How many times have you heard lighting designers say that you shouldn't notice the lights, that they should reveal the subject, and that they shouldn't detract from the artist? That's fantasy.
I've heard that for many years and I never questioned it. Then, the other night it struck me that there's more to it than that. I was watching the Grammy Awards and James Blunt was performing. He had a guitar and, if memory serves me correctly (which is not a given), there wasn't much else. I saw a single performer on stage very well lit by a white video wash and a row of automated lights behind him. Then it occured to me that, without the eye candy, it would have been a very dull performance. Then I thought about the audio – which is something I seldom do these days. But if there were no effects – no reverb, no sound reinforcement, no "fattening" of his voice – it would have been a very dull performance indeed. This all leads me to believe that lighting production adds value to a performance, despite what I've been led to believe all of my lighting career. You may not go home whistling the lights, but without lights, it's just radio.
