Production designer, LD and “ambience coordinator” Charlie “Cosmo” Wilson rocked the boat with Foreigner’s recent outdoor gig — on the deck of the USS Midway aircraft carrier. The ship was decommissioned in 1992 and is now a museum permanently docked in San Diego.
Although Foreigner performs many corporate shows, they rarely perform on such a stage, Wilson says. The sheer nature of the environment brought with it some challenges. With display aircraft spread throughout the four-acre flight deck, there was limited space to set up a stage. Plus, it was an outdoor show in January, and the forecast called for rain. Simon Sidi advanced the show, supplying lots of detailed photos.
The stage — with a four-post roof — was built in front of the main control towers, called the Island Superstructure. Wilson kept the lighting system simple with 72 PAR cans, a few moving lights and some LEDs for background. Dressing rooms were fashioned from pipe and drape with portable heaters. Sometimes “ambience” translates simply into “warmth.”
Even the load-in was unusual. “Gear was sent up using a cut-away shipping container, which was lifted up to the aircraft elevator by a forklift, and then the elevator lifted the container to the flight deck. Then there was a 300 foot push to the stage,” Wilson explains. Smaller items could go via the Bomb Elevator, but then they still had to be forklifted to the flight deck.
All setup had to be done quietly, which can be challenging when you’re looking at a floating city made of metal. “We were unable to make noise until 5 pm,” Wilson says, “as the ship was still open all day to the general public.”
Though it’s not unusual to see people parked at FOH at most shows, there was something more distinctive parked at Wilson’s console this time: a Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk helicopter. “I just wish I could’ve sat inside it and run the show from there,” he says.
“For me it was a blast,” Wilson adds. “I have a deep love and interest for aircraft and ships, especially military. Also, I have actually been an annual member of the USS Midway Museum since it first opened in June of 2004 and visit the ship every time I have a day off in San Diego. It was great to be able to walk around and check the exhibits out as well as visit all the open spaces in and around the carrier. Plus, since we were working there, it seemed that the docents and staff were more open to talking to us and telling us stories.”
And now Wilson, has a maritime memory of his own…
Van Halen 2012
After years of the on again/ off again status of a Van Halen reunion with original frontman David Lee Roth, fans got their wish with the tour announcement for 2012. As did LD Phil Ealy, who jumped at the chance to design their tour. Ealy’s got Troy Eckerman and Cory FitzGerald programming for him. Ealy couldn’t comment on the design yet, adding, “But if I may quote Dave, it’s like the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl… you save your best quarterback until last.” The North American tour for A Different Kind of Truth starts Feb. 18 with dates through June.
Immortal World Tour
Cirque du Soleil’s $60 million arena show, Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour is traveling North America with 76 performers, a live orchestra, three vans of costumes and two hours of music featuring Michael Jackson’s real recorded voice in audio and video. Writer and director Jamie King, director of creation Chantal Tremblay, set designer Mark Fisher and LD Martin Labrecque are just a few of the production’s big names. Lighting director Eric “Frenchy” Belanger reports from the road: “This is one of the largest arena tours ever put together. We got out of rehearsals with 42 tractor trailers. We’ve slimmed it down to 35 trucks now. It’s a challenging tour to keep on the road — there is so much stuff going on. We are now also in (a same day) load-in/show situation. At first, we used to have a load-in day before the show to give ourselves some padding, but that’s gone now. But we usually do two or three shows in the same city, so it’s not a grueling as a rock ‘n’ roll tour.”
Eyeing Rise Against
LD Richard “Nook” Schoenfeld is the production designer for the Chicago-based band Rise Against. His role includes set, lighting and video design for their upcoming tour. Ben Marxx will run it as the lighting director. “The band came to me and said, ‘Here’s a backdrop and four empty set carts. Figure out a way to incorporate these into a design with lighting and soft goods,” Schoenfeld says. “The backdrop was a human eye with the band’s logo in the pupil. I simply had the truss and lights on the set carts follow the oval curve of that eye…”
Quick Cues…
LD Jeff Ravitz is preparing for Bruce Springsteen’s tour, which kicks off in early March…LD Baz Halpin has designed Lady Antebellum’s headlining tour, which kicked off Jan. 27…LD Mark “Junior” Jacobson is touring with Tool. He was out with Puscifer in November/December and returns to them in February/March. But he’ll miss the first two weeks of their spring tour as he’ll be in Australia/New Zealand with System of a Down…Programmer Troy Eckerman is also programming Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s tour of Australia, with Pat Brannon as operator…Vickie Claiborne is well-known for her programming classes — and her PLSN column. But she has also designed shows — both lighting and video — for Las Vegas icons such as Wayne Newton and hot hotels including the Aria and the Bellagio. She welcomed in 2012 with a large New Year’s Eve event for Aria’s VIP guests. “I love having the opportunity to grow as a designer and programmer with events such as this,” she says.
What do you have on deck for the coming months? Let Debi Moen know at dmoen@plsn.com.
