Holiday tours are spreading multimedia magic across the country. Production designer Bryan Hartley has reimagined a new look for the annual Trans-Siberian Orchestra tour, which again runs an identical East and West Coast leg Nov. 13-Jan 4, 2015. Hartley could hardly contain his excitement, telling PLSN, “My new design and concept for this year show and story is probably the best thing I’ve done. It really is a masterpiece! It is my favorite design.”
Offering a sneak peek, Hartley explained, “In this live debut of TSO’s The Christmas Attic, the toy box opens at the start of the show to reveal the band that rises up from the box. I’m super proud of this one!”
Another annual event is Brian Setzer Orchestra’s Christmas Rocks Extravaganza Tour. LD Bud Horowitz travels with the show Nov. 14-Dec. 21. He first started working with Setzer in 2005, and he’s rocked the Christmas tour since 2008.
Mannheim Steamroller celebrates the 30th anniversary of their Christmas concert tours in identical runs across the U.S. Nov.12-Dec. 28. New to the team this year is LD Stephen Gotschel, who designed and directs the Green tour, and lighting director Ian Haslauer with the Red tour.
LD Jeff Metter reports that Kenny Rogers has launched “quite a sweet little Christmas tour out now” until Dec. 23 in the U.S. and Canada, entertaining with classic holiday tunes and a handful of hits. This is Rogers’ 33rd Christmas tour and his 50th year of
music on the road.
Black Jacket Symphony Recreates Thriller
LD Marc Janowitz has designed lighting for RAC’s tour, formerly known as Remix Artist Collective. Now RAC is the solo project of Andre Allen Anjos, who primarily remixes arrangements from artists such as U2, Kings of Leon and more. Janowitz also designed for TV on the Radio, The Replacements, the newly launched tour with Trey Anastasio Band, and the Black Jacket Symphony’s new production of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The BJS replicate some of the industry’s most iconic albums in their entirety.
Janowitz told PLSN, “The band itself is actually ‘cast’ on a per project basis… to find musicians who fit the instrumentation required to fulfill the album’s needs, note-for-note. In this case they also found a ‘Michael,’ an auto mechanic who impersonates Michael Jackson, right down to the gestures and the dance moves.”
The show featured two sets: Thriller, note for note, and a “best of” including Jackson 5 hits. (Lighting Director was Zach Sternberg.)
Janowitz harkened back to the 1980s for inspiration. “I did my best to make the set and the lighting feel as though it was high tech for 1982; though to achieve that aesthetic today is more of a challenge and not terribly cost effective. Even getting enough PARs to create the light wall proved difficult. Though there were a fair number of moving lights in the plot, for the most part we avoided programming too many live moves sweeps. Instead, we’d establish a focus per song and rely on intensity chases and color shifts to carry the song’s dynamic. This seemed to be a more authentic representation of his concert looks from the ‘80s. I was reminded while watching video from the era that moving lights were so new and used so sparingly that the shear motion of a handful of white beams could escalate a moment and take it over the top. It took a lot of restraint to keep motion in the reserve and only use it when there was nowhere left to go. Today, we take for granted that lights move – so much so that the real novelty is when they just stay still.”
Quick Cues
LD Robert “Bob” Peterson returned to the Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band camp for the Ride Out tour, which the record label claims to be Seger’s most extensive tour since 2006-2007. The tour kicked off Nov. 19, touring the U.S. and Canada with dates until February 2015. Chris Stuba travels with the show as lighting director. Peterson, by the way, is in his 38th year of working with Seger.
LD Paul “Arlo” Guthrie has Fleetwood Mac’s On with the Show tour on the road (with the return of Christine McVie after 16 years). At the same time he is designing the lighting for the 2015 Red Bull Crashed Ice events in St. Paul, MN and Edmonton, Alberta. Guthrie told PLSN, “Let’s pick two of the coldest places in North America and do outdoor shows in winter — Wahoo!”
LD Eric Wade has designed Usher’s UR Experience tour. Jason Winfree is assistant LD.
LD Brent Clark hopes to take December off after Sarah McLachlan’s Canadian tour. Her tour continues in Feb. 2015 in Australia, with U.S. dates set for Feb. 27-April 1.
Production/lighting designer Robert Sondergaard was again tapped to design the lighting for the 2014 Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup Halftime Show Nov. 30 at Vancouver’s BC Place stadium. American band Imagine Dragons were the featured performers for what is annually one of Canada’s most watched broadcast.
LD Mike Swinford is currently “pretty slammed” with Kenny Chesney, Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett, an unnamed TV special, and the NBA All-Star Game.
Australia’s Mandylights designers are juggling three tours. Ricky Martin is touring arenas and stadiums in Mexico and South America, with Mandylights’ Richard Neville as LD and visual designer Alex Grierson (See related story, page 28). G.E.M., described as China’s version of Lady Gaga, is on a 13-week stadium tour around China before heading to Singapore, Malaysia and the U.S. in early 2015. Neville is working with LD Tom Wright on this one. Finally, Neville designed the production and lighting for The Madden Brothers — Benji and Joen Madden of Good Charlotte fame — who are on their Australia and New Zealand tour ahead of U.S. dates in 2015.
LD Troy Stubby continues with Air Supply, finishing the year in Panama, Argentina and Israel. Air Supply’s 40th anniversary tour kicks off Jan. 16, 2015 in Stubby’s home base of Denver at the Paramount Theatre. In March they’ll be overseas again in Taiwan, China, Philippines and Japan.
LD Liam Tully is touring with Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy, whose U.S. dates run to mid-December. Joy opens for Taylor Swift’s North American dates on her 2015 1989 world tour.
Keep Debi Moen posted with all your plans for 2015! Email her at dmoen@plsn.com.
