After Four Decades, it’s ‘A Matter of Trust” between Artist and Director Steve Cohen
There was energy. There was dancing. There was an electrifying performance. And that’s just the FOH platform. Steve Cohen appropriately feels he’s part of the Billy Joel band – after all, this is his 40th year with the American pop icon. The Parnelli Award-winning video and lighting designer/show director is back in the arenas with Joel (the stop in St. Louis was the 20th Anniversary of the last time he was here, playing what is now called the Scottrade Center). Fueled by diet A&W root beer and an obvious deep love of the music, Cohen was a blur of movement as he kept the lighting and video in sync with the music.
Keeping it Fresh
He maintains that only the good die young, but at 64, Joel is still pretty damn good. He joked about a vocal spray he took a hit off between songs, but his voice was stunningly strong and his eight-piece band jaw-droppingly good.
Joel famously stopped writing new pop songs in 1993, yet continues to tour. So what’s it like to revisit the material from a production design point of view?
“Of the 40 years I’ve been with Billy, only 20 were spent touring behind new material,” Cohen points out. “So what I’ve really come to realize over all this time that, in Billy’s case, it comes down to the stories he tells. And there’s a consistency in his performance – he doesn’t suddenly add a violin, or decide to rearrange something so that there’s two bridges.”
What has changed through the years is the hardware. “There is growth of the tools, of the cinematic nature of moving lights.” He added, with a laugh, that things are a bit different – dare we say easier and better? – then back in the day when he was hanging hundreds of PAR cans. “Basically, today there’s no handcuffs on the creative side.”
He says his approach includes showing off the musicians during solos, and giving Joel, who can change up to 30 percent of his set list on any given night (“Billy doesn’t like to be boxed in”) some room. “You can’t get yourself in a situation where he wants to do this song after that song, and you say, ‘Oh because of the media and what we have on the screen, we can’t do that.’ He’ll just look at you like, ‘Oh really?’ So [the visual element] has to be fluid, and things can’t be too specific.”
There are a few exceptions. One is the visual element put together for “Allentown,” which is specific to the hardships of industrial towns and has corresponding images. “But out of 24 songs, maybe there’s six that are a bit literal,” otherwise there’s very much an Impressionistic take on the imagery. During “Allentown” and other songs, Ben Nicholson provide some custom content, and some of the footage was treated graphically via Martin Maxedia. “I got a little money to do some loops, and we’re able to treat it graphically for a nice effect.” In general, video images seem influenced by his love of Abstract Expressionism.
Mark Foffano is the lighting director/programmer, and Nate Cromwell is the co-lighting director. Joe Weir is the video director who calls camera, and Cohen is a bit of the traffic cop. “though 80 percent of the video is pushed through by Joe,” says Cohen. NEP/Screenworks is the video vendor.
Cohen notes that he’s far from the only long-timer on the tour. “That’s part about what’s so cool working for Billy – he likes his ‘family,’ those he tours with year after year. There are 20-odd people who he has been loyal too, and we’re all really happy for the work. This is absolutely the best place to be.”
Tools and Talent
About those tools … Cohen views himself as a director, leaving the technical details to his video and lighting crew. “When I do my shows, I’m all about getting as much metal up there as possible,” he says. But he relies on what his vendors recommend, and of course, his crew.
That said, he does have a relationship with GLP. “They did me a solid by showing me the Impression X4,”he says. “We were looking for something with a hard edge and tried a bunch of new lights,” but it was the X4 that he felt was best for this tour.
“Everyone raved about the Martin MAC Viper Profiles, and I saw them at LDI and they looked great. That I like Martin a lot made that an easy choice, too.”
Atomic is the main vendor, and it’s the first time Cohen has worked with them on this tour, though he’s worked with them on other projects. They bent over backwards for Cohen, he says, even making purchases to make sure he had exactly what he wanted on this tour.
Not surprisingly, if there was a theme of sorts running through the show, it was Joel’s association and love of New York City. New York skylines and the lights that bombard a driver going into Manhattan were created in manner that evoked majesty. To get the grandeur, Cohen needs the trim as high as possible. As for the video footage, some of his was taken from Joel’s documentary Last Play at Shea about the last concert given at the historic stadium before they tore it down. (Cohen was producer of that film.)
Certain songs get drenched in certain light and colors, and Cohen has the experience and the creative freedom to go with his gut. “Certain things feel blue, certain things feel red,” he shrugs. “I love reading about what others are doing, and sometimes I read things where the designer is talking about ‘the absence of saturation,’ and I just want to go, ‘Dude, you’re a rock ‘n’ roll lighting guy – mix the lights so that it works with the music!’”
Cohen seems ready for another 40 years with Joel. “I just love the two-and-a-half hours of the show,” he says. “I get to ‘perform’ with everybody else on stage. That’s my favorite part of it – that, and seeing how well Billy is received by audiences. He’s grateful that he gets to do this stuff. Both of us are grateful! We get to do some amazing things and really, our time should be over.”
Cohen seems to relish the freedom to do what is best for the show. “He doesn’t see [what I’ve done], so he relies on the other opinions about the show. If he didn’t get positive comments about the video and lighting, he’d bring something up. But at this point, we’re band mates. There’s trust.”
When it’s noted how exuberant Cohen is on the riser, he says: “I kind of conduct the [visual element] of the show. That’s the best way to describe it. And I mean ‘conduct’ as in train conductor. I have all this equipment and technology rolling down the track, and I have to make sure things happen at the right time and in the right order. I have an innate musicality – I’m musically oriented, and I make sure the cues are on the beat. If [the visual elements] strike on the beat, that builds up to an emotional moment, and that’s what we’re all striving for.”
Crew:
Production Designer/Show Director: Steve Cohen
Production Manager: Bobby “Boomer” Thrasher
Stage Manager: Vinnie Polifrone
Production Coordinator: Liz Mahon
Lighting Director/Programmer: Mark Foffano
Media Server Programmer: Curtis Cox
Associate Lighting Director: Nathaniel Cromwell
Crew Chief: David George
Moving Light Tech: Adrian Bassett
Climbing Tech: Steven “Scuba” Onoszko
Dimmer Tech: Matt Bloom
Video Director: Joe Weir
Engineer: Zainool Hamid
LED/ Cameras: Adrian Brister
LED/ Cameras: Brian Littleton
Projectionist/ Cameras: Simon Cadiz
Cameras: Jay Cooper
Gear
Lighting Control:
1 Martin M6 lighting console
1 Martin M1 lighting console
1 Martin M-Series Max 30-button module
1 Martin M-Series Playback II module
2 Martin “Curtis” Edition Maxedia Pro media server
8 Martin Ether2DMX8 Modules
Lighting:
113 Martin MAC Viper Profiles
101 GLP impression X4s
15 Vari*Lite VL3000 Spots
6 ReelEFX DF-50 hazers
2 Starklight Med 1271 Truss followspot
Truss
11 James Thomas 12″ x 10′
3 James Thomas 20.5″ x 10′
2 James Thomas 20.5′ x 8′
28 Tomcat 30″x 20.5″x 10′ SD
35 Tyler Truss 24″ x 10′ GT
4 Tyler Truss 24″ x 8′ GT
10 Atomic 4′ Custom “No-Swing” Battens
9 Tait Towers Custom X4 Verticals
Video:
77 Daktronics PST-10 SMD video panels (in touring frames by Tait Towers)
4 Christie Roadster S+20K projector
1 Sony MVS8000 3ME HD broadcast switcher
1 Blackmagic ATEM 1 ME HD Switcher
4 Sony HXC100 HD Camera
2 Toshiba Ice Cube HD POV cameras
2 Sony BRCH700 PTZ HD Robotic cameras
1 Bradley Engineering Camball 3 PTZ HD robotic camera
7 Kipro 1 RU digital file recorders
4 Christie 20k Roadster projectors
8 Custom projection surfaces from Sew What?
