The Visual Team Keeps Pace with Beyonce’s Creative Output
As the lead singer of Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé Knowles had already enjoyed considerable success before launching a solo album, Dangerously in Love, more than a decade ago (while Destiny’s Child was in hiatus, in in 2003). By the time Destiny’s Child disbanded, in 2006, the trio sold 60 million albums worldwide. Combining her solo and collaborative efforts, Beyoncé, now 32 years old, has 46 Grammy nominations to her credit and 17 wins.
Knowles followed her debut solo album (11 million copies, five Grammy awards) with B’Day (2006, 8 million copies, 1 Grammy), I Am…Sasha Fierce (2008, 7 million copies, six Grammys) and 4 (2011, 3 million copies so far).
Midway through the tour’s late-2013 North American leg, on Dec. 13, Knowles released Beyoncé, her fifth solo album. It continued the artist’s impressive streak of chart-topping success, and more than 3 million digital copies were downloaded worldwide by Jan. 2014.
Each of the latest “visual” album’s 14 tracks have at least one accompanying music video; all 17 videos were filmed between June and November 2013 as Beyoncé traveled on her world tour, all down-loadable from iTunes.
With a new crop of creativity germinating, sprouting and flourishing on the road, the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour — and its visual design — had to be flexible and
dynamic as well.
“We spend a lot of time incorporating new looks in real-time,” says programmer Cory FitzGerald, noting the process of “building the looks around that brand new music” as it was added to the show.
The tour’s 2013 itinerary ran from the U.K. and Europe through the U.S. and Canada, with legs in South America, Mexico, Australia followed by another swing through North America at the end of the year.
In terms of ticket sales, the tour generated $188.6 million for 107 shows in 2013, ranking second Pollstar’s Top Tours list, the artist’s highest-grossing tour to date. With the extension of the tour into 2014, a total of 132 shows have been slated.
The tour now travels back through the U.K. and Europe, including some of the same cites on the 2013 itinerary. But fans returning are likely to hear — and see — plenty of updates to last year’s shows.
Roy Bennett
Production & Lighting Designer
“In the initial meeting with Beyoncé, we came up with the concept that the show would be lighting-based vs. being video-heavy, as in the past. I came up with the idea of making a wall of light that consisted mostly of mirrors on moving yokes (based on the old Vari-Lite VLM) and SGM strobes. The mirrors have two different surfaces. One side is flat, and the other is a faceted convex mirror-ball-type surface. Beyoncé is very hands-on when it comes to the look of every song, and especially when it does come to any video content.
“Her show has two different stages. There’s the main stage, and then Beyoncé is flown over the audience and lands at the B-stage, the idea based on allowing her to have a place to perform out in the audience as so many performers like these days. The stage is behind the FOH position, has ramps and walkways with VIP audience members enclosed. It’s almost as big as most artists’ main stage. Most of the lighting for the B-stage was floor-based and bounced off of the moving mirrors overhead.
“We’re using Upstaging, based on my past experiences with them as well as their ability to manufacture all the custom pieces I ask for (i.e., the moving mirrors). We ended up using three programmers — Cory FitzGerald, Troy Eckerman and Eric Marchwinski, based on the amount of time in rehearsals and the new changes made to the music over the first few months. The lighting system consists mostly of SGM strobes, the custom moving mirrors, Clay Paky Sharpys, Martin MAC Vipers and Vari*Lite VL3500 Wash lights.
“All the crew on Beyoncé are fantastic. They work extremely hard. It’s a tough tour but they get it done every day without a hitch. Malcolm Weldon is a true star as a production manager. Whitney Hoversten, who is my lighting director out there, has been amazing and totally dedicated to maintaining a complex show.”
Cory FitzGerald
Lighting Programmer
“This show in particular has been in constant development since we started programming it in Feb. 2013. The most recent changes have involved incorporating her new album into the show and building the looks around that brand new music. This has taken quite a bit of time, considering the show hasn’t had a break to rehearse, so we spend a lot of time traveling with the show, incorporating new looks in real-time.
“Each fixture we have has a talent and a role just like a performer. We use each fixture to its max potential and really try to create unique looks for each song, pushing the rig to the limits throughout the show. It’s not about using the lights to do a specific thing, but rather getting them to do exactly what you need for that moment.
“I have starting using Logic to control various tracks of audio and timecode a lot more recently to give as much flexibility with our running of the show when the band or playback guys aren’t around. We can also control lighting and video from FOH for nighttime programming sessions so everything is still in sync as it would be in a show situation.
“Roy’s design with the mirrors from Upstaging is really unique. By using the reflection and refraction of the Sharpys off the various mirrors in their unlimited positions, the show has a truly organic feel and has an infinite potential of looks that are unlike any others out there.”
» Crew
Production & Lighting Designer: Roy Bennett
Lighting Director: Whitney Hoversten
Lighting Programmers: Cory FitzGerald, Troy Eckerman, Eric Marchwinski
Lighting Co: Upstaging
Lighting Techs: Seth Conlin (Crew Chief), Randall Garrett, Brian Kasten, Allison Sulock, Jorge Del Angel, Matthew Tucker, Aidan McCabe, John Hetherton, Edward Bright, Robin Sheridan, William “Frosty” Frostman
Video Co: Chaos Visual Productions
Video Techs: Dustin King (Crew Chief), Kyle Brinkman, Nathaniel Fountain Jr., Davi Jacobs, Seam Lee Harper, Jeffrey Apregan, Jon Schulman
Production Managers: Malcolm Weldon, George Reeves
Production Coordinators: Carmen Rodriguez, Derek Wilson
Stage Managers: Terry Lee Cooley, Jennita Janjira Russo
Staging/Set Co: Tait Towers
Automation: Jamison Pharand, Frederic Jacques
Image Director: Gary Odom
Riggers: Chad Koehler (Head Rigger), Aaron Alfaro, Michael Ryder, Charles Ream
Pyro Co: Strictly FX
Pyro Technicians: John Lyons, Edward Romack Jr.
Cat Power: Lauren Ackert
Trucking Co: Truck ‘N Roll
» Gear
2 grandMA2 Full consoles
1 grandMA2 Lite console
94 Martin MAC Auras – Air
52 Martin MAC Viper Profiles – Air
19 Martin Mac Viper Profiles – Floor
2 Martin MAC III Performance
28 Vari*Lite VL3500 Wash FX – Air
204 Clay Paky Sharpys
196 Custom Mirror Fixtures
426 SGM X-5 White LED Strobes
7 Syncrolite SXL 7K Xenon fixtures
5 Lycian M2 short throw truss spots
For more Beyonce tour photos by Steve Jennings, go to www.plsn.me/BeyonceExtras2014
