Country singer-songwriter Miranda Lambert is a nine-time consecutive ACM Award winner for Female Vocalist of the Year and a two-time Country Music Association Awards winner for Album of the Year. She’s also won two Grammy Awards. We caught her Wildcard tour, named after her 2019 album release, and spoke with production, lighting and video designer Paul “Arlo” Guthrie, lighting programmer and director Taylor Price and tour director Curt Jenkins about the tour.
Paul “Arlo” Guthrie
Production, Lighting & Video Designer
Paul “Arlo” Guthrie says they knew from the beginning that Miranda would perform with the Pistol Annies trio as part of the first leg of the tour, so they started out exploring a big arena show and a B-stage at FOH to reveal them. (The other “Annies,” who have performed with Lambert since 2011, are Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley). “As things progressed and we decided it would be best to present the Annies on the stage with Miranda’s band, we honed things down to a big end stage look without any gags or tricks, big lighting looks, and integrated video. Miranda does not want the music to be upstaged and doesn’t like gratuitous effects or stage mechanics. She’s more comfortable being close to her band, but she still wanted a big-looking show.”
Guthrie says he always goes back to working with an artist convinced he won’t be able to think of anything new. He went to Nashville in May 2019 and met with Miranda when she was still recording the new album. They talked about the feel of the new songs and where she was in her life. He then sent some sketches and ideas the next week. “I didn’t want a big wall upstage, but we knew we still wanted video content and I-Mag, so I came up with the three screen shapes and added a fascia with lights to style it a little, along with some curved edges to make it less squared off. The curved fascia also hides the stepped nature of the video tiles and hides some of those right angles and hardware. We kept the riser video, since I like the way it adds a scenic element in the middle of the frame — a lot of songs just use a grad or a glow to replace the black hole that winds up behind the front line. I raised the upstage walls on recommendation from Josh Clark, the video director, to get away from video feedback behind Miranda, and added lines of GLP X4 Bar 20 battens to give it some depth and fill that gap.”
John Huddleston at Upstaging drove the fixture choices for the tour. Guthrie wanted all the lights in the rig to be the same, and Upstaging had just gotten the Acme’s back from the Arianna Grande tour with good reviews, so those became the profile. “Turning on all the Acme’s and having every single one of them be exactly the same color/beam/quality was something I realized I’m not used to. There’s always some slight subtle variation in fixtures with an arc lamp. Taylor [Price] and I were pretty impressed the first time we fired them all up.
“I needed something small and light for the screen surrounds, and Upstaging had the Elation Dartz fixtures, so we used those. In both cases, they might not have been what I would have originally chosen, but they turned out great, and we got to explore what they do and incorporate those features into our show,” Guthrie adds. Upstaging also had the GLP and Robe fixtures [MegaPointes] Arlo was seeking at the ready, “so that was easy.” Along with Upstaging, the Miranda tour went back to tour vendors Screenworks and Gallagher Staging because of the great production relationships that work so well, says Guthrie. “None of them have outed me as a hoax yet, so I am still thankful of our little secret…”
As video designer for the tour as well, Guthrie says he’s lucky to have worked with some really clever and creative content creators that helped him with the more challenging songs that he says were beyond his creative abilities of looping stock footage. “Andy Reuter, Gabriella Russo and Joe Humpay all contributed great art in keeping with Miranda’s aesthetic, and we had some songs from the last tour that we kept over. She has such a large repertoire that we need a lot of content on hand in case some of those songs come back into rotation, but keep it varied so it doesn’t all look the same. [Video director] Josh Clark is also a great collaborator, visually, and is great at pulling all the looks together and still directing a show that presents Miranda in a flattering way.”
Taylor Price
Lighting Programmer & Director
Taylor Price notes the tour crew have all developed a great working relationship together, saying the only stress they can run into is those tight timelines. “Each time out, the shows become bigger and more technically complex, but the programming and rehearsal time doesn’t get any longer,” he notes. “Every couple of years, I like to scrap the show file and start over. After multiple software version updates, lots of cloning and show changes, it just keeps things cleaner. With a new album cycle and new production design, it seemed like a good time to start fresh.
“Back in August, before the first leg of the tour, I spent a couple of days building the base show file [with layouts, presets, song pages and cue lists, etc.] before meeting Arlo at Upstaging for three days of programming to get a jump on things as the crew was putting the final touches on the lighting prep. We then moved to Nashville for a week where we added in the video, audio and backline. Once the band wrapped rehearsals each day, we’d get the audio recording and start programming the lights and video. The leg of the tour that started in January saw a lot of setlist changes, so we had three days in Nashville with lighting, video and set to program all the new songs.”
Price says there still is no timecode or tracks on this show — it’s all live, all the time. “It’s one of the things I like most about working with her, it’s all played live, and can change anytime [and often does]. It keeps me on my toes. The video is built so we can jump around songs and roll with the changes as they come and are not locked into the tight show structure you see so often these days. We’ve been using Follow-Me software for several years now, and it’s become a must-have item for me on any project. It’s really become an indispensable technology. On this tour, we have seven Acme Solar Impulse fixtures dedicated solely to Follow-Me, and I can pull other fixtures from the rig to be used throughout the show as needed. Our lighting crew operates the targets for the show. They learned the show in rehearsals, making notes for who they follow on a given song, and I control the rest. There is a level of comfort for the artist as well, having the same lights in the same place every night, all balanced and color matched and operated by the same people. It has spoiled me as well, not having to call spots for most of the show.”
Price notes that “Arlo gave me a lot of great fixtures to use on this one,” adding that the workhorse of the rig is definitely the Acme Solar Impulse fixtures. “Hud (John Huddleston) at Upstaging brought those to the table, and we’ve been very happy with them. It’s a 40,000-lumen LED profile that packs a ton of punch and features. I even swapped out the discharge followspot fixtures on this leg of the tour with them because of the quality of light and reliability. We have done 40-plus shows and only swapped one fixture.
“Mega Pointes are also a favorite of mine,” Price continues. “Arlo was kind enough to let me give a wish list, and right behind Follow-Me is the MegaPointe. It’s a great fixture with a ton of features. We have 18 of them on the floor that give us a lot of different looks throughout the show. There are 72 Elation Dartz mounted on the custom screen surrounds, which are great little fixtures — they’re really bright and hold their own with the large video walls and the Acmes. It’s my first time using them, and I’ve been really impressed. GLP has been putting out some great fixtures for years now. The X4 Bars and JDC1 Strobes are no exception. We have 48 X4 Bar 20’s mounted on custom set carts Upstaging fabricated, creating three rows across the stage behind the band. We’re able to get great FX and eye candy looks with them, and they give the set an extra dimension that looks great on video.”
Miranda’s shows typically include about 25 songs each night, but Price will have at least 35 programmed and ready to go, as she likes to mix it up. He adds, “Typically, once we get through a weekend or two of the tour and they get a good show flow, we settle into a solid set list with a few alternates thrown in from time to time. This tour, we left rehearsals with around 45 songs, and for the first two weeks of the tour, I was getting a new song or two every day at sound check. Some days, it might be a cover I can use the punt page for, and some days, it would be an old song off her first couple albums I need to cue out and have video content for. I think we finished the second leg of the tour with around 53 songs to pull from. It keeps things interesting for sure. Our video director, Josh ‘Deathray’ Clark, has been with her as long as I have and is really great at rolling with the changes as they come. We may not get a set list until an hour or so before the show, so he and I can sit down and talk about where we need video content and where we need I-Mag for all the last-minute changes. It takes a great team to make the show look cohesive.”
Scott Norden, Crew Chief, & Curt Jenkins, Production Manager
Scott Norden has been the Upstaging crew chief for Miranda since Price started, and as well as being Price’s right-hand man, they’ve become good friends. “I try my best to never do a show without him. The whole lighting crew is fantastic and deserves a ton of credit. This show runs flawlessly every day because of the hard work and long hours they put in. The whole Upstaging team are incredible. Their attention to detail and support behind the scenes make it a no-brainer to call on them every time. They focus on the individual needs of each client, and it shows in the outstanding product they deliver on each project.”
Tour manager Curt Jenkins first started working for Miranda Lambert in the fall 2015. One thing he notes he’s learned, time and time again, is that it’s a team effort. “No one person or position is more important than the other. As an example, we had a show end, and we were 20-plus stagehands short. So Erik [Leighty, production manager] and I jumped in and loaded trucks. Or, more recently, we hit a big snowstorm and trucks were late, the kitchen truck didn’t show up, but our catering crew made food happen so we could unload trucks as they arrived, and doors were on time! Every person has a job, and that job is vital to the whole show’s success.”
Miranda Lambert Wildcard Tour
Crew
- Production & Lighting Designer: Paul “Arlo” Guthrie
- Lighting Programmer & Director: Taylor Price
- Lighting Co: Upstaging
- Lighting Crew Chief: Scott Norden
- Lighting Techs: Mike Zielinski, Aaron Walchli, Michelle DeZetter, Kat Jensma
- Upstaging Rep: John Huddleston
- Tour Manager: Curt Jenkins
- Production Manager: Erik Leighty
- Production Assistant: Cameron Vaughan
- Stage Manager: Jimmy Ruderer
- Video Designer: Paul “Arlo” Guthrie
- Video Director: Josh “Deathray” Clark
- Video Co: Screenworks
- Video Crew Chief: Grit Frederick
- Video Techs: Corey Neal, Aaron Hebda, Kevin Jordan, Matt Lindstrom
- Screenworks Rep: Randy Mayer
- Carpenter: Tyler Anderson
- Riggers: Marc Knowles, Alex Curry
- Staging Co: Gallagher Staging
- Gallagher Staging Rep: James McKinney
- Drapes: Sew What?
- Trucking: Stage Call
Gear
- 2 grandMA3 Light consoles
- 97 Acme Solar Impulse XA 1200 BSWF’s
- 72 Elation Dartz 360’s
- 48 GLP X4 Bar 20’s
- 18 Robe MegaPointes
- 8 GLP JDC1’s
- 12 Portman P2 Hexalines
- 2 MDG Atmosphere hazers
- 291 X7W LED video panels
- 2 Barco HDF 30Ks
- 1 Ross Vision M/E switcher
- 4 Sony HXC100’s
- 3 Panasonic HE120 Robos
More Miranda Lambert Wildcard tour photos by Steve Jennings:
