Cort Lawrence raises a shout out to Show Designer Scott Holthaus, who just “put out a great show” with the rock band, Disturbed on their Take Back Your Life Tour. “I had the honor and privilege to support him and this show as his associate,” Lawrence notes. “What can I say? It is one of his best and a spectacle full of fire effects everywhere. The show happens to go through close to 1,000 pounds of propane every night.” Holthaus elaborates on the flame-filled design, saying, “Luckily the band were as bored spitless as I about having a big TV behind them, so we came to the conclusion that it needed to be replaced with a ridiculous amount of fire.” The North American tour’s summer leg ignited July 11 and blazes to Sept. 2.
Crows and Dashboard
Joel Reiff is out with Counting Crows and Dashboard Confessional on the Banshee Season Tour ’23, until late September. He designed the rig and is running lights for both bands. “The Crows’ Adam Duritz and Dashboard’s Chris Carrabba are close friends, and I wanted to make sure they were well-taken care of,” he notes. “The highlight being that one of our truck drivers, Bob, has a lovely dog named Jackson with him, which means I have three jobs: lighting director, video director, and dog walker,” Reiff notes. “It’s a great bunch of people we have out here. Best summer run I can remember this side of a Jason Mraz tour.”
AC/DC Podcast with Cosmo
An interview with LD Cosmo Wilson kicks off Season 4 of the recently released podcast, AC/DC Beyond the Thunder. The LD, who has worked on more than 700 shows for AC/DC since 1990, was apprehensive at first about doing the podcast but got the thumbs-up from the band management. “I’ve been in this business for 43 years, and one of the main reasons I continue to be successful, is that bands trust me, and I would never break that wall of confidence,” he explains. During the interview for the fans, Wilson takes fans behind the scenes and describes the catalysts behind many of the band’s designs over the years, from The Razors Edge tour through Rock or Bust. Fueled by listener donations, AC/DC Beyond the Thunder sends 100% of the proceeds to the Make-A-Wish and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Foundations. The episode is now available for streaming on all platforms and at www.BeyondtheThunder.com.
Keeping up with Caporale
Tony Caporale of Infinitus Vox has a few designs on the road this summer. Sublime with Rome (with Programmer/Lighting Director Alex Rodgers) and Tedeschi Trucks Band (with Lighting Director Brian Pirrone) are both touring amphitheaters. Caporale recently collaborated with Jacob VanVlymen doing screens production for the NHL Awards in Nashville. Afterward it’s off to LA where he will program for U.S. and European festivals upcoming in the fall for Billie Eilish.
You Can Go Home Again
About six years ago, Kevin Cauley took a break from the road for studio work. He was Lighting Director on The Ellen DeGeneres Show for five years (with three Emmy noms) and was later picked up on The Jennifer Hudson Show. “All my eggs are in the film/TV basket,” he notes, referring to the industry strikes going on. “Not exactly the best situation at this moment in time.” With skills as a creative director, designer, and programmer of lighting and media servers, Cauley is reminiscing about his touring days with Soundgarden, Green Day, and Prince, and making efforts to return to the concert, corporate and live events world. Find him at www.kevin-cauley.com .
Quick Cues
- Andrew Kleiner says he’s “been jumping back and forth” as Lighting Director/Programmer between two groups: Girl Talk and The Strokes. Currently he’s gearing up for The Strokes’ Asia run. Cort Lawrence is the designer.
- Brent Clark wrapped up Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’s tour. He’s repacking his bags for a mid-August to mid-September run with Robert Plant and Saving Grace. Clark says, “it should be fun,” pointing out the itinerary of ancient European amphitheater dates, specifically in Italy and Spain.
- Craig Gaff continues through the summer with Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, with a number of those shows as opener for P!nk. An Austin City Limits taping is on the books toward the tour’s end.
- Dan Hadley of LXFC is taking a week between Foo Fighters tour legs to update Maggie Rogers’ summer shed tour with Lighting Director Dinah Miller. Meanwhile, Tess Falcone is touring her new Jimmy Eat World design through North America.
- Matt Guminski returned home from a month-long EU/UK tour with The Cult, which hit 12 countries and headlined six festivals. Travel resumes with a West Coast run in October and another UK run in November. But before that, he’s looking forward to being sworn into the United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, IATSE in August. “While I always have been doing theater, I’d like to try and focus on it a bit more but still keeping my feet fully rooted in concert touring and design,” he says.
- Michael Brown is putting his stamp on a new design for indie group, The Postal Service. Michael Greer is co-Lighting Designer and Lighting Director for the tour, which is enroute to its destinations starting in September.
- Michael Keller has been out on the U.S. leg as Lighting Director for the band, Sparks, for designer Matthew Kemp of UK design house, Quantum Creative.
- Michael Shucher has joined the crew as Lighting Tech on Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band’s U.S. summer stadium leg, which hits the highway in August.
- Seth Jackson’s Darkroom Creative team has Barry Manilow’s summer tour in between dates for Manilow’s ongoing residency at the Westgate, Las Vegas with Nathan Alves as LD. Meanwhile, Jackson is assembling the new residency for singer/TV personality Erika Jayne at the House of Blues, Las Vegas, which kicks off in August.
Keep Debi Moen posted with news of your gigs and tours. Reach her at dmoen@plsn.com
