Tori Kelly’s “Unbreakable” tour, in support of her June 2015 album release, Unbreakable Smile, trekked across the U.S. and Canada from April 5 to May 21. Designer Chris Kuroda was initially contacted by talent manager Scooter Braun and Allison Kaye, general manager of Scooter Braun Projects, to design the looks for the tour. Kuroda has a longstanding working relationship with Braun and Kaye, having worked for them on world tours for Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. Allison is also a fan of Phish, a band that Kuroda has lit, as LD and lighting director, since 1989, and that design work played an influential role as well.
Chris Kuroda,
Lighting Designer
“When it came time to start Tori’s tour, we decided to enlist VER for this project for a few reasons. First, I have a longstanding relationship with Kevin Forster over there, dating back to several projects I’ve done in the past for the same management company that supports Tori. I felt it was a prudent approach to work with a vendor that could continue to work with her as her show grew in the future, so we could rely on consistency as well as familiarity moving forward as well as having a rep like Kevin who I knew would be on our side and help us through the process.
“The fixtures were mostly chosen based on availability. We were given a list of choices based on inventory that included the Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO, which is a fixture I’ve been looking to spec on a project for quite some time. When I spoke to [co-designer] Sandy Paul about the options, he also immediately gravitated to that fixture, so it was an easy choice.”
Chris Kuroda and Sandy Paul had several preliminary conversations concerning approach and concept before speaking to the artist and her team. Feeling the type of artist that she was, not your typical pop singer, the approach on how to light her was a crucial element to the success of the project.
“We spoke at length about beauty and elegance being the primary visual vocabulary for this presentation, with accentuation for the music being represented with a lot of slow, sweeping motion, and less flash than audiences might see associated with a pop show environment. When we presented this approach to Tori’s team, they liked where we were going artistically, which earned a lot of trust, giving Sandy a lot of freedom to create art as he saw fit, staying within the guidelines of the conceptual approach we had described to them.”
Adding a Sew What?-supplied backdrop was another of Paul’s ideas, says Kuroda.
“Sandy decided, after the preliminary design concept was in place, that he needed some texture behind the performers to tie the visual picture together in a coherent way. His idea was perfect, giving Tori the final puzzle piece of beauty and dimension for the show’s overall look.”
Chris Kuroda says he has volumes of respect and loyalty to Scooter Braun and Allison Kaye, noting how they have become symbiotic in their work together on projects that concern their most important clients.
“When Allison called about being involved [with Tori Kelly’s tour], I took it upon myself to do everything in my power to do the best of my ability to make sure this would be successful on every level. Those folks have been so wonderful to me in the past that I try to make every effort when called upon to not let them down. We all have our personal morals and values as people, and mine definitely comes into play when it comes to them.”
Kuroda says that, in his humble opinion, finding Sandy Paul has increased his success. Paul’s background is in theater, fashion and television, in addition to music.
“I was unavailable to travel with the tour. I really wanted to find someone that I could trust to represent all the parties involved, handle day-to-day stuff, [deal with] any curve balls and [make] those ‘on the fly’ decisions on his own, all in a professional manner. I deferred to my associate Andrew Giffin to help me make the best, well informed choice, and he felt Sandy was the perfect representative. He handles all the technology well and is a great artist once left on his own, on the road. We couldn’t have been more right, he’s everything we wanted and a whole lot more. I hope to work on more future ventures with him.
Sandy Paul
Lighting Designer and Director
Sandy Paul spent a week in Los Angeles in rehearsals with the band — programming, laying out the floor package and cueing out the entire show, based on concepts that he and Kuroda put together.
“Because we weren’t carrying an overhead package I had to depend on house gear in each venue which gave me a chance to change it up a bit every day. Like Chris, I like to run the show live so it was important to me to have a way to do that. We’re carrying just a minimal floor package, consoles and the aluminum mesh backdrop along with supplemental house gear.”
Although he has used many other types of consoles, Sandy Paul has focused in recent years on the grandMA2.
“Over the course of the tour, I’ve ended up with over 75 fixture types in the patch. The MA2 handles all the updates and cloning beautifully.
“When I first came into rehearsals, Tori wanted to know and learn about what we were doing, so she and I had several at length talks about her feelings for certain songs and how to convey those throughout the show. On the last day of rehearsals, she sat next to me at the console and sang, watching the show to see what it looked like from out front.
“We had a very open dialogue throughout the tour, about things she liked, and/or when things were missing. For about a third of our shows, we didn’t have spotlights available to us. Tori has a lot of personal moments in her songs. Part of what we talked about was how to convey those easiest by traveling with minimal lights, so I initially decided that, throughout her show, there were always two lights fixed on her from our package, because I couldn’t rely on house fixtures to be there.
“Tori is a true treasure to work for. Her talent and her spirit are incredible, and I feel extremely lucky to be part of her team. I’m grateful to Chris and Andrew for putting this all together from the beginning.”
Tori Kelly “Unbreakable” Tour 2016
Crew
- Lighting Designer: Chris Kuroda
- Lighting Designer/Director: Sandy Paul
- Lighting Programmer: Sandy Paul, Andrew Giffin
- Tour Manager: David Klein
- Production Manager: Allwyn Kelly
- Lighting Co: VER
- VER Rep: Kevin Forster
- Trucking: Source 7
- Soft Goods: Sew What?
Gear
- 1 grandMA2 consoles
- 1 grandMA2 Light console
- 12 Clay Paky Alpha Spot 800 QWO
- 2 Martin MAC Vipers
- 6 Chroma-Q Color Force 72 RGBAW
- 4 TMB Solaris Flare RGBW Strobes
- 2 DF50 Hazers
For more Tori Kelly “Unbreakable” tour photos by Steve Jennings, go to www.plsn.me/PLSN-Tori-2016
