Several tours are paying tribute this year to the 50th anniversary of hip hop and its culture. The F.O.R.C.E. Tour, an acronym for Frequencies of Real Creative Energy, kicked off its North American summer tour with Production Designer/LD Gary Westcott. Headliner LL Cool J takes the stage with backing band The Roots, who also serve as the house band to accompany artists such as Common, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Z-Trip, Rakim, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick and many more added daily. “It’s going well. It’s a different lineup in every city and it’s a long show—it’s three and a half hours nonstop,” the LD notes.
Westcott cites support from Charles Ford of Vue Show Design Group, who served as Programming and Content Supervisor; along with Lighting Programmer/Operator Cameron Moreno and Media Operator/Programmer Bransen Black. Lori Hamasaki worked on the graphics content, with media content created by Immanent.
DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic
DJ Cassidy is also celebrating the hip hop genre with an ever-changing stage of artists on his Pass The Mic Live Tour. Paul Turner is Lighting Designer, Director, Programmer, and Set Designer. “We did two sold out shows so far with more to come this year and next,” Turner says. The Prudential Center show featured Fabolous, Lil Kim, and Ma$e, among others, while the Radio City Music Hall show featured The Allstars of Hip Hop with Big Daddy Kane, Doug E. Fresh, Kool Moe Dee, and more. “The whole feel is just one big party,” Turner explains. “DJ Cassidy has a very strict color palette that both lighting and video need to stick with. The VJ and I work together to keep the looks clean and big.”
Turner also works as an in-house LD for ACL Live at the Moody Theatre in Austin, TX. His collaboration with DJ Cassidy started there last year during a corporate party. Turner is also a longtime designer/director for “Blurred Lines” artist Robin Thicke, who has performed on Cassidy’s tour.
‘Take it Easy’ Lighting Jackson Browne
“Take it Easy” is not just one of Jackson Browne’s hits, it’s also how he likes his lighting. And he had specific laid-back requests for Chris Stuba, who designed and is directing this current tour. During two weeks of rehearsals, Browne asked Stuba to just sit in and watch and become acquainted with the music—without lighting. So Stuba started paying attention to those nuances—the head nods and other signals each musician in the band was using. While they do have a different setlist each night—and Stuba has 70 songs programmed—Browne is easily swayed to play requests shouted out by the fans. This is when the nods and signals become the cues.
One thing Browne advised Stuba was “to not let lighting on a solo dictate the solo.” The LD explains, “In other words, he wants me to come in late. He doesn’t want the lighting to shine at a certain place before the artist is ready to do the solo. Wait for the artist first. When I advance to the solo cue, it does not include any key or highlighting back light,” Stuba notes. “I run the solo lights manually. Jackson likes it to be an act of discovery. He wants me to wait until the soloist starts soloing, never have highlighting lights on them before they start. Do not drive the solo. Also, fade the lights only when they are completely done with the solo. Organic. Not contrived—he hates lighting that is deliberately created rather than arising naturally or spontaneously, as it seems to him artificial or unrealistic.”
Stuba is not wearing headphones or calling spotlights on this show. On past tours with Bob Seger, Stuba had nine spotlights, and by the time the spotlights dimmed after each song, it was time to start the next song. Headphones shut out the crowd reactions. Without headphones on Browne, the LD lets the audience roars die down before cueing the next song—thus, not putting the light before the song.
“It has been an ear opening experience,” Stuba says, adding how he has “missed out on some powerful moments” with headsets on for years. “A good audience breathes together, and you can elevate and define the experience by listening and reacting to the breaths, the ahs and the sighs.” He’s thrilled to not only work with a 2004 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame artist, but to learn a new way to look at lighting because of it.
Quick Cues
Jonathan D. Martin reports that he’s out for the next few months as Lighting Director on Jonas Brothers’ The Tour with lighting design by Alex Reardon of Silent House and programming by Mark Humphrey. Technical Director is Eric Marchwinski.
Justin Wade headed out with Dance Gavin Dance’s The Jackpot Juicer U.S. Tour in late August running through Oct. 8, which also includes a few festivals such as Aftershock and Louder Than Life. “It’s one of the biggest rigs they’ve pulled yet,” says the Creative Director, Designer, Lighting Director, and Programmer.
Mitchell Schellenger says he designed the production for rap artist A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, who played Lollapalooza and hits the college circuit in September.
Sooner Routhier says she and Curtis Adams co-designed Alice Cooper’s Too Close for Comfort Tour. Chris Noll is going out as Lighting Director, and Andy Reuter created the video content.
Share your news with Debi Moen at dmoen@plsn.com
