In his teenage years Travis Shirley dreamt of the day when he would be a lighting & production designer. He remembered contacting designers like Steve Cohen, Joe Paradise and Joel Young asking them every question he could think of. As fate would have it, Shirley’s father became golf buddies with the highly successful country act, Brooks & Dunn, which led him to their very talented lighting designer, Larry Boster. He studied and watched Larry for as long as he can remember and he says, quite honestly, Boster is the reason he is in this industry.
At the age of 18, Shirley moved to Nashville, and Boster introduced him to the people at Bandit Lites. Shirley got a job there, spending about a year learning protocol, a.k.a. —everything. Then he hit the road as a technician for several years. It was in 2004 when Shirley was the FOH tech for Steve Cohen’s design on Van Halen’s tour, where he got his first chance as an LD. The tour manager at the time was Marc Robbins, who referred to him as the ‘annoying kid who wants to be an LD.’ Even so, he placed Shirley out as the board operator for James Taylor’s tour. It was that tour where Shirley got his first chance as a lighting director, and that started his path toward the designer/director chair.
Travis Shirley, Founder, Travis Shirley Lighting Design
“Over the past 10 years, I have had the pleasure to work with some of the greatest artists in the industry. I’ve won some, lost some, and most certainly learned from them all. Life is full of options and paths that lead you to your destiny… Sometimes you chose the right ones, sometimes you don’t. However, it’s important to always get back on track and keep your eye on the prize.
“I formed TSLD (Travis Shirley Lighting Design) about nine years ago, and for the majority of that time, I have had the pleasure to work with Enrique Iglesias on several world tours and TV appearances. Not only has Enrique opened several doors for me, he has also allowed me to grow as a designer and director throughout our relationship. I’ve learned and grown as time has gone on, and it’s great to have an artist, and now someone I call a friend understand that process. However, with that being said, I do feel that in the past few years I have honed my skills significantly, which has led me to artists such as 30 Seconds to Mars, Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban, Robin Thicke, Linkin Park and several large music festivals such as Lollapalooza and Electric Forest.”
In February, at the end of the Enrique Iglesias tour, Shirley went straight into the Pentatonix tour within a very short time frame…
“As I’m sure most designers will agree, preproduction rehearsals are becoming the wishful dream and hope in the smoky distance… There’s never enough, and you always need one more day! I kid, I kid, but I do find that artist and promoters are spending less money on physical rehearsal time these days, which means the designer must be very organized and precise from the beginning of each project. Clearly, projects vary in size, but no matter what size project, planning is key. I always say, as a designer, our work happens before the fun. It’s important to have everything documented and prepared before however long of pre-production / rehearsals you are going to get.”
Lighting director Mitchell Schellenger accompanied Shirley on both the Enrique Iglesias and Pentatonix tours.
“Mitchell is a bright new programmer/lighting director who I’ve started working with this last year. With such a good attitude, he understood from the beginning how I operate and put a show together. On Enrique’s Sex and Love tour the past year, Mitchell handled the day-to-day programming along with updating notes from the prior night. I actually ran the show while Mitchell helped out with any board problems during the show. He proved himself thus, catapulting him into the lighting director position on Pentatonix. In addition to being the lighting director, Pentatonix was Mitchell’s first tour programing a show top to bottom for me. Naturally, we had a few learning curves to work out between designer and programmer, but in the end the product was great thanks to his dedication and flexibility. He’s doing an excellent job! I hope this is one of many tours that Mitchell can run and program for me.
“Regarding Enrique’s tour, at this point in my relationship, there’s a very solid and streamlined level of trust when it comes to putting his show together. I know what he’s willing to try out and what we won’t. A major variable in putting a concept together for his show are the different style of tour dates and shows.
“It’s not uncommon for us to do a large, full production tour across the States and mainland Europe, however we will also do a handful of smaller ‘regional’ tours across Mexico, Central and South America along with other remote locations throughout the world. As a lot of artists would look to these style of shows as ‘one-offs.’ It’s important for Enrique to treat each market the same and give the same caliber show across the globe… He truly is a global superstar, and his fans want to see him in full effect around the world.”
Programming for Enrique’s Sex and Love tour, Shirley also worked with Trevor Ahlstrand and Drew Gnagey.
“What can I say about Trevor and Drew… They are more my therapists than my programmers. Recently, both have taken on some great adventures by themselves, and I couldn’t be prouder. I will always have a place in my heart for those two. Seriously though, it doesn’t get better than those two. We have been through a lot together, and each tour and project we work on is better than the last.”
Shirley said he was fortunate in that he knew the manager for the band Pentatonix, his latest touring client — Jonathan Kalter.
“Jon Kalter and I have had a working and personal relationship for years, so when the time came for the band to put a tour together, I received a call in which I was ecstatic to work with such a hot new name in the industry. Pentatonix has been around for a few years now, however they have reached even more success the past six months, which has catapulted them into bigger sold-out venues and in need of a show/creative design. My team and I did not have a lot of time on this project, so the band’s input was a massive help, particularly regarding content design. We had three days of rehearsal before the tour, however not a lot of the content was complete, so Mitchell and I had to rethink how to best use our time during programming. At the end, we succeeded, and we couldn’t be happier with the show. The band, management and the entire crew is an amazing group of people. I’m very happy to be involved.
“As my career progresses, its becomes more evident that it’s all about relationships. I am extremely grateful for everyone who has helped me in some capacity. Whether it be Robert Roth at Christie Lites, John Wiseman at Chaos/PRG or the countless production managers, programmers, LDs and road guys I have worked with.”
Enrique Iglesias Sex and Love Tour
Crew
Production Design & Creative Direction: Travis Shirley
Lighting Director: Mitchell Schellenger
Lighting Programmers: Drew Gnagey, Trevor Ahlstrand
Lighting Co: Christie Lites
Lighting Crew Chief: John Santos
Video Content: Travis Shirley; Ian Kennedy/Mdots; Oliver Goulet/Geodezik
Video Directors: Johnny Hayes, Jorge Toro
Video Co: Chaos Visual Productions
Production Manager: Andres Restrepo
Production Coordinator: Misty Roberts
Tour Manager: Abel Tabuyo
Stage Manager: Eric “Ski” Piontkowski
Staging Co: SGPS
Trucking Co: Stage Call
Gear
Lighting:
2 grandMA2 consoles
48 Martin MAC Viper Profiles
46 Martin MAC 2000 Wash XBs
12 Martin MAC Quantum Wash
24 Martin MAC 101s
30 Martin Atomic 3000 Strobe
10 Clay Paky B-Eye K20s
24 Clay Paky Sharpys
1 Syncrolite (7K)
3 Lycian M2 truss spots
Video:
1 LED video screen (Winvison 8mm, 60’x30’)
1 LED video floor (Winvison 12mm)
1 LED video arch (Winvison 12mm)
1 LED video header (Winvison 12mm)
For more Enrique Iglesias tour photos by Steve Jennings, go to plsn.me/EnriqueIglesiasSexLoveTour
Pentatonix Tour
Crew
Production Design & Creative Direction: Travis Shirley
Lighting Director/Programmer: Mitchell Schellenger
Lighting Co: Premier Global Production
Video Content: Travis Shirley; Ian Kennedy/Mdots
Video Co: VER
Production Manager: Chris Aman
Tour Manager: Esther Kaplan
Stage Manager: Ethan Murffy
Staging Co: Gallagher Staging
Trucking Co: Upstaging
Gear
2 grandMA2 consoles
14 Vari*Lite VL3000 Spots
24 Vari*Lite VL3500 Wash FX fixtures
48 Color Kinetics ColorBlaze 72s
1 Main Light Soft-LED Curtain (48’)
110 Winvison 8mm tiles
8 Toshiba lipstick cameras
2 Green Hippo media servers
For more Pentatonix tour photos by Steve Jennings, go to plsn.me/Pentatonix2015tour
