The “Heart and Soul” Tour that played in sheds across the USA this summer featured a unique performance unlike any co-headline tour before it. Well, almost any tour. 2015 marked Earth, Wind and Fire’s fourth time out playing with Chicago in this format.
The interplay between band and production has been developing over 10 years, with veteran lighting designer Merle McLain playing a consistent key role as Earth Wind & Fire’s LD. The production value currently out is worthy of the stellar music these two bands bring. Here we have two bands that launched their careers in the 1970’s lit by designers whose careers began about the same time. McLain first ventured into the business with several of his high school chums, a little band called Kansas. The lone equipment tech at the time, he drove the van, set up and struck the gear and even tuned guitars. “Shoot, I even ran sound at first,” he recalls.
Mike Gott, lighting designer for Chicago the past 13 years, had similar growing pains at the beginning of his career. Working with bar bands based in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, he came to know the flat highways of the Midwest as a touring LD for local acts big enough to carry their own production. His first “lighting board” — it was, literally, a board — had household light switches mounted on a 220V single-phase distribution panel with a bunch of extension cords running to PAR cans.
Now, Gott started in the business around1982, about 10 years later than McLain, but technology was pretty much at the same level. PAR can rigs with Mole fays and Lekos were the lay of the land. Only a few brands of lighting console were available in that analog world. Image content came from gobos, film, or companies like Brotherhood of Light with their oil pans and overhead projectors. All of which makes the “Heart and Soul” tour that much more amazing.
The show starts out with both acts on stage for the first three songs, and then EW&F does an hour. After a short intermission, the second set starts with Chicago doing an hour set, followed by both bands on stage for five songs.
Simple enough, and as the set list remains the same every night, the presentation looks seamless. The technology it takes to achieve that seamless effect, is a bit more complex.
When both bands are on stage, there are 22 players, seven of which are the principals.
Form Follows Function
This fact played a major role in McLain’s design.
“That many players meant the footprint was going to require a lot of square feet,” says McLain. “The rig had to be wide enough to accommodate all that was going on. In addition, with the camera package we are carrying, we had to have enough light to achieve levels the cameras needed.”
Gott picks up the conversation. “Merle and I work well together, and this rig is capable of accommodating our different styles of lighting direction. I have always been a hard rock metal fan, and it is how I execute looks. Chicago is very dynamic — they like punches and dramatic changes, which is right up my alley. Merle has a more theatrical, sweeping-type of finesse. Although we have two similar bands in that they have horns and trade off multiple singers, the shows look very different. I think the audience enjoys that aspect of the show, too.”
McLain continues, “I had to put something on paper very quickly, as this tour just came out of the blue. I realized too that I needed to get something drawn right away for bidding purposes.
“PRG normally is our preferred lighting vendor,” explains McLain. “Earth, Wind & Fire have been with them for years. This year, though, Delicate won the bid and they have been great. The gear is in good shape; crew’s great. No complaints. We haven’t really had any gear issues, but what little support we have needed, has been on spot.”
He adds, “I kept Nocturne in the mix, as they have been a constant for EW&F and did the original content for me. In addition, I have worked with them since my days with Journey in 1983. They are the best, and it is like working with family.”
How It Works
At FOH, two grandMA full size consoles run in tandem streaming ACN (Architecture for Control Networks.) A Netgear Gigaswitch between them allows whichever console currently in action to take signal precedence down a ProPlex Ethersnake to dimmer beach. At dimmer beach, another Netgear Gigaswitch feeds four Pathport Octo node routers.
A gigabit switch used in tandem with a gigabit router enhances the local network to perform up to ten times faster than straight DMX.
The Octo is a routing device and does not provide control over the protocols or the data. It only provides control over the path the data takes, how multiple DMX sources are treated (merged or prioritized), and certain other routing characteristics including DMX transmission speed and signal loss behavior.
Eleven TMB ProPlex opto splitters branch out from the Octo to feed the eleven in the rig.
Then and Now
McLain explains a bit more about how this developed. “I’ve been with Earth, Wind & Fire since the early 1990’s. At the time, I was working with Michael Jackson, and ran into the guy who was LD for EW&F. He needed someone to cover for him whenever he had other client schedule conflicts. When he finally moved on, EW&F asked me to take over, so I did.”
McLain kept up with Jackson, who was his main client, and several others, including Yes and Luther Vandross. EW&F was not carrying any lighting when McLain came on board, so he suggested they add a small moving light package to get some consistency into building a show. Light and Sound Design became the lighting vendor, and Jess Baker came on to program. She and McLain clicked immediately.
“We always tried to get her back whenever we went out, till after a few years we put her on our payroll to ensure she was always available,” says McLain. Baker stayed on with EW&F for 12 years and was responsible for merging the two shows to make the current show possible.
McLain continues, “She became my right hand, really, because she is so intuitive, and a very talented programmer. We thought alike; she knew what I was looking for. I was sorry to see her go, but we are very happy with Robin.”
Robin Seefeldt is EW&F’s current grandMA programmer and lighting director. She also calls spots while Merle is operating the Avolites Pearl for the conventional lights and calling cameras.
Jess Juggles the Numbers
Gott picks up the story now. “This fourth edition of the co-headline tour is mainly Merle’s design. When I saw what he had come up with, it worked for me. The last time we did this was probably six years ago, and the better part of the design was mine. That tour is when Jess first merged the two shows. She moved all EW&F numbers to higher than 500, and anything that was Chicago’s was one through that. This way, no overlaps of palettes, cue numbers, or anything can happen.”
Mike continues, “Really, we have one show, with both consoles running the same show simultaneously. Whoever is operating takes precedence. When both bands are on, the end step of a EW&F cue is a setup for the first step to a Chicago cue, and vice versa. We have a macro to off everything that was up, and BAM, you are into the next song. My board is using my user profile and her board runs her user profile.” Gott has control of the lekos and moles on his Grand Ma, while McLain retains control of them on his Pearl. A simple A/B switch accommodates this changeover.
“We have 33 lekos in the rig to help cover solos. With only six front of house spots on most nights, we need the help on coverage. The singers’ trade off on practically every line sung, sometimes, and then there are all the guitar and horn solos. At the end of the night, I just have to resort to a zone defense approach with the spots and assign areas for them to cover,” explains Gott.
Meanwhile, in Video Village…
Backstage in video village, a simple A/B switch between the two servers executes control change between Chicago and EW&F.
Seefeldt’s grandMA runs Art-Net to the ArKaos media server triggering video content, while David Hare runs video for Chicago through a Maxedia in video village backstage.
Chicago has traditionally used backdrops. With this tour, the time was ripe to jump into video. The band turned to Gott to put a video package together, who turned to Hare to accomplish the job.
Hare, a lighting and video designer, is founder of Premier Illuminations. The company, based in Fort Worth, TX, serves a wide range of markets, including concert touring, corporate events, trade shows, special events, architectural, theatre, television and film.
“Premier Illuminations created all of the media content used for Chicago’s portion of the show,” says Hare. “The band did not have a graphics package for this show. So I had a blank canvas to create a new look for the band.”
Hare continues, “Shae Green is one of my digital graphic artists. He helped with creating a vector version of the famous “Chicago” logo & creating all of the content for Chicago’s song “Call on Me.” I wanted the Chicago logo to have a very powerful impact throughout the show. By masking motion graphics over the Chicago logo, we were able to create a different logo look for each song. Kind of like the artwork for all of Chicago’s albums. Each one had a very memorable look.”
“Both servers are going through a signal router,” explains Hare. “I call the cue to switch servers when both bands are on stage. The (Grass Valley) Kayaks are running tandem, so there is nothing to “switch” to give control to Merle or me. Both Kayaks are live all the time. I just put my hands on it for Chicago. I also direct the Encores for both bands.”
Delicate Shines Again
Hare also works for Delicate Productions.
In 1980, with years of concert touring experience, partners Spy Matthews, Smoother Smyth, Stephen Dabbs and Gus Thomson co-founded Delicate Productions during Supertramp’s Breakfast in America tour. At the conclusion of the world tour, with the band planning to take a substantial hiatus, the newly formed partnership quickly made plans to purchase the Supertramp owned audio and lighting assets.
Today, headquartered in Camarillo, CA, the company is a premiere full-service sound, lighting, and multimedia production company. For 35 years, the company has provided event production for some of the biggest names in the music, entertainment and sports industries.
Smoother Smyth, senior account representative for Delicate Productions and CFO explains Hare’s larger role in putting this show together.
“We had Dave [Hare] do all of the cabling and the signal routing etc. He was working on the pre-tour prep here at Delicate while crew chief, Spencer Smyth, was out on the road with Chicago solo dates. He typically goes out with Chicago as a lighting tech, but with there being no time between the Chicago solo dates and EW&F, we kept him off the last Chicago run of dates for prep.”
Hare did all the CAD plots drawings and renderings as well.
“Smoother has been really great with me over the years,” says Gott. “Since Chicago goes out every year, we only change the design every so often, but if I want to work with a new fixture or fill in some holes on my design, he has been very good about making sure that happens. Delicate has always been there for me when I need them.”
Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire “Heart and Soul” Tour 2015
CREW
Production Designer/Video Director: Merle McLain
Lighting Designer/Director: Mike Gott
Lighting Programmers: Robin Seefeldt, Jess Baker
Video Director: David Hare (Chicago)
Production Mgrs: Tony Bulluck, Marc Engel
Tour Managers: Wilbert Terrell, Terry Finley
Production/Stage Manager: Ty Loendorf
Road Manager: Raymond Brown
Stage Manager: Popcorn Miller
Lighting Co: Delicate Productions/Smoother Smyth
Crew Chief: Spencer Smyth
Lighting Techs: Ryan Torok, Mary Wistrom, Gary Roberts
Video Co: PRG Nocturne
Video Engineer: Briony Margetts
Video Techs: Ted Cognata, Krystena Rice
Rigger: Mike Anderson
Gear
Lighting
3 grandMA2 Full consoles
1 Avolite Pearl console
64 Martin MAC 2000XB Washes
30 Martin MAC Viper Profiles
16 Martin MAC Aura Wash LEDs
12 Martin MAC Viper Air FX fixtures
12 Martin MAC 401 Wash LEDs
2 Martin MAC Viper Performances
32 Clay Paky Sharpys
10 Coemar ParLite LED fixtures
4 Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12s
33 ETC Source Four Lekos
10 Procan 4 Lamp DWE Mole Fays
25 Martin Atomic strobes
1 Martin Jem ZR-44 fogger
1 Jem Martin AF1 DMX fan
4 Pathport Octo 8-Port Node
2 DMX LAN Switch 8s
6 ProPlex Opto-splitters
5 AC Power RPD distros
1 DMX lighting snake 6-way 350 ft. (6 x DMX, 2 x Ethernet, 2 x Intercom)
1 ETC 48-way x 2.4 Sensor dimmer rack
34 Tyler GT Truss (24×8’, 10×10’)
8 Tyler GT Truss 45° gates
4 Tyler GT Truss 45° corner hinges
22 Total Structures 12” truss sections
10 Aluminum Floor Plates (3’x3’, w/ carts)
27 CM Lodestar 1 ton motors
28 CM Lodestar ½-ton motors
Video:
2 Grass Valley Kayaks (FOH & Video Village)
1 Main video wall (ROE VR7, 16’x30’)
2 Side video walls (16’x9’)
2 Set video elements (4’x16’)
1 Set video element (4’x12’)
1 Grass Valley LDX86 with Fujinon Digipower99 lens
5 Panasonic AW-HE130 PTZ
3 Panasonic AG-HCK10HD
2 Toshiba IK-HD1
