PLSN DESIGNER Watch – by Debi Moen –
Back in 1976, when Cosmo Wilson saw his first Aerosmith show, the shiny silver PAR Cans and the power of the music burned in his brain. It looked like rock. It screamed rock. He saw them every chance he got. So when Aerosmith summoned Wilson to present designs for their Global Warming 2012 tour, Wilson reeled through the years and went retro in his design.
“When they wanted to see some designs, the first thing I thought of was the silver truss, ACLs, moles, a big PAR can look,” Wilson says. “They always had a big letter A in the truss — they did it for many years and it finally disappeared from the shows because they ran out of ways to do it differently. So I wanted to bring the ‘big A’ back,” he adds, noting that Aerosmith’s Joe Perry also wanted a circular truss. “When I added that to the A and wings, it was suddenly, coincidentally, the Aerosmith logo!
“The first thing Joe Perry said was it was like he was back in 1975,” Wilson notes. “I didn’t even know they wanted a retro rig. They’ve had big shows with tons of moving lights, but there’s a different feel with PAR Cans. They can feel the heat. They know what they like.”
Wilson describes more of the set. “The original theme was an Outer Limits motif. The original idea was to have a 3D video wall. So to get that look, the back video wall is a pop-out wall that looks like 3D. There are three video screens — the circular one in the center is for I-Mag and content. The pop-up video wall has content designs and colors. Then there’s I-Mag on the back wall with other content.”
For the B stage, a lift elevates Steven Tyler — seated at the piano — for “Dream On.” As for other effects, look for a confetti cannon.
“We did a lot of programming, but there were no production rehearsals with the band,” Wilson says. “The first show was basically a dress rehearsal, and it went great — I was prepared. But by the second show, I made lots of changes.”
Wilson had previously worked with Steve Richards, Lady Antebellum’s lighting director, on tours for AC/DC, and he brought Richards in to work as associate LD. Richards helped with pre-visualization in Las Vegas and was instrumental in programming on the console.
Wilson adds that the truss fingers that he designed raised some band eyebrows, wondering how it would all work. “When I design a rig, I think of the nuts and bolts. I can always make my design work, because I was a crew member for so long, I know how things are put together,” he says.
There’s a break in the Global Warming tour schedule for Steven Tyler’s American Idol gig, and then the band hits the road once again from October to December.
“Aerosmith is the biggest American band — they’re like the American Rolling Stones,” Wilson notes. “They’re also one of the only bands left that still has original members,” he adds, crediting Steven Tyler for “unbelievable energy — he’s a dynamo. I enjoyed working with him, we bounce ideas off each other. I didn’t even know they wanted a retro rig! But they’re like a big bar band, like AC/DC. They want to rock.”
An LD Faces the Music
We predicted it would happen. One day, LD Susan Rose would have to face the music. That day came when country singer Doug Stone had to cancel his Memorial Day concert at the Grand Majestic Theatre in Pigeon Forge, TN.
Fueled in part by “the show must go on,” Rose, who had been scheduled as the opening act, took the headlining slot and brought in friends from the area to fill in as opening acts. The result was called the “Free Memorial Day Concert for Veterans and Friends, Starring Susan Rose.” And she still managed to design her own lighting for the show.
“Yes, I programmed my own lights, using the house theatre rig,” Rose says. “My friend Doc ran the console for the show, and Robert ran sound. I lit my show like I would light anyone else’s. ‘The light show featuring the sounds of Susan Rose.’ I got a standing ovation!”
She followed her own design principles when designing her own show. “I like to paint the stage with big powerful looks. Not only do I want people to hear the music, I want them to see the music.”
Even as Rose serves as lighting director for Ringo Starr’s summer tour, her singing career is taking off. “I am signed with an A&R company in California, and they have released my single, ‘When I See You Smile,’ and it’s getting radio airplay. I’ve also been doing live radio shows in Tennessee with some of the stations that have been playing my songs. I’m doing a big ‘This Is Who I Am’ (the title and song of her newest CD) campaign this fall with the single release, and doing a music video.”
While she can now consider herself a full-fledged recording artist, there’s no entourage or yoga instructors on her rider. A bucket of wings and a frosty beverage after the show keep her happy. Listen in at www.susanrose music.com.
Meat Loaf’s Mad, Mad World
Meat Loaf launched his Mad, Mad World tour from his new world/hometown of Austin, TX. LD Steve Fallon flew in 10 days prior for production rehearsals; the first show was June 22.
Meat Loaf takes direct involvement in his production, claiming that a good show comes not from equipment but from the entertainment factor.
Indeed, the touring gear list is light: a console, some media servers and a flex LED video screen, all of which pack easily. They’re picking up the lighting rig locally.
The key ingredient on this tour is a generous portion of video content. “Video has brought out Meat Loaf’s inner Martin Scorsese,” Fallon says, explaining that the artist is so involved that it feels like they are collaborating on a film. Actually, since “Meat,” as he prefers to be called, discovered that Fallon’s talent also includes on-the-fly video editing, the pre-production has expanded with new content daily.
“Meat Loaf is a performer; he’s excited, he’s got a young band, some backup singers and he is having a great time as an entertainer. It will be a classic rock, nostalgic show with hits people remember, [along with] clips from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
While speaking of recent design trends, Fallon brought up the new conversation he’s having now with artists. “I ask two questions: ‘Do you want to be lit up for the live audience, or do you want to be lit up for YouTube?’”
Those questions were prompted after one major performer came to an epiphany, realizing that the thousands of posted iPhone videos on YouTube have become an enduring record of his work on the Internet. If the lighting or video or his own face isn’t translating well in those amateur clips, he figured, his design team should focus more on how it looks through iPhone cameras rather than through the audience’s eyes.
“Much of the rotating gobos and other lighting effects just don’t show up effectively on YouTube videos, and they become less important — especially when adjacent to ambient light from LED video screens,” Fallon explains. The new design mantra is ‘I need to look good on You Tube.’ ”
It is such a priority with one major performer, Fallon notes, that the crew takes its cues, so to speak, from monitors near the lighting console that display the show from an iPhone’s point of view.
Quick Cues…
LD Travis Shirley is production/show designer for the Enrique Iglesias & Jennifer Lopez co-headlining summer tour, which starts July 14 in Montreal… Steve Richards is lighting director for Lady Antebellum’s Own the Night world tour…LD Jerome Thompson hits the North American fair/festival circuit this summer with Big & Rich. “They are a great party band and that’s what I am doing. Having a great time!”… LD Dan “Malibu” Krygowski took a “short 11-month retirement from the road” and is touring lighting director with John Mellencamp for LD Steve Cohen. The band crosses Canada this summer, joined by The Cowboy Junkies… Zach Peletz programmed media servers for the touring production of Broadway’s War Horse. He then went on to program changes for the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s European tour…LD Alastair Bramall-Watson takes out G3’s World Domination summer tour in Europe — the three guitarists being Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Steve Morse… This year’s M3 Rock Festival lineup in Columbia, MD hurled LD Mike Lurz through the WayBack machine. Night Ranger, Quiet Riot, Skid Row, Cinderella, Warrant, Ratt, Queensrÿche — all were mainstays when he worked at the former Baltimore shrine to big hair, Hammerjack’s Concert Hall and Nightclub, ages ago. “I pushed myself back through time to Hammerjack’s, and there it was,” Lutz says, of the lighting design.
Email your Designer Watch news to Debi Moen at dmoen@plsn.com.
