The popularity of the band Green Day has afforded the trio the opportunity to headline and establish high production values. A major part of the production for their 21st Century Breakdown tour is the video element, most of which is controlled by lighting director Kevin Cauley. The other Collie on the tour is lighting designer Justin Collie of Artfag. This is what they had to say about the tour. Justin Collie, lighting/video designer (Artfag, LLC)
“Going into designing the band’s current tour, we wanted the usual nod to a traditional ‘bang and flash’ type lighting show but with the most up-to-date fixtures available, hence the ‘BB Fag.’ This was a fixture we designed specifically for this show; two BB4 strips mounted either side of a (Martin) Atomic 3K strobe with color changer. The fixture looks like an 8-lite molefay with a strobe in the middle of it, but one has individual control of both color and dimmer for each of the eight lights. It’s a very fun and powerful tool.
“The projection was always an element, along with the LED cityscape. We wanted to have both elements working together as a kind of juxtaposition of the two, and it worked quite well once we got the brightness levels together.
“For the shows’ video element we have Rob McShane as video director, an old friend of Artfag, and the gear was supplied by Chaos Visual Productions, a new company owned by long-time collaborator John Wiseman.
“Epic Production Technologies were instrumental in the development of this design, helping us to prove the concept to the band well before the tour started. I can’t say enough about Ted Fowler and Kevin Forster both as vendor and support system on this one.
”Green Day has always been a favorite client, the energy they put out and the show they put on inspires everything we do and almost makes it easy to produce a show we are proud of. The support we get from their camp from the likes of (production manager) Greg Dean and (stage manager) Brian Koontz, Micha Chong, Kenny Butler, (back line) Bill Schneider (tour coordinater), the sound department, right through to the management and band is unmatched, and we thank them all profusely.
“The lighting crew, led by Kevin Tyler, is brilliant. And Kevin Cauley is awesome, but he can tell you that himself! And the food was great, too!”
Kevin Cauley, lighting director
“Prior to the departure of the world tour, I was brought on board for a one-off at the Fox Theater in Oakland (the bands’ hometown). The band decided to play the 21st Century Breakdown album cover-to-cover.
“By the time we got to programming the arena rig, Justin had already defined much of the show. At the beginning I started pre-programming with an (MA Lighting) grandMA and a previz system from Tom Thompson at Prelite. Epic Production Technologies hung the Fox rig and the arena rig in the shop, so I was able to show up onsite fully prepared.
“The (i-Pix) BB4 strips are a big part of the overall look of the show, I was able to pixel-map the units and got some very dynamic looks. We also used a Quartz FX server with a live video input that generated unique video effects.
“Video director Rob McShane is a longtime colleague. I have done a great deal of video programming and have a history of looking after servers and interfacing with cameras, LED displays and projectors, so I talk their language. One unique aspect of this project was configuring Rob’s grandMA to operate in a manner that suited an established video director.
“We have two primary V1 grandMAs with backups in a ‘multiuser session;’ one is for lights and video, the other is programmed as a video switcher. Lighting and video content, effects, and routing are all programmed to my cue list. I am even loading song-specific effects to the faders on the video director’s desk. The only thing I don’t control is camera cuts and an occasional effect. Video control is run through an ArtNet-controlled (Barco) Encore system with multiple servers, camera inputs, a router, and a Quartz effect engine entirely provided by Control Freak Systems.
“The band is a blast to work with. They’ll stray from the set list for a bit mid-show so I keep a punt page ready at all times. Everyone in this camp, the band, production, lights, video, sound, carps, rigging and even catering bring their ‘A’ game every day. It’s a pleasure to work alongside them all. The lighting guys Kevin Tyler, Bob Slayton, Moss Everhard, Jerry Smith, Ryan Middlemiss and Neil Johnson deserve special thanks for making my job easy.
“Seriously, I have the best job ever! Back in 2002 I was Green Day’s dimmer guy so it’s somewhat of a reunion for me. I’ve worked with many of the people involved for a lot of years. Everyone who’s seen this band live knows how extraordinary the experience is for the audience. I think Justin did an incredible job making sure the show cues were clever and interesting but never broke the audience connection or upstaged the band.”
CREW
Production Company: Performance Environment Design by Justin Collie (Artfag LLC)
Lighting/Video Designer: Justin Collie
Lighting/Show Director: Kevin Cauley
Lighting Crew Chief: Kevin Tyler
Lighting Techs: Moss Everhard, Ryan Middlemiss, Bob Slayton, Neil Johnson
Production Electrician: Jerry Smith
Video Director: Rob McShane
Video Crew Chief/Lead LED : Chad McClymonds
2nd LED/Utility: Rusty Wingfield
Video Projectionist/Utility: Alex Castaneda
2nd LED/Utility: Chad McClymonds
Production Manager: Greg Dean
Lighting Company: Epic Production Technologies
Video Company: Chaos Visual Productions
Set Elements: Accurate Staging
Stage Drapery: Sew What? Inc. (Megan Duckett)
Pyro Company: Pyrotek Special Effects
GEAR
Lighting Consoles: 2 MA Lighting grandMA Series 1
37 Martin MAC IIIs
30 Vari-Lite VL 3500 Wash fixtures
7 Vari-Lite VL 1000s
12 iPix BB4s
39 LED “Fag Pods”
14 Philips/Color Kinetics RGB Color Reach LED fixtures
6 Lycian M2 followspots
5 Syncrolite MX 3000s
279 tiles of Winvision 18.75mm LED display
4 Barco FLM 20K video projectors
1 Sony Handheld DF-50 video camera
3 Sony robo cams
