LD Brent Clark operated his design for The Tragically Hip’s Fully and Completely tour through mid-February in Canadian arenas. He then returned to Sarah McLachlan’s U.S. run Feb. 27-April 1. Describing The Hip’s design, Clark explained: “Our main focus was to create two distinct shows. The main part of the show was the band playing the album Fully Completely in its entirety, which they had never done before, and then book end that set with five songs. So those five songs had to look and feel entirely different. We did this by using only black and white I-Mag side screens and straight up rock and roll lighting with no video content. So when Fully Completely started, all the video elements rolled into play and the side screens sprang into color. It was quite a fun project to work on.”
35 Years. 41 Years. First Tour.
LD Marilyn Lowey hits the “Melody Road” with Neil Diamond, marking 35 years of working with the artist. Since 1980, Lowey has made sure Diamond shines in the best light in a live performance, whether it’s on the concert stage or in TV or film sequences. She’s racked up a list of awards including an Emmy for Diamond’s Hello Again special in 1986. Running the console while out on tour is Emmy award winning lighting director Greg Maltby. The North American tour runs Feb. 27-May 31.
Howard Ungerleider, another award-winning production/lighting designer with a long-standing gig since the summer of 1974, is whipping up a new design to celebrate 40 years of Rush on the road. The band’s “R40 Live Tour” will play 34 cities May 8-Aug. 1 in North America.
And then someone new gets their start in the industry. LD Max McDougall marks his first tour by running his lighting design for EDM star Steve Aoki’s tour. Being based in St. Paul, MN has been instrumental in propelling his career, he said. “The Twin Cities is a smaller market, and I believe that has helped me get to where I am today. I am able to have such a great relationship with all of the local vendors and staging companies. Everyone works together around here, and it’s a nurturing environment for lighting professionals, albeit a small one.” (For more on McDougall, turn to “On the Road,” page 12).
Gig Plotting with Troy
Programmer Troy Eckerman of Houston-based Chroma Designs helped light the outside of University of Phoenix stadium during the Super Bowl, describing the gig as “nice and easy.” He is now in his 12th year — logging in 600 days — in changing the lighting for the changing of the seasons at the Bellagio Conservatory in Las Vegas. This time it wasn’t for a season, but for the special Chinese New Year’s Year of the Goat-themed display. For other projects, he lists Wrestlemania (“it’s always big”), with Tim McGraw’s tour on the radar in the next few months. As hectic as his schedule is, he still enjoyed a ski vacation with the family in Colorado.
“D.Lux” Carr Lights Deluxe Cars in Qatar
After lighting director Amy “D.Lux” Carr finished with Sara Evan’s 2014 tour, she headed out to Doha, Qatar to design and program the FIA Annual Gala Prize-Giving Ceremony. The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile ceremony honors Formula 1’s “best of the year” drivers and other racers. Speaking of the challenge of shining light on shiny cars, Carr said, “Lighting the cars was really fun! For my other passion as a visual artist I use high gloss often, but naturally it’s challenging in a stage environment. To control the bounce I utilized low level wash light directly on the vehicles and then accented the area around the cars with high intensity spots to create a framing effect of patterns, color, and contrast.”
Quick Cues
LD Michelle Sarrat is directing/operating LD Susanne Sasic’s design for singer/songwriter/musician St. Vincent, who plays through the summer. “When we start to redo markets in the U.S., we will do a new design,” she said.
LD Kevin “Deuce” Christopher is preparing for Journey’s scheduled Las Vegas residency at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino April 29-May 16. It was too early at press time for details. “Some of the design elements are still being hashed out,” Deuce noted.
LD Carl Burnett is operating his design on the Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters tour, which just added more summer dates in Europe and South America.
LD Martin Thomas of Relentless Entertainment Design is working out the engineering on a new design concept to support Todd Rundgren’s tour in support of his latest release, Global. Thomas describes it as “a very different concept with a series of convex video columns.” Rundgren hits the road April to June in the U.S., continuing in Europe in autumn.
Lighting and production designer Mark Cuniffe designed the worldwide tour for Ed Sheeran. The tour’s gear, crew and looks can be seen in PLSN’s Feb. 2015 “Showtime” feature, and Cuniffe and lighting director/programmer Paul Smith shared their insights with PLSN contributor/photographer Steve Jennings. It’s posted at www.plsn.me/EdSheeranLighting.
Spring forward by sending news of your 2015 touring plans to Debi Moen at dmoen@plsn.com.
