Think about it: The Beatles had no lighting designer on tour. The thought boggles the mind.
This year, America celebrated the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ 1964 landing in New York and the launch of Beatlemania. On their three 1964-66 tours, the world’s most popular band may have had a followspot operator, but otherwise were stuck with poor house lights or, in the case of stadiums, industrial fixtures meant to light the field, not the Fab Four. Forget “stage design.” One promoter lined up 200 folding chairs onstage — and directly behind the band — to squeeze in more of the screaming girls and society celebrities for over-capacity ticket sales.
Obviously in 1989, when Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr was hand-picking his first All Starr Band, times had changed. No more folding chairs or field lights. Ringo was told to hire a lighting designer to set the stage. But “lighting designer” was a foreign term to him.
Tour director George Travis recommended Jeff Ravitz. “As The Beatles, they never had a lighting designer, so what we were doing was new and fun for him,” Ravitz said.
This year’s U.S./Canada tour started June 8 in Ontario and ended Oct. 23 in Florida. Though the design has evolved and the band lineup has changed over the years, Ravitz refers back to the day it all started 25 years ago — and that means not calling Ringo a “former” Beatle.
“The way I see it, once a Beatle — always a Beatle. So, from Day One I approached this show with the appropriate reverence!” Ravitz said. He recalled fondly that first meeting with Ringo — a meeting which set the stage for the type of production Ringo wanted through 25 years of touring.
Ravitz Meets Ringo
“For Ringo, the 1989 tour was his first foray into the modern touring world, and to having a creative and technical team like we’re familiar with,” Ravitz explained. “The connection came through George Travis, like so many career- and life-changing things he did for me and plenty of others. George had been introduced to the producer then (David Fishof), and he engaged George to put the entire tour together as tour director. As a result, a lot of the Bruce Springsteen/E-Street Band production squad was called into action. It was the year after Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love and Amnesty tours, so most of us were available.
“It was a thrilling moment when Ringo walked into the room at production rehearsals in Dallas,” he remembered. “As a kid, I had seen the live broadcast of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show and followed them, like everyone did, with fan fervency. Seeing him in the flesh was magical. I stopped and stared as he entered with his entourage and started to look up at the lighting system.
“After a few minutes, I was invited over. It was brief. His voice had that famous Liverpool accent and he expressed initial concerns. He reminded me right off the bat that the only lighting The Beatles had was a followspot, so this was new to him. He hated the color amber and asked me to avoid it. He was also worried that the lights would be uncomfortably hot, particularly pounding down on his head when he would be at the drum riser. He was right—I had a lot of light planned for him, so that got adjusted immediately. He also wanted audience light for him to see them. We were ahead of him on that one. He didn’t want the lighting to be distracting, since he was beginning to understand the potential for lighting to take center stage with fixtures that moved and changed color.”
During rehearsals, Ravitz started slowly, wanting Ringo to feel comfortable. He laid low, cue-wise, gradually sneaking in color changes and movement. “The band was clicking, and the energy level was rising. By the time we got to Billy Preston’s ‘Will It Go Round In Circles,’ we couldn’t hold back and released a torrent of moves, color changes and rotating gobos. The band applauded and Ringo was smiling broadly. It appeared we had been given de facto approval to carry on as we thought best.”
After that tour, Ravitz could talk with Ringo prior to touring to discuss backdrops, riser treatments, and introduce more technology. Over time, Ringo’s “Peace and Love” mantra has been immortalized with the peace symbol and its two-finger hand sign in the artwork. Accents of stars, planets, galaxies, rolling fields of sunflowers and lilies are also guiding icons in the design. And even amber — for whatever reason it was originally rejected — became accepted.
“What Goes On” in 2014
Outside the loading dock, production manager Ken Kaler waits for the band’s arrival. He’s worked with Ringo from eight to nine years now. “I’ve been in this industry a long time and Ringo is the nicest person I’ve worked for.”
Ringo gets by with help from his friends in the band: Steve Lukather (Toto), Richard Page (Mr. Mister), keyboardist Gregg Rolie (Santana, Journey), Todd Rundgren, Warren Ham (Toto), and second drummer Gregg Bissonette (David Lee Roth). This lineup has remained for the past three years.
Lighting Director/programmer Susan Rose is in her eleventh year with Ringo, counting herself lucky to illuminate the world’s most famous drummer and his stellar bandmates.
Working with Ravitz is a joy as well, she said. “Jeff is laid back and fun to work with. He gives me freedom to do what is best for the show when I need to improvise. We think alike in how we view the show.”
Ravitz sets the “look” of the show with layers. “We strongly layer the show for dimensionality: foreground band, middle ground color foundation, then set pieces and backdrop. I try to establish a theme but not be restricted by too many rules. Every song is different and deserves its individual approach.”
Ravitz ran through six or seven previous touring lighting directors before Rose, happy with their good working relationship. “Susan has been a dream to work with. Her musical background brings with it a good sense of timing and a great memory for grasping the material. She’s also got a great eye,” Ravitz said.
Ravitz likes to add a three-dimensional element downstage of the backdrop for layering. He again created the concept for this year’s backdrop, with artwork by his former Intensity Advisor colleague Kristie Roldan. A scattering of large stars fabricated by Rose Brand appear to be inflatable, but are simply given a 3-D treatment with a wire frame inside with stretched fabric cover. These hang in front of the backdrop, painted by Superior Backings of Burbank, which also features a permanent sprinkling of a Milky Way and a crescent moon.
Starr of the Show
The North American touring rig consists of mainstay lighting fixtures for the upstage truss from Morpheus Lights, which also celebrates 25 years with Ringo. Local vendors supply the downstage truss, lekos and audience pars.
Looking at the set, a sparkly red drum kit sits high above all else at center stage. It’s Ringo’s familiar spot — “a nod to history,” Ravitz said — and it glimmers with the uplighting of two Color Kinetic ColorBlasts. Two more ColorBlasts serve as toners on Gregg Bissonette’s drum kit off to the side, while six more serve to light other set pieces.
Ringo opens the show out in front singing The Beatles hit “Matchbox” and his own, “It Don’t Come Easy.” But just as quickly he becomes a band member again, jumping up to his drum kit to hit the sticks behind his bandmates’ hits. The repertoire includes Santana’s “Black Magic Woman,” “Evil Ways” and “Oye Como Va” to Toto’s “Rosanna” and “Africa,” Todd Rundgren’s “I Saw The Light,” Mr. Mister’s “Kyrie” and “Broken Wings” and more.
Ringo takes the spotlight again for his trademark songs: “Don’t Pass Me By,” “Boys,” “Honey Don’t,” “I Wanna Be Your Man,” “Act Naturally” and “Photograph.”
At 74, Ringo cuts an incredibly trim figure, and jumps up and down at times with the music. Hit suit jacket is appropriately adorned with stars, which catch the light.
All the while, six Vari-Lite 3000 Spots with stars, peace signs and flower gobos paint the backdrop, while four downstage and four upstage VL3000 Spots beam the stage. The VL 3000 Spot was chosen for “clean pattern projection and good optics” and the one Ravitz uses to judge baseline quality among all other profiles on the market, he said.
Ravitz recently upgraded Ringo’s show with the Ayrton Wildsun fixtures to impart vivid color, some LED effects and a more contemporary look. “I like the larger face size of the light, the quality of the beam and zoom features, and the warmer white LED channel in addition to RGB. The light is fast, also, so we can do some snappy moves.”
A row of 22 Ayrton Wildsun 500C moving wash LEDs atop the backdrop add variations of wash and pulsing patterns. Two more on the floor shine on the backdrop stars. For extra punch and strong color on the backdrop, Ravitz spec’d six COLORado 1-Tri Tour LED fixtures from Chauvet Professional.
To fulfill Ringo’s wish to see fans’ faces, Rose keeps the audience lights colored with softer hues of pink, red or blue. She doesn’t want to blind the them with white light and cues the lights between songs so Ringo can enjoy the reaction to his hits.
One rule rises above all: keep Ringo and each band member lit. “Everyone’s a star in this show,” Rose said. “It’s all live — the musicians carry the show. They are the entertainment. They don’t need media servers, video screens or lots of bling — we’re here to enhance it, not to distract from the musicianship.”
Rose runs the show on a High End Systems Road Hog Full Boar 4 console, using her Hog PC for backup. She likes the Full Boar 4’s fixture cloning feature, which helps when touring overseas. “I don’t have the same lights available everywhere, so the console can figure it out when I’m substituting a similar light from show to show.”
Support from Morpheus and master electrician Todd Ricci are “amazing,” she noted. “Todd can fix anything; he makes it all work.”
And in the end, as Ringo rolls out “With a Little Help From My Friends,” and “Give Peace a Chance,” gobos spin and fans stand to chant along. With a “peace and love” into the mic, Ringo waves his two-finger peace signs into the wings.
Crew
Lighting Co: Morpheus Lights
Lighting Designer: Jeff Ravitz/Intensity Advisors
Lighting Director: Susan Rose
Master Electrician: Todd Ricci
Producer: Dave Hart
Tour Director: George Travis
Tour Manager: Wayne Lebeaux
Production Manager: Ken Kaler
Road Manager: Donny Wightman
Assistant Road Manager: Scott Ritchie
Stage Manager: Jeff Chonis
Gear
1 Road Hog Full Boar 4 console
14 Vari*Lite VL3000 Spots
26 Ayrton WildSun 500C LED wash fixtures
10 Color Kinetics ColorBlast LED fixtures
6 Chauvet COLORado 1-Tri-Tour LED fixtures
6 Rosco and Apollo gobos
12 Procan 1KW Par 64s
3 Procan ACL 4 lamp bars
1 Lycian 1271 truss followspot
