Lighting Co
Bandit Lites
Venue
Various (Tour)
Crew
Lighting Designer: Seth Jackson
Lighting Programmer: Brent Sandrock
Lighting Director: Andy May
Lighting Tech: Chas Albea
Tour Manager: Toby Mamis
Production Manager: Cesare Sabatini
Production Assistant: Bujie Leichtweis
Alice Cooper Assistant: Kyler Clark
Props: Pat Nowak
Pyro Tech: Dianne Fleming
Staging Co: All Access
Pyro: Pyro Engineering
Backdrops: Sew What?
Props: Alive Enterprises
Trucking Co: Upstaging
Gear
14 Robe Cyc FX8
12 Aryton MagicPanel 602
1 MA Lighting grandMA2 Full
1 DF-50 Hazers
1 F-100 Foggers
(These fixtures supplemented the rig for Mötley Crüe’s “Final Tour,” detailed in PLSN, Sept. 2014, page 32).
Designer Insights by Steve Jennings:
Seth Jackson, Lighting Designer
“For Alice Cooper’s run with Motley Crue, it was a cool concept to marry together the originator of heavy metal shock rock with a band that took its lead from Alice. The biggest challenge at the start was figuring out the real estate. Sooner’s Routhier, designer for the Motley rig was quite expansive with the majority of it being upstage of Alice’s backdrop. We had to be smart about how many things we added in order to make the changeover time, yet still get in all of the major effects that Alice uses, and fit on a reduced floor plan. It was a bit of Tetris playing.
“Production manager Cesare Sabatini, lighting director Andy May and myself brought all of the gear to the Bandit Lites programming facility, set it all up, and then started head scratching and problem solving. The normal Alice rig is par can heavy, which was an impossibility under these circumstances. Our manager, Shep Gordon (check out the movie SuperMensch) and Cesare were able to negotiate an adjusted version of our front truss into the rigging equation, but over the stage was a complete re-program using the Motley fixtures. Fortunately, with a 50 minute show, we were able to knock it out in a shortened rehearsal time. While Motley was rehearsing in the arena, we were on the spare desk in the dressing room with an MA2 and MA3D visualizer.
“The backdrop for this tour was new, and I chose the Robe CycFX 8 to light the drop and to give us some great effect options. I liken them to the DHA Light Curtains in their look and effect, but with a great zoom and terrific LED range. Also, they were able to travel in the backdrop truss which helped our changeover. Megan Duckett of Sew What? and Shane Nelson did the printing for the new Alice backdrop, and John Rios did a lot of digital clean up for us to make sure that the original artwork printed well on that large of a surface.
“Alice isn’t an organization or a boss you want to leave. The team has been in place for a long time, and many of the crew (like our Bandit tech Chas Albea) also serve in the show as host of ghoulish characters. It is a tight knit team.
Alice and Shep have created a memorable character and production show. They have been honing this thing for decades and Alice’s performance keeps getting better. As a designer, it is a thrill to work with these guys. They are smart, fun, and slightly twisted. On the other hand, where else can you have a production call that involves the statement… so when we cut Alice’s head off after the Frankenstein monster…..”
More photos at www.plsn.me/AliceCooper2014
