When I was a young man, I toured with the Talking Heads. They were a "new wave" band with a big following and a light show that was out of the ordinary. The show consisted of all white light – no gels, except for one song where the rear cyc turned red, and all tungsten fixtures except for one HMI 2.5k fixture we used once. Wherever we went, there was always some older stagehand who would question what we were doing at the time and then remark, "Well, I guess we just did it differently in my day." "That Old Guy"
Now it's 30 years later and I am starting to wonder if I am that old guy questioning how shows are lit today. Don't get me wrong; I have embraced all the latest technology. I use lots of LED products, video elements, and the latest trends in technology. My car radio is still tuned to the alternative music stations as well as mainstream, hip-hop, and country channels. I still light my shows according to genre. I don't need strobes on a gospel tour anymore than I need PARs on a large-scale rock tour. But in the last week I have noticed some strange lighting practices and I feel they are wrong for the act I am lighting this month. Let me explain.
Making the Rounds
I am in the midst of what is called a promo tour. My artist has released a new single and is making the rounds playing every TV show he can book. I am hired to go to each of these events and work with the local LD who either runs the studio lighting or has been hired for a particular event. For most of these shows, my band is playing just one song, and I have about five cues that need to be executed. It's quite simple on most occasions. In fact, I know almost every house designer from these shows, as our paths have crossed in the past.
Last week I was playing the MTV Europe Music Awards show. The LD and board ops work some long days with a lot of band LDs in their ears giving them their opinions. I generally let these guys at awards shows do what they want and just point out obvious things such as which player has a solo and when it occurs in the song. I pick a color scheme and look at the video content playing along with the band. I have a couple of cues that call for strobes. Strobes are touchy with cameras. If the camera is at a nice level capturing a good scene, it will be blinded with a white flash if you apply a heavy strobe hit. The guys in Europe understand that and are running the Martin Atomic 3K strobes in a mode that does not allow them to come close to full power. This is good. The last thing that I want is for everyone's TV set to go to a pure white screen for a few seconds during my band's performance. On the camera monitor I can see the strobes going, but not blinding anyone, so all is well.
A Weird Feeling
But as I watch the performance, I get a weird feeling. My artist has a 10-piece band, and the designers are refusing to front light any of them. They are all backlit in full white, but appear as silhouettes to the audience and camera. But it's not just my band. The Kings of Leon look like this too. Rihanna is lit beautifully, but the 100 dancers on her stage could be naked bodies, as there is zero front light on them. They are just black figures. I questioned my friend about this and he informed me that this is the look the show producers are asking for and he has no choice. He has the lighting fixtures, but to keep his job, he must play by the rules dictated to him. I start worrying that I am perhaps out of the times.
Flares from the Back
This week I find myself at the Country Music Awards in Nashville. My artist is playing the same hit single. This show is lit by a team of guys who work many of the biggest shows in the world. There is literally nothing I can do here. Each performer has a different look, scripted with different sets, floor lights and a massive overhead structure of video and Vari-Lite VL5s that looks fantastic. My band does one run through of the song for audio levels and cameras. The producers have put a half dozen vertical trusses standing up behind the band loaded with MR16 strip lights chasing in white. This effect should look very cool if the cameras catch it right. But I am disturbed as I look at the camera monitors. The levels of the strip lights are so hot that they are creating white flares on the camera.
Surely Someone will Notice…
As the cameras flare, the iris on them automatically dials down to compensate. Now my artist is looking very dark and needs more light. But this is what rehearsals are for. Surely someone in the TV truck will notice this and dial the levels down for the show. Then come the strobe cues. They appear to be full on, max power. My entire monitor turns into a snow blizzard. I imagine this has been noticed as well. I look to a wide shot monitor and notice that my entire 10-piece band has no front light. I obviously have not kept up with the latest in television lighting methods – no front light except on the main artist, and it's now acceptable to blind the cameras. People must like this.
Clips from the 1970s
In between different acts rehearsing, they are showing clips of performers who played the CMAs back in the 1970s. I'm watching Glen Campbell and others playing to the crowd with no illumination other than a front spotlight. There is no back light whatsoever in these old video clips. The performers look like talking heads floating in a black space. It's a total reverse of what they are doing 40 years later and I have to chuckle. I did notice a wide variety of set practicals. I see dozens different sized white globes of light along the front of the stage and built into flats, the predecessor to the LED eye candy we use nowadays. That's what they had to use back in the days when Mike Douglas ruled the TV world.
Wiped to White
The show starts and I like the various sets and many of the looks are brilliant. I see Taylor Swift behind a piano, playing a beautiful ballad. There are a dozen snow machines working above and lovely low laying fog as she performs accompanied by a string section and some street lamps. Then all of a sudden the strobes flash. This is not a malfunctioning piece of gear. It is intentional. Why? The cameras are wiped to white. It's ruining an otherwise beautiful piece of music. My band comes on 20 minutes later and everything I assumed would be fixed hasn't been. It looks bad, but it must be me. I realize now that I have become the old man who doesn't understand this new change in lighting theory. Makes me wonder if all the awards shows I programmed years ago really looked that bad to their eyes.
