Music, Lights and Video, in Four Acts
Carrie Underwood tour-goers would not be blamed for mistaking this concert for the kind that is associated with a pop diva, as opposed to a country artist who first sang her way into American hearts on a TV show just a few years ago.
It's big. It's bold. And, from a technical standpoint, it's complicated.
At the center of the stage, there's a hydraulic system and what one reviewer called "space-age lighting design." A full-size pickup truck flies over the heads of the audience. Then it all gets stripped down for the intimate moments, like the number, "Mama's Song," when Underwood sits at the piano and plays in what suddenly seems like a quiet, intimate lounge.
And then there's the video – tons of it. Through video, the set is transformed from Las Vegas to an old warehouse, a carnival and a stream in the woods.
"From my experience, this show is very video-intensive," says video director Jason Varner, who has also worked with Underwood for her Carnival Ride Tour. "We have nine displays comprised of roughly 2,100 square-feet of projection screen, an automated two piece cylindrical LED wall and an LED dress."
The world tour was launched in Reading, Penn. The show is set up as a four-act arc, complemented with an intro and an encore. "Just a Dream" was sung from her perch in a rope swing hanging from a branch. And, two acts later, there was "I Told You So," a duet with a virtual Randy Travis.
"When we put the Randy track on the I-Mag screens," Varner said, "everyone in the audience starts looking around for Randy. It takes them a moment to get the gag. That wouldn't be possible without seamless execution of it, which we're proud of."
So it fell to lighting designer Bud Horowitz to light the star and the band without taking away from the video. It's his first adventure with Underwood, and it started with a phone call from director/producer/video content provider Raj Kapoor, with whom he'd worked on DVD shoots and corporate events. Kapoor asked Horowitz if he would join as lighting designer.
"My first response was, ‘Is that a real question?' My second was, ‘What do you think my answer is going to be?'" Horowitz laughs.
A Single Musical Journey
Horowitz graduated with a degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara and spent about a year working in theatre. "Then I realized that it wasn't as easy as I thought to make a living doing theatre," he quips. In 1978, he went to work for Jim Moody's Sundance Lighting and became an independent contractor in 1982. He lit Natalie Cole during her Unforgettable period, Stevie Wonder for five years, several Bette Midler tours and Yanni, on and off, since 1997.
When Horowitz was brought into the Underwood camp, Kapoor had already been working with production designer Michael Cotten. Cotten has an illustrious history in the industry. He designed the recent This is It tour for Michael Jackson before the artist's untimely death, and, going back a bit farther, he was keyboardist for the Tubes. "He's a very talented artist and designer, and he's very painterly in the way he looks at colors. He's able to translate emotions [visually]," said Horowitz.
Kapoor's vision was to build the show around the video content, the vast majority of which he created with video director Mark Allen. "Every piece of music has a specific piece of video to go with it," Horowitz says. "And the songs are grouped in acts, each having its own look and feel. Raj makes it all a single musical journey."
"There's no generic media server content," Varner added. "Every piece was custom-created specifically for the show."
For Horowitz, there were pluses and minuses to being brought in when most of the design work was done. "The advantage is, what I was handed was a given, so it's great I don't have to deal with that aspect. On the other hand, at a certain point, naturally, you think you would have liked to have seen this or that – but overall, the show was so strong. They structured a big show that could also be intimate. It gave me the opportunity to emphasize and expand on what they created."
In addition to the video pieces really needing to pop, there would be lots of I-Mag, and, of course, Underwood needed to be lit exceptionally well all the time. "All of that, and the physical structure of the set, dictated what I needed to do," Horowitz says. Because of the trim heights of the 46-foot truss arch, there were just a few fixtures that had the power to cut through.
"I ended up using Vari-Lite 3000 Spots and Vari-Lite 3500 Wash fixtures, then six Vari-Lite 3500 Spots for the shuttering. I was very happy with all the VL fixtures," Horowitz added. He turned to an MA Lighting grandMA console to drive it all. "We needed to use their full-size board because of its ability to deal with large systems."
Lighting the artist, the band and the big set pieces without getting in the way of the video got more challenging when the creative team went with traditional projection technology instead of LED for the big screens. "These main screens needed to be 13 feet by 30 feet, and using LED screens with the kind of resolution we needed would have been expensive, heavy and just not practical. And this show is a challenge daily because of how high everything is – it's a very vertical show."
Horowitz was conscious of the bounce from followspots that was inevitable in so many different venues, not all of which were A arenas, but B and C spaces too. But his design kept the light on Underwood and the bounce to a minimum, making for broadcast-quality video every night.
"The heart of the video system is a Medialon Manager v5 show controller," says Varner. "Via timecode, it triggers up to six channels, two HD and four SD of playback during the show. We do all our own mapping with a pair of Barco Encores and HD and SD Doremis handle playback duties. The signals go out to eight Barco R-20s, four Barco R-10s, two Vidicon V-Lite walls and the LED dress." Projectionist Brian Bateman has the Herculean task of photon management and handled his duties with aplomb. "Everything works well together," Varner adds.
The colors were kept simple, as Horowitz doesn't like to use more than three per song, otherwise "it starts getting muddy."
The band risers all move, but not on tracks. They were custom-built by Show Group Production Services (SGPS). Kyle Wolfson of SGPS controls them, as well as the flying pickup truck, Austrian drapes, all of the downstage elevators, the flying circular video wall and the winches on the tree branch and rope swing.
No Secrets
The pressure of putting together a show like this was eased by Kapoor, who was supportive and always getting Horowitz roughs of the video pieces early on, and also by Bandit Lites' Nashville office, which supplied the lighting. "They got us a studio where we could sit there for a week with a grandMA 3D for programming and built the vast amount of focuses before putting the console up to the rig," Horowitz says. "I've never done a tour with Bandit before, so naturally I was a little concerned. But they took good care of us." He adds that key to his success during this period was his programmer, Demfis Fyssicopulos.
From there, a week in Mobile, Ala., rehearsing with the full rig in the air allowed him to work out kinks in real time. Then there were three days of load-in at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Penn.
"There are a lot of special effects," Horowitz explains. "Because of the complexity of the show, there are about 106 rigging points on a daily basis, and it all has to be very precise because of where the projection screens have to live and where the upstage truss towers have to go. The rigging points are critical, and many can't be off by more than six inches."
Another benefit was how this tour was organized. "There weren't any surprises – musical, or in terms of effects. We knew everything early on," Horowitz says. "Raj and Michael were both very good at conveying information and talking everybody through everything. There weren't any secrets like there are on some tours!" he laughs. There was no ‘Oh, I didn't know you needed to know that' here. I always want to be told everything by everybody, and then I'll decide what I don't need to know!"
From paper to reality, there were few changes. A few small pieces of gear were placed under the side thrust, some fog was added, as well as some Philips Color Kinetics iColor Accents under the band riser. But that was about it.
"There have been some programming changes," Horowitz said. "Timings were adjusted, but we didn't make any changes in color or major stuff.
"The crew is unbelievable – the best work ethic I've ever seen," Horowitz adds. "The guys on the crew worked very hard. I stayed out for a couple of the shows and they were working silly amounts of hours." It's all paying off as it looks like it's becoming not only one of Underwood's most successful tours, but one of the most successful ones of the summer.
CREW
Stage Manager: Lenny Rogers
Lighting Director: Brian Jenkins
Video Director: Jason Varner
Head Rigger: Brian Woodrell
Rigger: Ricky Baiotto
Lighting Crew Chief: Billy Willingham
Lighting Techs: Sam Morgan, Erich Hudgens
Video: John Moore, Brian Bateman, Rick Trimmer and Will Stinson
Programmer: Demfis Fyssicopulos
Lighting Designer: Bud Horowitz
Projectionist: Brian Bateman
Show Director: Raj Kapoor
Video Designer: Mark Allen
Production Designer: Michael Cotten
Automation Operator: Kyle Wolfson, SGPS
GEAR
9 Martin MAC III Profiles
43 Vari*Lite VL3500 Wash fixtures
42 Vari*Lite VL3000 Spots
6 Vari-Lite VL3500 Spots
36 PixelRange 4' PixelLine 1044 LED strips
80 Bandit D PAR 3-36 LED PARs
2 2.5 kW HMI Fresnel w/ DMX Douser
16 Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12s
6 Elation Impressions
4 Reel EFX DF-50 hazers
2 Martin ZR-33 smoke machines
2 Lycian M2 followspots
2 LeMaitre LSG low smoke generators
8 PAR 64 ACLs
24 Philips Color Kinetics 48" iColor Accents
2 MA Lighting grandMA full size consoles
