For fifteen years, Lighting Designer Fenton Williams has been working with the same band. In the early days, the audience was smaller than the entourage that currently travels with this group. Now, Williams enjoys a steady gig with a popular band; so popular in fact, that he almost has to fight his way to the console to start the shows.
The band, of course, is the Dave Matthews Band, and Williams lights them with the help of his partners at Filament Productions. Williams recently came off the road and graciously agreed to talk about what it takes to create a production involving so many visual elements.
PLSN: Tell us about your latest design for the Dave Matthews Band. What inspired you, and how is this rig different from previous tours?
Fenton Williams: First, I should mention that I really design with a team consisting of several people: partners of mine from Filament Productions, Aaron Stinebrink, Jeff Crane and Mike Lane; and the team over at Tribe Design with Bruce Rodgers, Mai Sakai and Sean Dougall. The overall goal of this year’s set was to completely wrap the band in video and create a teepee-like effect. Another issue that we wanted to tackle was to make a complete visual experience for everyone from the wings to the top row of the lawn. The majority of our sheds have their own unique challenges. It’s important that we design a versatile set that can be modified on a daily basis.
I think to answer the question regarding what it was that inspired us, I would have to say each other. I think that as a team, we continually push each other to really try new things. We are constantly passing the design back and forth and manipulating it to our own likes and current industry trends. Then we continually upgrade it with new technology.
Video plays a huge part of your design. How long was your preproduction?
Three weeks.
How did the custom content get developed?
We have some custom footage, and we also will manipulate stock footage into things that will work for our show.
Which console are you using? Are you manually operating the show or is the show synched to timecode?
We — Aaron Stinebrink, the programmer and me — are using (MA Lighting) grandMAs to run the show. It is run manually; we have never used any timecode. It is just the nature of the show that we have to be able to run things on the fly. It is never the same set list, and we typically get the set list about a half hour before the show.
How long have you been with DMB?
I have been with them for around fifteen years. I started out as the tour manager and began to experiment with the lights during the shows.
Is the group involved in the design process at all?
The band is typically not so entrenched in the design. They know that the team we have together does everything possible to make sure the design represents them well. They also have a certain comfort level with me, as I know the music extremely well and can effectively highlight each mem-ber throughout the night.
How many people are on the lighting and video crews?
Six video and seven lighting.
How long did the last tour run?
Aug. 1 through Oct. 2 — mainly amphitheatres. The two largest shows on the tour were Piedmont Park in Atlanta (55,000+) and Lane Stadium at Virginia Tech (45,000+).
Are you the LD and the video director too? I know you work with a team, but who comes up with the concepts for the video content?
Mike Lane is the video director. I will choose the b-roll, what I feel works with each song during rehearsals. Of course I get the input of all my partners at Filament who are in rehearsals with me. They will let me know if they think it works or not.
How do you pass the design back and forth among your team? Do you use lighting design software? And does the initial design include video ele-ments or only sets and lighting?
We use VectorWorks, and we have used WYSIWYG in the past, although we did not use it for this tour. We pass it back in forth by uploading it to a server; each individual downloads it and makes revisions. After all revisions, Mai and Sean at Tribe will redraw the finals. The initial design does include video fairly quickly. We start with a lighting design and other elements are added quickly.
What are some of your favorite moments in the show and why?
I would say there are three. The first note is always very exciting. You can really feel the energy of the crowd and appreciate the opportunity each night to be an influential part of such a large production. Being with these guys so long, I remember when our current traveling road crew (70+) was larger than the first year or so of shows. It’s a lot longer walk to the board these days, because I have to fight through all the excited fans ready to get the night started.
When we go into phase two of the show and turn the video walls on — that’s equally exciting. Depending upon the set list, the point where the video comes in changes on a nightly basis. So it is exciting to see how it is going to work with different songs. When we use all b-roll video for a song called “Eh Hee,” it’s special (because) I had an opportunity to direct, and my company, Filament, produced the music video for this song.
For more information about William’s other projects including “Dave & Tim: Live at Radio City” for which he directed the lighting and video and designed the set, visit www.filamentprod.com.
