Tyler, the Creator (Tyler Gregory Okonma), is a rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, fashion and graphic designer. The rapper is out on tour in support of his fifth album release, Igor which debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 charts after being released in May. We spoke with lighting and set designer Alex Reardon of Silent House Productions, lighting director Shaheem Litchmore and tour manager Henry Bordeaux about the production of the tour.
Alex Reardon
Lighting and Set Designer
Alex Reardon has been working with the Brockhampton rap collective (which is managed by the same company, 4 Strikes), so when it was time for them to start thinking about Tyler’s shows — first; the album launch; second, the tour — they asked for Reardon’s contribution. Reardon was looking for the nucleus of the design (as is so important for all shows) and inspiration struck while watching him perform at his album launch show. “I saw him in “Igor” character, wearing a white wig with the flowing hair, and the light bulb went off. So I pitched an idea of a series of organically shaped, essentially ‘hair’ backdrops that we could project onto and also to hide an LED screen in – to be deployed for certain songs.
“All too often, shows seem to be designed from a “laundry list” of parts; the screen, the lights, the band, and in a lot of cases, that formula works, but with Tyler, being the eccentric he is, I wanted to move away from the norm. For projection surfaces, I’ve used oversized bubble wrap (for Duran Duran, twenty-something years ago), string (Khalid, this year) and all sorts of random materials. It’s just fun to play with elements not normally used. I’ve got to say that Sew What? were absolutely brilliant in understanding the concept and helping me in choosing just the right material to keep the idea of ‘hair’ and find something with the correct reflective index to work with projection. I’d also like to take a moment to acknowledge the rest of the team involved in projection — Drew Best, content creator extraordinaire, who has been with Tyler for eons; Rowan Glenn, Notch programmer to the stars, and gin aficionado par excellence; and Manny Condé, d3 wrangler of such speed that he’s usually done what I ask before I’ve thought of it — which can be spooky, but also brilliant. These guys are really at the top of the tree and are an asset to any production.”
As is usual, Reardon started with a list of potential songs, then it got honed down into the set list. “There was some flexibility, but on the whole, Tyler gets pretty locked into the show.” Reardon notes that he and lighting director Shaheem Litchmore have worked together before, first with Young Thug. Shaheem “is not only a marvelous LD, but just as importantly, a human morale boosting dynamo. He sits in during rehearsals, pays quiet attention, and then executes the job perfectly. He’s also a very good programmer. On Jennifer Lopez (See PLSN, Aug. 2019, cover story), we ran a 24-hour programming cycle where Joe Cabrera and I would work during the run-throughs and into the night, and Shaheem would come in for an hour of ‘overlap’ and set all the timecode notes.”
Tyler “loves strobes,” notes Reardon. “So the [Solaris] Flare Q+ LRs and [GLP] JDC1’s are perfect workhorses,” he says, and Reardon has them on many of his shows right now. “If only I could get Flares in an assortment of lengths — hint hint TMB,” he adds. “I’ve also been surprised by how good the Acme Solar Impulses are — reliable, bright, great features set, and an extraordinary bang for the buck.
“The touring fraternity used to be populated almost entirely by eccentric artists,” Reardon continues. “These days, the number seems to be thinned somewhat. So it’s a real pleasure to be working for both a proper gentleman and a delightful eccentric. He is brilliant and kind, and as a result, it motivates all of us to go a little further, to try a little harder, to find another more interesting option. Added to that, working with the best crew in the business makes this a wonderful show to be involved in.”
Shaheem Litchmore
Lighting Director
Shaheem Litchmore mentions that every tour goes through its typical tweaks the first week or so and this show wasn’t any different. “It was beautifully programmed by Dan Norman, so there wasn’t much to perfect. He nailed it right out of the gate. However, our set list evolved as the tour continued. The musical changes that came throughout the tour required me to add some additional programming/looks to complement the new music as well as augment some of the previously cued songs to maintain the cohesiveness of our show.”
This show is not your typical design, Litchmore adds, which is one of the many reasons he enjoyed watching it every night. “Since the show was ‘soft good’ heavy, it presented a few challenges that normally do not happen with other shows. Focuses need to be exceptionally precise as to not bleed light on the drops which, during many parts of the show, became a projection surface. Reflection of light bounces were also something I had to be aware of. I had to be very conscious of light levels.
“Our video content as well as I-Mag were projected onto the drops. Followspots had to be balanced and their iris properly sized as to not blow out our upstage projection surfaces. Since this show had more of a theatrical feel, using group masters allowed me to adjust levels on the fly to help maintain proper illumination of the artist and stage as well as keeping the stage dim enough so our projection had a presence.
“The fixture used to light the draperies was the Chroma-Q Color Force II 72. It was the perfect fixture for the job. The output from this fixture was even, bright, and had amazing range. It transformed our upstage draperies into a beautiful saturated cyc at times and still proved powerful enough to keep up with the Solaris Flare LR during the effect heavy portions of the show. I was impressed by this fixture.
“I had such a great experience working on this show. It was a pleasure to be able to work with a great talent like Tyler. A huge thanks to Alex Reardon and Silent House for allowing me to be a part of their production again. Thank you to the Fuse crew (both lighting and video) who worked tirelessly to make a perfect rig happen every night and an overall thank you to everyone involved.”
Henry Bordeaux
Tour Manager
Henry Bordeaux, who first started working with Tyler in 2017 when he was performing in clubs and theaters, says he’s particularly proud to finally bring in Silent House Productions and EighteenTwentySix to help design a show that’s on par with the level of creativity and energy that Tyler brings to the stage, and says he can’t wait to show what they do next.
“The tour was unique in the way that we ran the gauntlet of fitting it into so many types of venues. Arenas, amphitheaters, a few large theaters and a festival stage. This method has its challenges but is becoming more common for growing artists to tour this way. It allows for the booking agent to be flexible with routing and venue availability, giving the artist more opportunities to grow in new markets as they start to sell out the major cities.
“The challenge is to incorporate intrinsic venue variables into the design early on so that when we need to scale accordingly we can, but not have a third of the gear sitting in the truck not being used for more than half the tour. Of course, the design was approved after the routing, like always, thus adding unforeseen elements like a 15-foot projector tower at FOH and lots of soft goods with outdoor shows. These decisions create issues you know you’re going to have to address day in and day out, but the magic that it takes to make it fit and run smoothly is all in the advance and the bad ass crew we put together to handle it. It was the perfect pairing of seasoned pros with next generation pros mentoring young guns coming up.”
Tyler, The Creator Igor Tour 2019
Crew
- Lighting Designer: Alex Reardon (Silent House Productions)
- Lighting Programmer: Dan Norman
- Lighting Director: Shaheem Litchmore
- Lighting Co: Fuse Touring Group
- Lighting Crew Chief: Brannon Howell
- Lighting Techs: Ian Rehn, Tyler Scherbing
- Tour Manager: Henry Bordeaux
- Production Manager: Arthur Kemish
- Production Assistant: Alex Prince
- Stage Manager: Josh Mierly
- Fuse Lighting Rep: Matt McCormick
- Video Content Creator: Andrew Best
- Notch Content Creator: Rowan Glenn
- Video Programmer: Manny Conde
- Video Director: Iain Donham
- Video Co: Fuse Touring Group
- Video Crew Chief: Loic Woehrel
- Video Techs: Bryce Kongvold, Ken Bowman
- Fuse Video Rep: Patrick Eaton
- Staging Co: All Access/Robert Achlimbari
- Automation Tech: Matt Garrett
- FX Co: Pyrotecnico/Rocco Vitale
- Pyro Tech: Rico Valdillez
- Rigger: Todd Mauger
- Drapery: Shane Nelson
- Carpenter: Chris Raines
- Trucking: Stage Call
Gear
Lighting:
- 2 grandMA3 Full consoles w/ Processing Unit – L
- 3 grandMA3 8-port nodes
- 60 ACME Solar Impulse XA-12000 Spots
- 8 Robe BMFL WashBeams
- 14 Solaris Flare Q+ LR’s
- 20 GLP JDC1’s
- 42 Chroma-Q Color Force II 72’s
- 20 Acme Stage Blinder IP’s
- 2 Robe BMFL Followspots
- 4 DF-50 hazers
- 2 High End F-100 foggers
Video:
- 40 ROE Visual CB8 LED tiles
- 2 Brompton SX40 LED processors
- 4 Barco UDX-4K32 laser projectors
- 2 disguise gx 2c Servers w/ Notch
- 1 Blackmagic Design 40X40 12G SDI router
More Tyler, The Creator Igor tour photos by Steve Jennings
