.G.’s
- The Bar-Kays
- Creedence Clearwater Revival
🤘 Dallas International Pop Festival — 1969
- The Allman Brothers Band
- Led Zeppelin
- Janis Joplin
- Santana
- Sly & The Family Stone
- Johnny Winter
- Spirit
- Canned Heat
- Chicago
- The Chambers Brothers
- Delaney & Bonnie
- B.B. King
- Taj Mahal
🔥 Atlanta Pop Festival — 1970
- The Allman Brothers Band (legendary midnight sets)
- Jimi Hendrix (July 4th midnight set with Star Spangled Banner and fireworks— one of his last iconic performances. His largest audience ever.)
- Grand Funk Railroad
- Procol Harum
- Spirit
- Lee Michaels
- Mountain
- Fleetwood Mac
- Ten Years After
- Rare Earth
- Chambers Brothers
- Captain Beefheart
- Hampton Grease Band
- Richie Havens
- B.B. King
- Johnny Winter
Electric Collage didn’t just “run lights” — they created visual environments that became part of these legendary performances.
This was the era when concerts turned into experiences, and the Electric Collage visuals helped define the nighttime identity of these festivals.
No side stages. No free tents.
Just full-power visual music behind some of the greatest artists of the era.
Electric Collage provided visuals for many Auditorium shows, especially late-1969 into early-1970 when touring rock bands were routed through Atlanta between festivals.
Atlanta Municipal Auditorium: The Indoor Stage Where Visual Music Came Alive
Before LED walls and digital screens took over, the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium became a hotspot for touring rock bands — and Electric Collage brought the same handcrafted visual-music energy they used at the Pop Festivals to this historic indoor venue.
These weren’t small shows. They were packed, high-volume, arena-level concerts, and the Auditorium’s large stage gave Electric Collage room to run full-scale projection rigs, liquid visuals, film loops, and multi-projector stacks.
Below is a list of major acts known to have played the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium during the period Electric Collage was active — including shows where Electric Collage provided the live visual-music light show.
Santana
Electric Collage worked visuals for a high-energy Santana show featuring extended jams, percussion breaks, and long improvisations — perfect for liquid color and multi-layer projection effects.
Steppenwolf
A major tour stop. Electric Collage provided visuals for their Atlanta Municipal Auditorium performance, amplifying songs like “Born to Be Wild” with layered projection washes and high-contrast strobes.
Grand Funk Railroad
Loud, packed, and visually intense — Electric Collage’s analog projections added movement and color to Grand Funk’s famously high-powered sets.
Spirit
A recurring connection between Spirit and Electric Collage. They performed together at multiple festivals and Auditorium shows.
Canned Heat
Electric Collage supported Canned Heat at the Auditorium, bringing swirling oil visuals to their blues-rock marathon solos.
The Chambers Brothers
Their long-form psychedelic soul tracks synced perfectly with Electric Collage’s liquid-light style.
Iron Butterfly
A classic psychedelic hard-rock act — heavy organ, long buildups, and thunderous drums paired beautifully with multi-projector color fields.
⭐ Why These Shows Matter
The Atlanta Municipal Auditorium wasn’t just a concert hall — it became the indoor home base where Electric Collage perfected the techniques they later unleashed at the massive Atlanta and Dallas Pop Festivals.
- Full projection rigs
- Large screen surfaces
- Height for multi-layer effects
- Controlled lighting (better than outdoor festivals)
It was a natural fit for Electric Collage’s evolving visual music style.
Another concert worth mentioning is the Byrds at Emory University Methodist Church.
Steve says " This was a fantastic event. A cozy medium size church with Emory Students. Luckly the walls were stark white for our imagery and we got to set up in the balcony." It' don't get much better for a concert." Unforgetatable.
Producing: Turning Sound Into Light
Electric Collage didn’t “run a light show.” They produced a visual performance as alive as the band itself. Every show was physical, improvised, and wild—layering liquids, film loops, lens distortions, strobes, and hand-controlled color to create visuals that felt like the music looked.
Unlike most light shows of the era, Electric Collage produced visuals for the main festival stages. Atlanta Pop ’69. Dallas ’69. Atlanta Pop ’70. When 300,000+ fans watched bands tear into their sets, Electric Collage blew open the night with evolving, hand-mixed imagery.
Production wasn’t automation—it was art. Two or three operators performed behind the projectors like musicians, responding to solos, drum breaks, and crowd energy. Every moment was unique. Unrepeatable. Unfiltered.
Today, the term is “immersive media.” Back then, it was simply Electric Collage.
A Legacy Written in Light
Electric Collage began during a cultural shift—when music broke boundaries, crowds exploded, and festivals became temporary cities. Visuals needed to evolve too, and Electric Collage stepped into that gap with a brand-new idea: visual music.
From 1968 onward, the team experimented with analog projection techniques that hadn’t even been imagined in commercial entertainment. Liquid projections. Multiple stacked projectors. Chemical reactions as art. Modified Kodak Carousel rigs. Custom-built lenses.
By 1969 they were headlining the South’s biggest festivals—not as performers, but as the force transforming nighttime concerts into psychedelic, cinematic experiences.
Electric Collage worked the stages of:
- Atlanta Pop Festival I – 1969
- Dallas International Pop Festival – 1969
- Atlanta Pop Festival II – 1970
No side stages. No free tents. Only the main events.
What they created became a blueprint for modern VJ culture, immersive installations, and even today’s concert LED design. Before technology caught up, Electric Collage was already doing it—by hand.
The Tools: Analog Magic, Zero Presets
Digital visual effects are easy. What Electric Collage did was not.
Their “gear” wasn’t gear—it was a chemistry lab, photography studio, projection workshop, and performance cockpit all in one.
Core Tools
- Modified 16mm film loops
- Liquid projection plates (oil, dye, alcohol, heat-reaction mixes)
- Multi-layered transparency wheels
- Hand-built lenses & prisms
- Rotating color wheels
- Distortion mirrors
- Strobe arrays
- High-intensity xenon projectors
- Slide stacks activated manually, foot-triggered, or sequenced by rhythm
Every effect was real. Every color had a physical source. Every distortion involved glass, heat, liquid, or movement.
No computers. No automation. No “undo” button.
Just creativity + physics + music.