Just can’t wait to get on the road again? As happy as it sounds, it’s not yet “back to normal.” Although the good signs point to iCalendars filling up with gigs, some early tours are experiencing minor bumps in the construction zone from production to performance.
“Far Bigger Issue”
The Fireplay design team is getting into the groove, but taking precautions. CEO Nick Whitehouse explains, “We are having a great deal of conversations and have taken on a decent number of projects with some really great clients, but we are being careful to make sure that we can deliver these projects to the very best of our abilities and creativity. That means we are not going to overload ourselves. Moving forward, we will be very selective with the projects and clients we take on. I’m seeing that across the industry. The big issue everyone is going to have is crew. They’re just not there, or have moved on — it’s a far bigger issue than I think anyone realizes.”
On a positive note, projects he can talk about include Jason Aldean’s two nights at Bonnaroo with lighting director Keith Hoagland. The performances along with a livestream were designed to kick off the “Back in the Saddle” tour announcement. Fireplay is again the production designer, lighting designer and creative producer for the tour, which starts Aug. 5. “Luz Studio are our partners putting this together. They created the video design, are producing the content and working with us on the creative and programming,” Whitehouse notes. Fireplay can also reveal their touring production work with James Taylor & His All-Star Band with guest Jackson Browne starting July 29 (with lighting director Tom Wagstaff), Dan + Shay’s “The (Arena) Tour” Sept. 9-Dec. 7, and Carrie Underwood’s Las Vegas residency starting Dec. 1 at Resorts World, a major new casino on the site of the old Stardust that opens this month.
Getting a Pulse on Cost Containment
The only Pulse Lighting LD who’s been working non-stop during the pandemic is LD Roger Gant, who has lit artist Billy Strings for drive-in, socially distant and livestream performances. Now the entire design team is plotting a busy summer. Owner Paul Hoffman returns to the road June 25 as lighting director for Widespread Panic’s summer tour. As Pulse also provides lighting equipment, Hoffman says all their touring clients are ready to get a show on the road by July, if not before.
Current productions are described as “budget conscious.” Hoffman explains, “Budgets are tighter, there’s less wiggle room. People are trying to do more with less, and that’s understandable, as most bands have to refill their coffers.”
Trends vary among band sizes, he says. “I know of at least two or three small bands that are not taking any lighting whatsoever, not even an operator. On the very low end, there is a lot more cost containment. In the mid-sized and larger bands, some have said ‘we want what we had before,’ but the cost control will be around the edges. Like with Widespread Panic, there is an effort to control cost, but it won’t affect the quality of the show. They may save money on trucking or catering or accommodations.”
The normal summer rush for equipment will move to the fall/winter this year. “Some larger bands will be making announcements soon and some are on our roster (with those tours to be announced later), so we will be pretty sold-out through August to September,” Hoffman notes, adding that he’s not complaining. “That is a high quality problem to have.”
Hagar’s Concert Considerations
Sammy Hagar & The Circle launched their tour May 23 in Florida for a myriad of reasons. Production manager Alastair Bramall-Watson said the pandemic is still influencing touring productions.
“Florida is open, so we couldn’t do what we are doing in Florida in most of the country,” Watson says. Of their first seven shows — all outdoors — they’re experiencing different levels of social distancing rules, even within a state. One outdoor show is limited to a 50 percent capacity, while in another city, it’s 80 percent.
As a result, bands at a 50 percent capacity venue are having to perform two shows for the same money being offered for one show. “So for Sammy, we are doing two nights in a row. A tour we would have done in 10 days, we are now doing in two weeks,” Watson notes.
To trim costs, Sammy and crew are flying everywhere rather than boarding the bus. He doesn’t know if that is a better deal or not as far as health goes, but it makes more financial sense to not pay for a tour bus to wait around, especially when doing multiple days in the same city.
Another trend is for a shed to supply a lighting rig, a P.A. system and a video screen to use as the required show rig to discourage bringing in a rig, Watson explains. “Instead of loading in your lighting rig with 12 touring crew and stagehands, now you just load in a little backline with six stagehands. It saves money, and for a health benefit, it reduces load-in and load-out interactions.” Hagar’s production carries its own backline and a small floor lighting package, but no stage audio, getting it locally instead.
LD Matt Mills returns as designer/director. During this past year, Mills and his co-workers at Touch Light & Media were trained as Covid Compliance Consultants to provide services for productions to work in safe environments. He also filled in for Korn’s LD, “Church,” for a livestream shoot, and worked with longtime friend Staind’s LD Mike Cooper on a livestream of the 20th anniversary of their Break The Cycle album. “I am certainly excited about getting back to shows with a live audience in attendance and working with all my colleagues again,” Mills says.
Kansas Across U.S.
While LD Scott Pearson became “ a much better fisherman” during the pandemic, he’s happy to trade the fishing rod for the road. Kansas’ tour kicked off May 8 in Clearwater, FL. Already, however, with ongoing capacity restrictions, the May 18 date in Grand Junction, CO was postponed for a future date. “For our summer dates, which aren’t that many, I’ll be using in-house gear at first,” Pearson notes. “We won’t start carrying full production until the fall.”
Stapleton Starts in Summer
LD Mac Mosier is heading back out with Chris Stapleton’s “All American Road Show” tour with special guests and a full lighting rig. “We’re taking out the new show we started with last year; the one show we did after a month of rehearsals in 2020,” Mosier confirms. Fresh rehearsals now run from the end of June into July. The advertised tour kick-off in Chicago has now been moved to 2022 for Covid reasons, so July 28-30 is the new three-night starting point in Gilford, NH. Mosier says they’ll do 48 shows by Dec. 5.
Programming Black Pumas’ Colors
Lighting director/programmer Meagan Metcalf confirmed the gig she couldn’t talk about last month was for psychedelic soul band Black Pumas. She programmed lighting for their NFL draft gig, and five consecutive one-off nights at Stubb’s in the band’s Austin, TX hometown. It “felt so amazing to get to work again,” she says. “I might have shed a tear or two!” Marc Janowitz designed the Stubb’s show for local rental gear, “as much as we can fill up on the stage,” she says. The Pumas’ summer festival shows have yet to be designed.
A Look at Nook’s iCal
LD Nook Schoenfeld says he’s “feeling good about life.” He and Paul “Arlo” Guthrie recently teamed up with producer Michael Apostolos of Fourline Creative to light the Sounds of Blackness segment for the Billboard Music Awards. Shot at a satellite stage at Paisley Park Studios, the production brought to light the recent police unrest Minneapolis has gone through with the local talent introduced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Nook’s iCalendar has been filling up with 10 one-offs, two corporate events, a TV show and a tour design scheduled. As usual, lighting director Hal Deiter is covering many of Schoenfeld’s shows. And this is on top of Nook’s day job as magazine editor.
Share your good news with your industry friends by emailing Debi at dmoen@plsn.com.
