PLSN spoke with production and lighting designer Butch Allen of Blame Funnel Creative about his work on Carrie Underwood’s arena tour earlier this year, in support of her Oct. 2015 Storyteller album. The tour sold out arenas around the country. Allen’s previous clients have included Eric Church, Metallica, Usher, Paramore and Van Halen, to name just a few. Allen spoke about working with the tour’s creative director Barry Lather, the production team and putting together Carrie’s first in-the-round tour.
Butch Allen
Production & Lighting Designer
“It’s my first time at the party. Barry Lather brought me in to work on this show. He was hands-on with every look and moment in this show, and the final product is a direct result of his vision, which is stunning. It was in-the-round from the inception. As with any project, there were revisions, but all in all, things ran smoothly.”
The show has five acts. Underwood dominates the audience with her stellar singing, and she roams the entire stage, end to end. Everyone in the arena gets up close and personal with her. The center circular stage lifts Underwood high above the crowd, we get a jukebox, a mirror ball, lasers and numerous costume changes, all adding to her unique talent.
“That’s all Barry. He did a great job structuring the show. He also cued every motion control cue. Pretty amazing. He has a deep knowledge of lighting, pyro, lasers, motion control and, in every sense of the word, directed this show. Bryan Anthony, Barry’s assistant, was the gentle nudge I needed to focus on any one task and get it done. A valuable additional set of eyes.
“All of the vendors are top notch. Without their experience, excellent crews, and hard work, this project never would have been completed at the level it has achieved. I’ve worked with SGPS, PRG/Nocturne and Strictly FX many times, old friends and dedicated artisans. This was my first Bandit Lites experience. Their service, and especially the amazing crew reinforce Bandits’ already stellar reputation. As usual, the only problems we had were the ones I created… Ha!”
Underwood’s tour production team include Geoff Donkin (Tour Manager), Chris Coffie (Production Manager) and Aaron Ford (Stage Manager). They wrangled this project into submission, says Allen.
“They are very much hands-on evil geniuses. Calm, experienced, and focused. Their input was beyond valuable. There’s also Marina Toybina, costume designer to the stars. She took things to another level. The detail, and craftsmanship in all of Carrie Underwood’s costumes are beyond anything I’ve ever seen.
“My associate designers — Rob Koenig, Cat West and Nate Cromwell — programmed the show. It’s both brutal and beautiful. The programming team excelled. NO sleep, and tons of GrubHub. ‘Tour with me — look like me.’ Nate Cromwell not only manages the show visually, but takes care of the BlackTrax system as well. His day is very full. Makes a mean coffee, too. It’s a very hard show to run (no timecode here BTW), and Nate makes it look easy. Our four person lighting crew from Bandit has a ginormous job, and they accomplish it with poise and precision. Bill, Sam, Jeff, and Chelsea have been longtime Underwood team members, and they are Monsters!”
Handling video director duties is Jason Varner. Shooting a show in the round is a challenge, says Allen. Pyro and lasers are provided by Strictly FX, and automation and staging were done by SGPS.
“Jason is a very thoughtful and intelligent director. He pulled his team together very quickly. I have a long history with Nocturne/PRG and, as to be expected, the experience was world class. John, Jackson and Will from Strictly FX are blowin’ this show up daily. The laser rain effect that Strictly developed for us is breathtaking. I dare you not to get chills when you see it. Strictly FX innovates, period. The SGPS team has a challenging day as well. The stage is huge, and filled with custom automation, a lot of moving parts and they crush it daily. Nate Loftis calls and operates over 190 plus cues nightly… crazy, right? Thirteen people on the carp/automation crew. This time that’s a lucky number.
“It doesn’t fly without the riggers. Chuck, Bill, and Pat stunned me from the first day by making this show look easy to hang. It’s not. They are stars. D.A.S. Design Works built the props. A show-stopping jukebox, and a breathtaking blowing fabric effect that achieved a dream that Barry Lather has discussed for quite a few years. Beautifully packaged, and beautifully finished.
“Every tour claims to be a team effort. I consider this show to be the example of what a dedicated team can accomplish. I am humbled by their efforts, professionalism, and experience. The 600,000-ish folks that attended the first leg of the tour enjoyed the fruits of their extraordinary labors. Carrie’s an amazing performer. It’s just a bunch of gear and folks in black T-shirts without her talent, charisma and energy. She was tireless in rehearsals, and delivers beyond expectation, and that’s an understatement. Her performance sets the bar for all of us to strive to reach as her support. This show is a beautiful, intense, joyous celebration of her music. Carrie Underwood’s organization has a touring history that is rich in creative design and direction, in turn always creating a thrilling live experience. It was an honor to be asked to play a small part in what will be a long and illustrious, boundary pushing touring career.”
Nate Cromwell
Lighting Director
Nate served as the tour’s lighting director. He talks about using other tricks in his arsenal, as no spotlights for backup or fill in were used.
“When we were in pre-production, we had a very big issue to tackle. Because of the triangular softgoods that are hung just below the grid around the entire arena, most spotlight positions would be blocked. We couldn’t put manned moving light spots on the concourse because of logistics, and truss spots weren’t a viable option either. Butch threw out the ‘What about using BlackTrax?’ After some research, we agreed it was the way to go.
“There were quite a few hurdles we had to leap to get the system rolling, and we had huge support from Marty Cochrane and the rest of the team at Cast BlackTrax on the gear end. Wardrobe genius Marina Toybina and her team, along with Joan Lee, who is our touring wardrobe lead, were tasked with getting all of the infrared stringers and pouches for the packs into all of the 20 different outfits and 10 jackets Carrie wears throughout the tour on various nights. This was no small task, and how they integrated these into the costumes was really ingenious. Joan did an incredible job of wrangling the BlackTrax packs and quick changes during the show. We run two cloned packs as Carrie’s mains, and a separate set for when she wears jackets.
“Out on the road, we had a huge difference in trim height of the 180-foot-long dasher trusses each day. Sometimes we would have to take them up past 65 feet for sightlines, and other days, it was as low as 30 feet because of trim height. Being able to manipulate zones and swap which lights are doing what and when became tantamount to key light consistency. The efficient drag/drop/apply feature of the BlackTrax server programming really made doing large, complex changes to the programming easy. Time management was always a big factor in my day, with IR camera focus, BTX calibration, lighting focus, programming and more. Changes to BlackTrax would take minutes, not hours.”
CREW
- Production & Lighting Designer: Butch Allen/Blame Funnel Creative
- Creative Director: Barry Lather
- Associate Director: Brian Anthony
- Tour Manager: Geoff Donkin
- Production Manager: Chris Coffie
- Assistant Tour Manager: Amy Reynolds
- Production Assistant: Erica Devereux
- Lighting Director: Nate Cromwell
- Lighting Co: Bandit Lites/Michael Golden
- Lighting Crew Chief: Billy Willingham
- Lighting Techs: Sam Morgan; Jeff Archibeque, Chelsea Opdyke
- Video Director: Jason Varner
- Video Co: PRG Nocturne
- Video Crew Chief Engineer: Omar Montes
- Server Operator: Nick Ruocco
- LED Tech: Krystena Rice
- Pyro & Lasers: Strictly FX/Ted Maccabee
- Pyro: John Lyons
- SFX: Jackson Fraiser
- Lasers: Will Kent
- Stage Manager: Aaron Ford
- Automation & Staging: SGPS/Eric Pearce
- Head Rigger: Chuck Melton
- Riggers: Bill Heinzlmeir, Patrick Leonard
- Head Set Carpenter: Rey Rodriguez
- Carpenter Rigger: Tony Magro
- Set Carpenter: Geddy Webb
- Automation Crew Chief: Alex Dew
- Automation Programmer: Nate Loftis
- Automation Crew: Mark McKinney, Chris Kunkle
- SGPS Head Carpenter: Angel Aguirre
- SGPS Carpenters: Dennis Osborne, Patrick Purciful, Vadim Melline, Brian Neighley, Jordan Morris
- Props: D.A.S. Design Works/Aaron Ford
- Wardrobe Supervisor: Joan Lee
GEAR
Lighting:
- 84 Chauvet Rogue Hybrids
- 36 Robe BMFLs
- 48 Clay Paky Sharpys
- 38 Clay Paky Spheriscans
- 48 Solaris Flares
Lighting Control/Networking:
- 2 grandMA Full consoles
- 1 grandMA Command Wing
- 3 grandMA NPUs
- 2 grandMA NSPs
- 1 Yama Cold Brew Drip Tower
BlackTrax Setup:
- 15 Optitrack 13E IR Tracking Cameras
- 1 BlackTrax server
- 3 Luminex Ethernet-DMX8
- 3 Luminex Gigacore managed switches
- 5 BT Beacon Packs
- 64 Diode Stringers (Sewn into wardrobe)
Staging:
- 1 Stage (134.5’ overall length)
- 1 48’ diameter central stage element w/turntable
- 1 Center stage lift (8’ diameter)
- 4 Band lifts (incorporated within turntable)
Video:
- 4 Oval V9 Lite I-Mag screens
- 3 Concentric V12 rings (14’, 20’, 26’ diameter)
- V9 Classic panels for decks
- 6 LDK 8000 Elite Cameras, including
- 2 24’ Jimmy Jib Super Plus configurations
- 2 Fuji Digi 99s long lenses
- 1 Fugi Digi 66 long lens
- 1 Fugi HA 14X4.5 handheld
- 2 Panasonic AW HE-130s robo cams
- 1 Canon HF-G30 with Bolt Pro 300 TX/RX (Carrie Cam)
- 4 Mbox designer machines on
Mbox Director - Grass Valley Kayak switchers
More Carrie Underwood ‘Storyteller’ tour photos by Steve Jennings:
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