Tour Name: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Tour 2013
Dates: May 1-June 30, North America
Lighting: Simple and elegant with some bells and whistles.
“Tom wanted really simple, but we knew we needed some kick now and then, too. Venues were ranging from arenas, a club and a theater, so it had to be relatively small. We included lots of LED fixtures because Tom has had a problem with being too hot on stage. All the wash fixtures are LED, including the front specials, and I have LED strips that I use as back light and for lighting the drops. I feed video to the LED strips as well to give it more dimension. I use the video server to use the LED strips as specials as well by sizing and moving layers around in a brighter color than the rest. It adds an interesting feel.”
The rig: The rig consists of a straight front truss, two trusses mid and upstage that angle down stage left and right to give side lighting positions, and two “eyebrows” down stage left and right that serve the same purpose along the downstage edge, which include side light LED strips as well.
“We had to use the same red drape from the last tour, for budget reasons, but we did rent a few pieces, too. Kevin Cassidy has done an amazing job of modifying the old drapes to fit this rig. We’re using several combinations of sheer silver drape, LED star drop, burgundy drape and black scrim. Kevin has been invaluable in this entire process, we work as a great team from the beginning to everyday on tour. He is the tour’s technical director, but has had lots of input creatively as well.”
Petty’s input: “Very little. We had to go by things we had heard second-hand for years. I knew Tom wanted simple, and wanted no video behind him at all, only IMAG for bigger venues. We also knew he didn’t want to buy all new soft goods. It was a guessing game from there. I drew up and rendered about five different designs, and through budget and meetings with management we narrowed it down.”
BIO: About Stan Green
Home base: Las Vegas, NV
Years in the industry: 24 (14 of those touring)
Years with this band: “I’ve been with Petty since 2001. I had the pleasure to be LD Jim Lenahan’s programmer the whole time up until last year. This is my first tour as lighting/ set designer/ director for Petty. When Jim and Tom parted ways, Jim was so amazing to say to everyone, ‘You’d be crazy if you didn’t use Stan to continue on.’ I am very honored, thankful and humbled.”
Inspiration: “My first big concert really had big impact. Judas Priest, maybe late 70’s? Another huge inspiration was a video Journey put out that was made by NFL showcasing everything behind the scenes. It really spoke to me, and got me psyched.”
First industry gig: “I started in Seattle by building my own little lighting system and renting it out to high school dance bands and bar bands in 1981. I graduated high school in 1982, only had one other job in my life. I was a waiter for about one year, part- time while doing shows on the weekends.”
Past tours: Third Eye Blind LD for three years, LD for The Black Crowes for about six years, LD The Robert Cray Band for about seven years, and lots of other positions on other tours.
Heroes: “Roy Bennett. And Peter Gabriel’s LD (name unknown) from way back. My hero for spot calling didn’t speak more than six words in English – it was the LD for the Japanese heavy metal band Loudness in the ’80s.”
Thoughts about LED lighting: “Love it. It’s getting better every year. Petty loves it! He hasn’t given me the ‘you’re burning me alive’ hand signal once yet on this tour and we put everything up in a club! Next tour I hope to use 100 percent LED. I need to find a nice hard edge LED.”
Hobbies: “Cooking, fine dining, and taking pictures of travel, architectural and food. Anthony Bourdain is my hero.”
If you could have attended any concert/show in history, what would it be? “I’ve never seen Pink Floyd live. Peter Gabriel in the ’80s, Wings in the 70s, The Beatles early on.”
Best advice: “Go to college. Don’t take criticism personally. Don’t get caught up in the hype.”
What do you like about what you do? “I love all aspects of it, CAD to completion, the travel, the camaraderie. I love calling spots, programming; I love running the lights live to music I love.”
