Before embarking on a second three-year Million Dollar Piano residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas this month, Elton John headlined a New Year’s Eve concert at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. The Barclays Center show incorporated set elements and visuals from the artist’s 2013-2014 Diving Board tour — which marked the last chance for LD Patrick Woodroffe and the late Mark Fisher of Stufish Entertainment Architects to collaborate on the look of an Elton John concert. Fisher died June 25, 2013; the tour launched Nov. 8 and ran through Feb. 28, 2014.
Woodroffe recalls how he worked with Fisher and Stufish colleague Ric Lipson to create a show that, however memorable, would keep the focus squarely on Elton John and his music. Lighting director Kevin “Stick” Bye also adds his perspective of shaping the looks for Elton John’s Diving Board tour.
PATRICK WOODROFFE
Show Director and Lighting Designer:
“Along with the brief to create something with no preconception, there was also an innate confidence on Elton’s part that Mark Fisher and I would make something that was right for him. We both knew the artists well and at different times had produced work for him already. And in production director Keith Bradley and Elton’s creative director Tony King, we had a sounding board with which we could test ideas during the design process.”
The Chandelier
Woodroffe recalls the LED chandelier designed by Mark Fisher and Ric Lipson of Stufish and fabricated by Tait Towers.
“Once you have a single strong idea, everything else tends to flow from that. The scale and the positioning of the chandelier dictated how the circular lighting trusses might reinforce the design that Mark and Ric created…
“With an artist like Elton it’s not that complicated to build a show around their performance. He has always been quite clear about what he wants to play with an interesting mix of classic hits and less well-known numbers making up the set list. Once this was established our job was really to give a shape to lighting, video and staging elements and so to create some sort of visual journey that matched the music.”
Video Content
“We worked with Sam Pattinson from The Third Company in London. Between us, we came up with half a dozen strong content pieces and also a series of extras and backgrounds. Sam mocked these up into rough representations and then sat with us through rehearsal to match them to the lighting and vice versa. As soon as we were happy with the general direction, Sam would brief his team back in the U.K., and the final edits would come back the next day.
“Adam [Bassett] and I have been working together since he came to me as an intern at the Millennium Dome in London 15 years ago. His progression from assistant to associate to partner has been very organic, and really little has changed in the way we work. Our association simply reinforces my belief that the work that we all do is so collaborative that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole…
A Bittersweet Project
“It was a bittersweet project, as we both knew that this would very likely be the last time that [Mark Fisher and I] worked together. And it also followed on from the Las Vegas show that we both thought was some our best work. But the process was also full of the usual complications and challenges and humor and joy, and so in many ways, it was much the same as all the other jobs we’ve done over the last 30 years.”
KEVEN “STICK” BYE
Lighting Director:
As Elton’s longtime lighting director, Bye tells us about this tours’ different elements and ways of running.
“Having been with Elton for so long, the cue structure doesn’t really change much from show to show. I still reserve a level on manual control and some ‘busking’ buttons for any live changes he and the band decide to make. After all, it is a live show!”
Piano vs. Diving Board
“From a content standpoint, the Million Dollar Piano show is more artsy and layered, whereas on the Diving Board tour, much of the video content is low-res and background-driven…
“Working with Patrick [Woodroffe] has been a lot of fun, and challenging. He is legendary at what he does, but is also very open to input and suggestions from the design team…
“We’ve mostly used Vari-Lite fixtures on Elton’s tours. We’ve got the Vari*Lite VL3500 Wash FX for that big, high trim punch and 3.5K Spots for band lighting and graphics. Clay Paky Sharpys, both spot and wash for the LED wall surround, and Martin MAC Auras for band gear lighting. The chandelier and video wall content is run through the [PRG] Mboxes and all controlled via the grandMA2 console.”
A Smooth-Running Tour
“Since the chandelier is designed and built by Tait, the storage carts and set-up are very well thought out. Each strand collapses into its own specially built cart, which easily rolls out and stacks uniformly on the trucks. So once the rigging points are in, the chandelier takes a little less than an hour to set-up. We have nine trucks, with a six-to-seven-hour load-in to focus and line-check. Around three hours to load out… very slick!
“PRG has, and continues to be, our vendor for the Elton John tour, due in no small part to Curry Grant’s involvement. Curry is conscientious and always available. Not only has he been a great lighting rep but is also a close personal friend. We use MainLight for our front-of-house rig. Years ago MainLight put together a great bullet-proof front-of-house package for the grandMA 2 platform. I was very happy with their setup, so we continue to use that for front-of-house.”
A Seasoned Crew
“Most of Elton’s production staff have been around for 15 to 20 years or more. Keith Bradley has been around long enough to know how to put together a good team and lets everyone do what they do best. He doesn’t feel the need to micro-manage. As far as working with Sir Elton, if he has something specific he wants done lighting or production wise, he will let Keith or myself know. But in general, Elton trusts us to innately know his wants to put together a high-quality show. The last time Elton came to visit me at FOH was to let his son play with the console and light the chandelier… making pretty colors. Oh, and I showed him where to find the strobe button!
“I feel fortunate to be with this organization for so long. To travel around the world and flex my creative muscles, be it working on a one-off festival, creating my own designs, or maintaining the vision of Patrick Woodroffe and the late Mark Fisher. I have such a great gig!”
Elton John Diving Board Tour
Crew
Show Director/LD: Patrick Woodroffe/Woodroffe Bassett Design
Associate LD: Adam Bassett
Set Designer: Mark Fisher, Ric Lipson/Stufish Entertainment Architects
Lighting Director: Kevin “Stick” Bye
Lighting Crew Chief: Corey Tom
Lighting Techs: Chris Bartlett, Craig Kreider, Clayton Stewart, Kevin McWhorter
Tour Director: Keith Bradley
Tour Manager: DC Parmet
Stage Manager: Dennis McManus, Russell Glen
Video Content Producer: Sam Pattinson/The Third Company
Video Creator/Lighting Programmer: Eric Marchwinski
Video Director: John Steer
Automation, Programming, Special Ops: Braden Stroup, Lars Kristiansen
Rigger: Michael Gomez
Lighting Co: PRG
PRG Rep: Curry Grant
Sets: Stufish Entertainment Architects
Staging/Chandelier: Tait Towers
Tait Project Manager: Brian Levine
LED Wall: PRG Nocturne
Video Content: The Third Company
Trucking: Ego Trips
FOH Lighting Package: MainLight Industries
Gear
2 grandMA2 lighting consoles
40 Vari*Lite VL3500 Wash FX fixtures
24 Vari*Lite VL3500 Wash fixtures
28 Vari*Lite VL3500 Spot fixtures
12 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash fixtures
9 Clay Paky Sharpy Beams
9 Martin MAC Aura RGBW fixtures
4 DF50 Hazers
{mosapa album=”eltonjohn-jan2015-designerinsights”}
For more Elton John tour photos by Steve Jennings, please go to:
http://www.prolightingspace.com/photo/albums/elton-john-extras-from-steve-jennings
