The Family that Plays Together
The Lumineers have had a remarkable career since their 2012 breakout hit, “Ho Hey.” Based out of Denver, the songwriting and visionary team of Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites’ touring presentations have evolved with their growth and with the consistent presence of a core family of crew members equally dedicated to their goals. The show is extraordinarily articulated and emotionally lit with many wow moments.
To the average concert goer, the common perception of The Lumineers still seems to be that of a “little three-piece folk-rock band.” The sold-out show at Atlanta State Farm Arena in Georgia—among many on this tour—as well as Chicago’s Wrigley Field is testimony to how well they have shed that identity. The production supporting their latest album release is a well-executed tour de force of lighting, video, and automation. Every cue is run live; there is no timecode involved in this whatsoever.
Tour Director Sara Full has been with the group since 2013. She has worn both tour manager and production manager hats on the previous five years of tours, all of which were a bit smaller. As such, her guiding hand has shaped the formation of the crew and getting the right design team in place to solidify Fraites’ and Schultz’s vision.
In 2016, when Full was able to bring SRae Productions on board, it was a big year of changes. Having previously worked as a production assistant on AC/DC, Full reached out to AC/DC’s LD Cosmo Wilson, who arranged an introduction to SRae’s Sooner Routhier and Robert Long. The Brightside Tour this year will be their fifth year as production designers.
“It has been a very seamless process ever since,” Full says. “Sooner and Robert love their music, and it shows. It’s been a labor of love for everyone, and they have each really connected to the songs. Sooner’s involvement has been immense to the way the final production came together.”
Routhier recalls, “Sara Full called us to begin the process of designing the Brightside Tour in spring of 2021. We were asked to repurpose the large, circular video wall with its geometric frame. It was important to give it a new identity, so we painted it silver and lined it with some LED neon.”
“The Brightside album cycle branding features a particular blue color that lends itself to cooler metal tones and neon accents,” continues Routhier. “We wanted to frame the circular video wall and surround the band with an additional scenic element. The ‘whalebone’ pieces didn’t come from any particular inspiration. It was just a shape that fit perfectly with the circular wall and curved band risers. We added an Austrian curtain upstage with repurposed drapes from the previous tour as well. Those drapes formed various curved masks for the upstage video wall. The fabric was perfect and created a buttery effect next to the hard lines of the wall.”
Regarding the mesmerizing moments with the mirror ball, “The Claypaky Xtylos were the main inspiration for the mirror ball,” exclaims Routhier. “We knew that they would create an unbelievable effect. The Creative Director, Nicholas Sutton Bell, wanted to surround it in a stylized version of the Brightside star logo. We were able to design a four part ‘chandelier’ to surround the mirror ball that matched the surround on the video wall. It all came together beautifully and became a huge feature in the show.”
Lighting
Lighting Director Ian Haslauer has been part of the band “family” since 2019 as well. “What Sooner has done again with this year’s design,” he says, “is create a series of moments that continues to fulfill what the band has been working steadfastly at. They want their fans to leave the show saying ‘Wow! That was incredible! I can’t wait to see them again.’”
The rig consists almost entirely of one fixture: the Martin MAC Ultra Performance. It was dubbed the “perfect choice” for a system that trims upstage to down stage from 51’ to 63.’ Routhier chose Chroma-Q Color Force IIs to light the gray Austrian curtain, both in the air and on the floor. Additionally, the Color
Force are deployed as audience blinders. The unique whalebone set pieces stage left and right on the floor are lit by Claypaky Mini Xtylos HPEs and Astera AX3s. There are 18 Claypaky Xtylos hanging in the curved downstage/FOH truss, which trims at 66’ and hangs well into the audience. These are totally dedicated to the mirror ball moment.
Eight Robe Lighting BMFL Spot fixtures are remote operated—pan and tilt only—on the ground by local hands. Chris Pederson, Christie Lites FOH tech, controls intensity and iris from am MA Lighting grandMA console at FOH. “Chris also jumps in to do any tweaks while I am running the show,” adds Haslauer. “Honestly, I could not do this show without him out there. This design is a very intensely cued show that I run live; no timecode.” Haslauer’s hands are so busy flying over the console that he uses a foot switch for coms.
Automation
Automation on the show is facilitated by TAIT Crew Chief Nick Smith and Navigator Programmer Barb Pinnow. Pinnow programmed the cues through collaboration with Routhier, while Haslauer calls the cues. “The automation on this is like threading a needle,” notes Haslauer. “Between our lighting trusses, the kabuki soft goods, the chandelier, and the ‘sun video,’ there is a lot going on within inches of each element. The 102 rigging points have to be spot-on every day. It’s a very tight show.”
The chandelier consists of the four individual elements each replicating the tour logo, that of an “L” for Lumineers, and the numeral 4, a nod to Brightside being their fourth record. A 36” mirror ball occupies the nearby airspace, and all elements are automated. The sun video is the center stage LED screen that moves vertically and horizontally.
The 6,000lb. piece fabricated by TAIT comes in six separate pieces. The perimeter is outlined by LED tape and the center screen is comprised of 12mm LED tiles. A separate 8mm LED screen upstage is revealed through a kabuki star drop and automated Austrian curtain which shapes and formats the multitude of looks between the two LED surfaces.
Video
Video Director David Boisvert is practically beaming when he talks having the latest Grass Valley camera package on the market this tour. “I believe we are the first production to use it on the road,” he says. Utilizing the disguise server, through operator Dan Gentile, Boisvert is able to seamlessly achieve a goal he consistently reaches for on every production.
“I always strive to integrate I-Mag in the offstage screens,” continues Boisvert. “I don’t just hang them out there on their own. For that reason, we run I-Mag and the LED screens through the disguise server, so it all appears as one whole canvas with the show. We treat the images like cinema.” The camera package consists of four LDX150 Grass Valley cameras with 125mm long throw lens. A spider dolly track in the pit uses a wide angle 12X zoom lens. I-Mag screens receive images from the newest Barco 40K laser projectors.
The Family
The Brightside Tour in many ways is a continuation of their tour that got interrupted by the pandemic in 2020. “We almost had to work backward in a sense,” says Full, as she shakes her head, recalling the morphing process. “By massaging Sooner’s original design down, we were able to sensibly fit these into sheds for a series of makeup dates in 10 trucks.”
“Once we added those bits back in; the piano lift, the full thrust, enlarged the video wall and added the chandelier, and re-established the dramatic curve of the downstage/FOH truss, this current production blossomed to 14 trucks. At that point,” says Full, “a shifting of responsibilities was clearly needed.”
She called on Sam Cole, who was their stage manager. “I had lured Sam away from his audio leanings into the stage manager position. He does an amazing job stage managing and really is a superstar. He was my obvious choice to assume the production manager duties due to the scope of our current production.”
Sutton Bell, the creative director who oversees branding of the tour, is both a longtime friend and collaborator with Schultz. A photographer, writer, and illustrator of children’s books, he shot the band’s album covers and has directed three of their videos. He designs all accompanying media to the show, absorbing and cohering the color palette of the show. “Wes and Jer are so invested in the staging and visuals and every aspect of trying to fill each show with a series of moments,” says Sutton Bell.
“At one point in rehearsals,” Sutton Bell continues, “Sooner said we need a mirror ball for the song ‘Slow it Down.’ We were like ‘how is that gonna work?’ But you know Sooner—we’ll follow her lead wherever she goes! That turned out to be one of the most awe-striking moments in the show.”
Haslauer agrees. “The mirror ball moment is a showstopper. It flies in during blackout, and I hit it with the 18 Claypaky Xtylos from the downstage FOH truss. I always take my headset off to hear the absolute silence from the audience and then a collective gasp,” he says.
Challenges
“There are no real challenges to putting up this show each day,” says Pinnow. “And that in large part is due to Sara. Through all our departments we have very strong leads, individual teams of very strong members that were able to prioritize how things needed to go together so the day flowed in a moderately even timeline. It is a very carefully curated team.”
But scheduling and playing make up dates that decimated the live event industry is one thing. Attracting local stagehands back into the business—so essential to the success of any production—has proven another matter entirely. “Almost across the nation it was tough to fill the call,” states Smith. “We were often short hands and riggers. At times we were over 50% short of what we requested.” Pinnow agrees. “And that was not unique to just our tour. In talking with other friends, this is happening across the board,” he says. So, just how did they meet that challenge? “Carefully,” Pinnow says. “Very carefully. But no, it all goes back to that carefully curated team out here.”
“That sort of all hands on deck and familial camaraderie comes from the top down,” Full notes. “That is what we are all here for, to create something special for the fans. We all are ultimately working for them, either on stage or around it. I do believe collectively we have done just that.”
This article was written by Mike Wharton.
Production Team
- Production Design: Sooner Routhier and Robert Long
- Associate Designer: Ian Haslauer
- Creative Director: Nicholas “Nico” Sutton Bell
- Tour Director: Sara Full
- Production Manager: Sam Cole
- Assistant Tour Manager: Anthony Hook
- Road Manager/Tour Accountant: Samara Goldhecht
- Stage Manager: Amy Hofmann
- Production Coordinator: Cami DeLuca
- Utility Infielder: Nic Close
- Lighting Director: Ian Haslauer
- Lighting Crew Chief: Austin Bloomfield
- FOH Tech: Chris Pedersen
- Dimmers: Andy Welch, Dan Castaneda
- Lighting Techs: Dallas Bowshier, Cory Olson, Mel Johansen, Rome Brown
- Video Director: David Boisvert
- Video Engineer: Fred Fournier
- Video Crew Chief: Steve Tomanek
- disguise Media Server Operator: Dan Gentile
- LED Techs/Cameras: Josh Phebus, Dominic Moreau, Bong Buno, Richard Stembridge, Tony Robos
- Head Carpenter: Brantley Brooks
- Carpenter: Josh Corcoran
- TAIT Integrator: Josh Koser
- Navigator Operator: Barb Pinnow
- Scenic Lead: Nick Smith
- Scenic Tech: Josh Brewer
- Head Rigger: Madison Donohue
- Rigger: Lucas Durrill
- Lead Truck Driver: Nick Goding
Vendors
- Lights and Rigging: Christie Lites/Rep. Martin Kelly
- Video: Nighthawk/Rep. Todd LePere
- Automation, Scenic and Staging: TAIT/Rep. Matt Hales
- Scenic: Stage House/Rep. Barbara Moore
- Special Effects: Pyrotecnico/Rep. Rocco Vitale
- Trucking: Upstaging/Rep. Jeni Clark
Gear
Lighting
- 2 MA Lighting grandMA3 full-size console
- 1 MA Lighting grandMA3 compact console
- 5 MA Lighting grandMA3 processing unit – M
- 8 Pathway Connectivity Pathport Octo Node
- 85 Martin MAC Ultra Performance
- 8 Martin MAC Viper Performance
- 8 Robe BMFL FollowSpots
- 53 Chroma-Q Color Force II 72
- 5 Chroma-Q Color Force II 48
- 10 Chroma-Q Color Force II 12
- 16 Chroma-Q Color Force 72
- 6 Chroma-Q Color Force 12
- 48 Claypaky Mini Xtylos HPE
- 18 Claypaky Xtylos
- 48 Astera AX3
- 4 MDG theONE Hazer
Video
- 1 2ME Grass Valley Korona Switcher
- 4 LDX150 Grass Valley Cameras
- 3 Fujinon 125X Lens
- 1 Fujinon Wide Angle Lens
- 2 Panasonic AW-UE100KP Robo Cam
- 2 disguise vx 2 Media Server
- 1 TAIT Sun – Saco 12mm
- 1 Upstage Center Wall – Saco 12mm
- 2 Barco UDX-4K40 Projector
