Production designer Marc Janowitz devised a design in early April for singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell tour in support of the March 31, 2015 album release named for the singer’s mother, Carrie — who died in 2012 after suffering from mental illness — and his stepfather. Stevens channeled his grief into his most personal, intimate songs. To present them on the road, he eschewed the props and gimmicks for which he’s known, and Janowitz sets the stage for a more melancholy mood.
“The intent of the production design is to create a solemn and contemplative environment in which Sufjan can reflect,” Janowitz said. “His performance runs the spectrum from introspective and solemn to emotionally explosive. He is relaying a genuinely spiritual journey through his music. At times there is barely more light on him than a candle. At other times the light streams right out through the background and elevates him to a transcendent state.”
Lighting director Jason Rothberg is operating Janowitz’s production, which runs a few months in the U.S. and Canada, hitting mostly theaters.
Arlo for Lady A
LD Paul “Arlo” Guthrie is working with set designer Bruce Rodgers on Lady Antebellum’s “Wheels Up” tour, which supports the late 2014 album, 747, and starts its North American leg May 1. “Lady A, the crew and the whole organization are a delight to work with,” Guthrie said. “They have a unique way of doing things — they like a ‘laundry list’ of items — and they know what they want to spend money on. We have lighting director Tony Caporale — another huge advantage for me because he is there all the time and knows what is going on with them. He has a good understanding of the music. It’s a fun project — they are fun people to be around and are amazingly good at connecting with the audience.”
Okulus Zeroes in on Zac Brown.
Designers Louis Oliver and James Scott of Okulus are looking after the production and lighting design for the new Zac Brown Band tour. Rehearsals began April 14 in Tupelo, MS, where the tour kicked off April 29. Okulus planned to run the first four shows before placing an operator, Kevin Moore, on the tour. Dates run to Sept. 20.
Kilmurry on Hozier
LD Matthew Kilmurry is touring with Hozier in North America, carrying little production for now and promising bigger shows on the next round. LD Steven Douglas, who directed some Hozier dates for Kilmurry, is now starting up a tour with Brandon Flowers of The Killers. Flowers plays a couple of California dates in April then starts in Dublin May 19 through June in Europe.
Kenny Can See For Miles with The Who
When we asked LD Tom Kenny if he was still designing for The Who, now on their 50th anniversary tour, he replied, “Of course I’m lighting the best rock and roll band in the world. I mainly light events and TV now but I love working for them so they’re the only band outside of Bowie that I work for.” The Who Hits 50! tour, supporting the greatest hits album released last fall, has dates set to Nov. 4, 2015 in North America.
Healy Addresses J. Lo’s Dress
After a season off, LD Kieran Healy has returned to American Idol, now in its fourteenth season, generating some magical looks for the cameras and audience. He said, “I am very proud of a performance by Jennifer Lopez where we used projected content on her dress.” (View her song “Feel the Light” at plsn.me/JLoLighting). “I have also designed the latest season of Last Comic Standing for NBC and continue to look out for challenging projects,” Healy adds.
Nook Looks to Lighting Directors
While LD Nook Schoenfeld is chained to his editor’s desk at PLSN, he continues being inspired to design. He has three clients going on tour in the next two months, but is sending lighting directors to run the shows. Hal Deiter will direct Sheryl Crow, Stan Green takes over the desk on John Legend, and Justin Shaw mans the console this summer for Kid Rock.
Bones Talks Toby
Toby Keith’s longtime LD Eddie “Bones” Connell is collaborating with production designer Seth Jackson for the country star’s new tour, which starts mid-May. (Read more about Bones in “On the Road,” this issue, page 10).
Smith on Fitz & FitzGerald
LDs Chris Smith and Cory FitzGerald have been cloning each other recently. Smith returned back from South America with Fitz and the Tantrums, designing a special set for their two-weekend Coachella gig. But he couldn’t be there to run the second weekend, as he’s off to run FitzGerald’s design for Demi Lovato in Australia/Southeast Asia. So FitzGerald jumped in. “This wasn’t planned at the beginning, but it’s going to be fun to see the two different weekends as Cory and I tag-team. He’s kind enough to jump in cold turkey and help out!”
Smith said the Coachella design was “the finalization of our concept from the beginning as we’re nearing the end of the album cycle. The custom Fitz video heart was the centerpiece with a low-res ‘wall’ of lighting fixtures to fill out to the left and right of the stage picture. The fixtures give super lo-res video effects as well as high intensity lighting effects at the same time.”
Quick Cues
Programmer Laura Frank worked on BET’s Black Girls Rock, programming the d3 and setting up the content workflow. In April she planned to set up the video system for the first national tour of Matilda the Musical.
LD Chris Shrom is creating a new design for the third leg of Little Big Town’s Pain Killer tour across North America to fit into the summer festival/county fair circuit venues.
LD Chris Kuroda returns to the Phish camp, having lighting director Nick Van Nostrand assume his duties on Ariana Grande’s worldwide tour.
LD Steve Owens is out with The Doobie Brothers.
Take a breather from your busy 2015 schedule and keep Debi posted with your whereabouts at dmoen@plsn.com.
