LD Joel Reiff grew up listening to Alice Cooper on the radio, so he was familiar with the songs. What he had to learn to light were the stunts that Alice pulls onstage on his current tour. The “Spend the Night with Alice Cooper” tour entertains with props and gags galore, as Alice has done since the 1970s. Reiff says Cooper and his manager, Shep Gordon, create the ideas for the stunts with James Randi as one of the stunt designers.
There’s Alice struggling in the straitjacket, getting zapped in the oversized electric chair (which calls for some heavy strobing, fog and pyro cues), having his head “chopped” off by the towering guillotine. There’s a gurney, a gas mask, a naughty nurse, a blood-streaked butcher coat and plenty of wardrobe changes all going on while the band is in overdrive on the guitar-heavy songs. There’s even a Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton moment with costumed characters fighting while Cooper promotes himself as a presidential candidate for 2016. “Why not me?” Cooper asks the audience, wearing his Uncle Sam outfit representing “The Wild Party.” “(I’m) a troubled man for troubled times,” he declares.
“Shep told me, ‘You’re the eyes of the audience — you direct them to where they will see the gags at the right time,’” says Reiff. “That’s all I was told about what they wanted for lighting, so that’s how I approached this.”
Beyond the band and character actors, there’s another performer that commands attention and time under the spotlight. It’s “Julius Squeezer,” Alice’s boa constrictor, which slithers around the artist at one point onstage. Reiff says he himself had an intimate meeting with the constrictor and apparently passed the audition. “Of course, you don’t HAVE to meet the snake, but I definitely wanted to,” Reiff says. “I like to know who I’m working with.”
How was that meeting? “The snake was cool and mellow. He just does one song with Alice. I’m not sure if he’s paid scale or what,” he jokes.
Reiff has run a completely different design — sans snake — when Alice performed this year with his classic rock supergroup, Hollywood Vampires, which included Joe Perry and Johnny Depp. “The snake doesn’t really fit in with the full onslaught of the Vampires live show. Different vibe,” he explains. “With Alice, it’s more theatre of the macabre; with the Vampires, it just a rock ‘n’ roll celebration of all the lost stars of an era.”
Cummings and Goings
LD Mikey Cummings currently has the following designs out on tour: Old Crow Medicine Show (with lighting director Neil Scrivener), Chris Stapleton (lighting director Roger Gant), Lake Street Dive (lighting director Danny Grabus) and Brandi Carlile (lighting director Justin Michael Bridges). Three more tours hit the road the first week of September with Cummings’ designs. Bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers (with lighting director Conner Ostrowiski) kicked off their own tour Sept. 2, and will join up with some performances with Steve Martin and Martin Short’s co-headlining tour, called “An Evening You Will Forget For The Rest of Your Life.” Also,
Dinosaur Jr. (with lighting director Wes Rizzo) head out Sept. 7 to Dec. 10. Jason Isbell returns to the road after a break, with Cummings at the helm as lighting director of his design.
Quick Cues
- After the fairs/festivals summer circuit, LD Andre Huff took the Martina McBride show indoors in late August for a theatre run. In autumn he unveils his new design for her new “Love Unleashed” tour, which runs Oct. 14 to Dec. 9 in theaters/arenas.
- Mitchell Schellenger designed production and lighting for two current tours: Awolnation and Rob Thomas. He’s sent out Andy May as lighting director on Awolnation and David Marucci on Rob Thomas. Schellenger also handled lighting direction for Imagine Dragons’ performance at the Singapore Formula 1 Race, and declares that he himself is “racing all over the place, doing festivals and such.”
- Louisa Smurthwaite has finished lighting director duties on Florence + The Machine’s 18-month world tour. She’s now LD for Glass Animals, a British band who start their U.S. tour Sept. 24.
- LD Niller Bjerregaard is operating his design on a U.S. run with the Danish metal band Volbeat, now on their U.S. tour.
- LD David McIntyre also directs his design for the U.S. run with Scottish indie rockers Frightened Rabbit, which tours through the month of September.
- LD Dean Rosenzweig makes the U.S. run with the Canadian electro-pop Crystal Castles, who tour through the month of September.
- LD Pete Schroth is out with The Avett Brothers in Europe. “The band does quite well over here. It always amazes me to hear folks singing along.” The band returns to the U.S. for dates starting in September.
- LD Justin Collie just finished up with Maxwell’s tour.
- LD Paul “Arlo” Guthrie has staved off the ditch digging for a couple of months. He’s working on the Minnesota Vikings’ first halftime special in their brand new home — the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. He’s also designing the upcoming Stevie Nicks & The Pretenders tour.
- LD Jon Pollak takes off the month of September before starting a month’s residency with Steely Dan in October at the Beacon Theatre in New York. “We are going to Astuni in Italy where we have a little trullo!” (Which translates as a small round stone hut with a conical roof.)
Send your news to dmoen (at) plsn.com.
