THE DESIGN: “Our winter tour needed to fit into various venue sizes, so I created an asymmetrical design to fill bigger rooms without it feeling crowded on smaller stages. At the end of every rehearsal day, the band gave me their notes, and then lead singer Nicolas and I would dig into specific moments. It was a lot of experimenting, and I was happy with the outcome. For our summer tour, I threw those same fixtures into pre-rig truss, and the layout helped it blend seamlessly with festival rigs.”
BACKSTORY
HOME BASE: Denver
INDUSTRY YEARS: 10
CAREER SPARK: “I worked at the Fox Theatre bar in Boulder [CO]. One night I had a drunken conversation with the production manager and after I rambled on about the lights, he said I should join their intern program — probably to shut me up. Two days later, I was in the rig focusing PAR cans, and was hired a year later as an LD there.
HEROES/MENTORS: “I operated Fragment Nine’s Walk the Moon show for much of 2018; it was inspiring to watch their workflow and creative process as a team. Christopher Ruppel taught me most of my console knowledge, and answers my panic phone calls. Michael Smalley gave me great programming advice. Joel Reiff is my OG mentor; he took me on the road to operate his show when I had never touched (that particular) console before.”
OTHER DESIGNERS YOU WATCH: “I love how SRae Productions creates such immersive experiences. Walk the Moon supported Muse earlier this year. I was so inspired.”
OTHER ARTISTS YOU’VE WORKED WITH: “MisterWives, John Butler Trio, Mike Posner, American Authors, Cherub, Flume, Ellie Goulding, Of Monsters and Men, Lindsey Stirling.”
ABOUT YOUR NICKNAME: “I dyed my hair out of pure boredom at 16 and it has claimed more of my hair since then. My college friends started calling me ‘Ali Blue,’ and as we continued to work together, the name carried on with me.”
YOUR DREAM CONCERT TO LIGHT: “I watched a Supertramp concert recording recently and spent the evening designing my version in my head. Recently, I was struck with Lykke Li’s powerful performance at [the] Firefly [festival], and as it was daytime, I envisioned how it would look in darkness. I love lighting theatrical, choreographed artists like her.”
IN 10 YEARS YOU’LL BE… “Happily designing shows from home, touring with the ones I choose to tour with, and skiing at least 20 days a year.”
