Carlos Santana keeps Lighting Designer Michael Ledesma on his toes. The guitarist fronting his namesake band Santana is going strong after more than 50 years of performing. His House of Blues residency inside Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas is logging its 11th year of sold-out shows with a busy 2023 schedule, squeezing strings of dates on a calendar packed with festival gigs and rescheduled concerts postponed by the pandemic. And there’s no time to rest. “I’m currently putting together a new design for our summer U.S. tour,” the LD says. The 1001 Rainbows Tour starts June 21.
Frampton Never Says Never
Peter Frampton’s Finale: The Farewell Tour in 2019 was supposed to be exactly that. With his diagnosis of a degenerative muscle disease—inclusion-body myositis (IBM)—he wanted to stop playing while at the top of his game. So, when John “Grinder” Procaccini got the surprising call that the legendary guitarist felt good enough to tour again this summer, the production manager was thrilled.
“During Peter’s Finale Tour, he was optimistic and vowed to ‘never say never!’” Procaccini says. “I was thrilled when Peter asked me to join him at this very important time in his career. As an iconic guitarist, whose relevance to rock ’n’roll has been immeasurable, he and I have had the pleasure of a very good working relationship and I am thrilled to be out there supporting him this summer.”
Gregg Maltby is designing the lighting for the nationwide Never Says Never Tour, which goes into rehearsals June 1 in Frampton’s Nashville neighborhood, and kicks off June 21. Though Maltby hasn’t worked with Frampton before, he did see one of his Finale shows. “I’m going to light it like I light a rock show, but it will be a little more intimate. He can still play—and as long as he can play guitar and sing, that’s all that matters.” Seth Rapaport will program it for him.
Maltby’s touring foundation was built over time with bands such as Boston, Huey Lewis & The News, and Neil Diamond. Lately he’s also been lighting hologram shows with Whitney Houston and Roy Orbison. Before Frampton hits the road, Maltby will do “fill in” dates for Rapaport on The Black Crowes’ tour, then on to four shows with Paul Anka for LD David “Tiny” Butler in Singapore, Bangkok, Macau, and Tokyo. “I’ve been trying to retire,” Maltby says, “but people keep calling!”
Metallica’s World Tour
The Flash and Trash Works team of Joe Cabrera and Cat West have been programming an extensive 40-plus year catalog of songs for Metallica’s M72 World Tour, which kicked off April 27 in Europe. Rob Koenig continues his reign as lighting designer. Of special note on the itinerary are two shows, Aug. 18 and 20, which will be broadcast live from Arlington, TX to cinemas worldwide. The band’s website promises a different set list each of those two nights, revealing: “We’ll be on stage in-the-round with the Snake Pit in the center of it all. With a state-of-the-art multi-camera setup, you can be right in the middle of the action, no matter where you are in the world.”
However, West says the whole concept is a “no-repeat-show” everywhere they go, especially to please the fans who attend multiple nights. “There’s a really large catalog of songs and really every night is different. There’s no regular set list—even city to city is different.” She’s not sure if that’s why they needed two programmers this year, but Dan Braun, Metallica’s creative director and production designer suggested that the couple be hired. West says Joe has been programming the show with Koenig longer than she has, saying she was “lucky enough” to help out a couple of years ago. “We got a lot done, had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs,” West notes.
Ringo without a Rose
Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band returns to the road May 19 to June 17 for a West Coast run. Longtime Lighting Designer Jeff Ravitz says, “The upcoming Ringo tour is a continuation of the 2022 tours that had to be postponed. So, production-wise, no updates or anything new…just that same great Ringo show!” But there is one change to note. Susan Rose, who has toured with the Beatle drummer for 19 years, would be out with Melissa Etheridge at the same time, so she programmed the show and trained Lighting Director Greg Classen to fill in for her.
The All-Starr Band includes vocalist Colin Hay (Men at Work), guitarist/vocalist Steve Lukather (Toto), jazz/rock drummer Gregg Bissonette, keyboardist/singer Edgar Winter, bassist Hamish Stuart (Average White Band, Paul McCartney) and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ham (Kansas/Toto).
Doobies, Manilow
The Darkroom Creative’s Nathan Alves and Seth Jackson are involved with the final three legs of The Doobie Brothers’ 50th Anniversary Tour with Lighting Director Scott “Scooter” Warner operating the design under Production Manager Bryan “Froggy” Cross. Additionally, the design team has Barry Manilow’s Las Vegas residency at the Westgate continuing throughout 2023—which, Jackson notes, is “breaking Elvis’s record for the building.”
Quick Cues
- Chris Lose wrapped up lighting director duties in April on Journey’s Freedom Tour 2023, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the band.
- Kevin Northrup is on the road as Lighting Designer for Luke Combs’ world tour, which he also programmed. Oli Metcalfe is Production Designer.
- Jonathan Martin is Lighting Director for Lady A’s Request Line Tour for Lighting Designer/Programmer Michael Marcario.
- Cosmo Wilson says after lighting Joe Perry’s “hatful of dates” in April, he embarks on the Hollywood Vampires’ tour in Europe starting in May.
- Chuck Williams is designing/programming for a world tour with Illenium. Williams says the DJ’s largest show will be on June 17 in front of an estimated 45,000 fans at Denver’s Mile High Stadium.
Share your touring news with Debi Moen at dmoen@plsn.com
