When Kenny Chesney’s Poets & Pirates Tour played San Francisco’s AT&T Park recently, it was another in a long line of summer stadium shows with Brooks & Dunn, LeAnne Rimes and Gary Allan. But unlike the other stadium shows, this one featured surprise duets with Steve Miller and Sammy Hagar. The 200-foot wide stage was a showcase for the talent and the production as well. As a four-time recipient of the Academy of Country Music award for Entertainer of the Year, Chesney lives up to his title with the help of production designer Mike Swinford, production manager Ed Wannebo and a crew to match their considerable talents.
Stadiums, Sheds, Arenas
This year’s tour was designed with the stadium layout in mind, since it makes a stop in one stadium or another almost every Saturday during the entire summer. The rest of the stops are in sheds and arenas. “The goal,” Swinford says, “was to fill the stage 180 degrees with production, as well as carry it out to the wings and to the very edges of the stage.”
To help him realize his goal, he works with programmer Mark Butts. “Mark and I are pretty much joined at the hip when it comes to Kenny,” Swinford says. “We have worked together since his first headline tour and we both understand completely what Kenny will like and will not like. Generally the looks are signed off on very quickly.”
The two of them spend about three weeks pre-programming the show using ESP Vision software in their Nashville studio before moving into rehearsals for another four weeks.
The long programming sessions are important because much of the production hinges on a variety of automated lighting. This year’s lighting plot features two fixtures, Vari*Lite VL3500 Wash fixtures and Syncrolite 10Ks.
“They were used in last year’s show in a different configuration. We really liked the way they looked and the fast deployment of the pod design. Each pod carries Barco MiTrix LED video displays (33 panels each) as well as six VL2500 Spots. The lights are on a shaft that rotates so they store behind the screen for trouping. You can hang a large surface of lighting and video very quickly using these pods.”
Cool Color, Easier to Get
The VL3500s are used in all the venues and the Syncrolites are only used in stadium shows. Both fixtures, Swinford says, work very well in large venues.
Lighting director David “Fuji” Convertino also likes the Vari-Lite fixtures. “I really like the colors their fixtures have,” he says. “They’ve always been incredible looking. The optics have always been the best, I feel.”
That’s not to say that he doesn’t appreciate the Martin automated fixtures, which he calls “good units.”
“When Vari-Lite was only renting fixtures, Martin was great because you could get their fixtures through any vendor. Vari-Lite has always had their diehard users though. Now with the 3000s, 3500s, 500s and so on, available through a lot of vendors, they’re easy for LDs to get.”
Reliable Gear, and Crew
When asked about the reliability of their fixtures, Convertino notes that “all lights can break at some point during a show.” The key, he says, is having reliable techs.
“I just happen to have some of the greatest techs working on great lights. They are the weapon of choice for us, hands down.”
Convertino uses a Toshiba handheld PDA to do his preset focus before every show. It’s loaded with MA Lighting grandMA off-line editor software, which communicates with his grandMA console at the front of house. He uses it as a wireless remote focus unit and it suits him well.
“Having the Toshiba PDA with MA Lighting’s GrandMA remote on it makes life a whole lot easier,” Convertino says. “I can focus all my band positions from the stage and all the Syncrolites around the stadium from the stage. But PDA or not, when it rains — and it somehow always does — focusing sucks.”
Getting the Jump
Chesney tours almost year round and the production design process is almost as constant. Ed Wannebo and Mike Swinford start work on the production for the next year’s tour in mid-summer of the current year’ tour.
“As far as getting a jump on the next year’s production,” Wannebo says, “Kenny wants to have the concept of the next tour in 3D rendered form, approved for development prior to the end of the current year’s tour. We are starting on next year as we speak. It’s great for me to be able to put a timeline together this far out. So by the end of the tour Kenny can get away for a while knowing what the next show will be like, and we can delve into the nuts and bolts of a new show.”
“Kenny is usually signed off on the design before the current tour has ended,” Swinford says. “Ed and I then have about six months to go through and engineer every detail of the design components.”
After the current tour, the various designers and managers have an annual production meeting to prepare for the upcoming tour and its various design elements. All of the department heads, riggers, management, Chesney, vendors, even label reps, get together and go over every aspect of the tour and the production.
“It’s really a great productive time,” Wannebo says. “We’ve made radical changes to the design at that very meeting and moved on. It’s a time when you get numerous sets of eyes on things and critical input from their take on things. The best part is that everyone has their chance to take ownership of their elements and how it pertains to the big picture. We all walk away with a common knowledge of what needs to be done, and what’s expected of everyone. It’s a very cool process.”
Wannebo has a background in lighting, and he enjoys participating in the design process. What he brings to the table is his experience and vantage point as both a designer and a production manager.
“Ed is a master at putting a large show together that goes up and out very quickly,” Swinford says. “I think this year we have 16 production trucks and they have been out in less than three hours.”
Convertino agrees with Swinford’s assessment, but he has a slightly different take. “We are very lucky to have Ed. He knows what a pain in the ass focusing in a stadium is. So he makes arrangements for me to focus after the sun sets.”
Four-time Entertainer of the Year
Wannebo surmises that a rig as large as Chesney’s doesn’t run itself, nor does it load or maintain itself. “It’s a tribute to the whole team to be out with a production like this and have it run as smoothly as this does,” he says. “We do a mix of arenas, sheds and throw in 14 stadiums. Transitioning from one to the other and back can be a real challenge to the rhythm of load-in and -out, but the crew has done a fabulous job of keeping it straight.”
Chesney is one of the rare artists who is not afraid to take on the monumental task of touring with a large rig. At times, it can seem as if he has mistakenly swapped rigs with the likes of Pink Floyd or Dave Matthews. For that, Wannebo and company are grateful.
“We are very fortunate to have all the resources we need to be successful,” Wannebo says. “It comes from Kenny on down through the organization. It’s pretty motivating to be out with the four-time Entertainer of the Year too! That’s something we all take pride in.”
Spending time with the crew is almost like visiting a family. They obviously get along well and the tone of the tour is definitely light hearted.
“As far as the crew goes, you cannot find a better bunch of hard working, friendly people anywhere,” Swinford observes. “David ‘Fuji’ Convertino drives the show every night to perfection. He is one of the best LDs I have had the pleasure to work with. And he likes good cigars as well. J.D. White has also been our head electrician since day one. J.D. and the team keep this massive amount of gear working smoothly every show.”
“Most important,” Wannebo adds, “is the drive to keep the fun meter up in the red zone as often as possible. There’s nothing like a great time to breed another great time! Let’s get through the BS and get to the fun stuff.”
As the show ends and the last door is closed on the last truck, the crew retires to their respective busses, laughing and joking all the way.
“Just another day at the office,” Wannebo laughs.
