Eric Clapton hits the road and fills up arenas in his most comprehensive, elaborate show to date
Let’s face it: Eric Clapton could enrapture an arena-sized audience with three PAR cans and a lava lamp for lighting and scenery. His tasteful chops and song catalog pre-date modern-day production as we know it, but his penchant for entertaining keeps him consistently in the spotlight on stages across the globe. This time around he’s packing two hours of classic Clapton hits, and he’s got two powerhouse guitar slingers in tow; Derek Trucks, son of Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks, and Doyle Bramhall II, son of the legendary songwriter and blues drummer Doyle Bramhall.
For 10 years lighting designer and director Dave Maxwell has worked with Clapton, and he credits his longtime gig to a friendship. “I was mid-way through a world tour in America with Oasis as programmer,” Maxwell says, “when I got a call from my good friend Mickey Curbishley.”
Curbishley had been working with the Eric Clapton camp for a long time, and he knew that they were looking for a new designer. So he got production manager Mick Double and Maxwell together to talk about it. “It all worked out, thankfully,” Maxwell said. “Really, I have to thank Mickey for setting it all up. Without him it would not have happened.”
The genesis of this tour took place a year prior, while the band Cream were working on some DVD shoots and shows in London and New York. During that project, discussion started about the plans for a new tour. It was, according to Maxwell, to be Clapton’s “longest and most comprehensive.”
“I certainly wanted a change from what we had been doing, and management were very interested in doing that also,” Maxwell said. “I took a few months to come up with a proposal for the tour, using a lot of projection and some video as the key parts to the show.”
Around that time, Maxwell happened to be in Chicago and saw some new products being demonstrated at Upstaging. The new products combined with additional proposals from Upstaging served to seal the deal from a design standpoint, and also to help fashion a new look. Maxwell describes it as “a lot different than anything before on this show, I think.”
Among the new products are some High End Systems DL.2 digital luminaires. Maxwell uses them for projection on the soft goods, using a mixture of stock content, custom content and live show footage from the onboard video cameras.
“The DL.2s are really a good look for this show,” says Maxwell, “as they are being projected on a sur face which is not opaque; therefore the image is not as clean and as polished. This is what we were looking for to break things up a bit, as we can light the goods from the rear at all levels and project from the front also, giving some real nice abstract images and looks. Also, using live show footage through these works great, too.”
Six live camera shots are taken from the DL.2s and mixed using DMX control with a Flying Pig Systems Wholehog III. “It works great taking shots that aren’t being used on the I-Mag screen,” Maxwell says. “For example, shots which are not as polished, or coming in and out of focus, adds a real other dimension, I think.”
Maxwell is quick to point out that he had no problems with the control platform. “I should say also at this point that the Hog III has been great. I know in the past there have been a few hiccups. But to be fair, before the tour started, Chris Ferrante at High End in Europe had gone extensively with me through the console showing all the changes, and he was spot on. No problems at all, and it is now, in my opinion, a very good, reliable console.”
Clapton has used Upstaging Trucking for a long time; however, he only recently began relying on them for lighting as well. “At the time, we wanted to switch vendors and had heard so many good things about Upstaging. We now have done a number of projects and tours together and have not looked back. John Huddleston looks after the account, and is also taking charge of the upcoming second annual Crossroads Guitar Festival Benefit event in Chicago as a production company,” Maxwell says.
After 10 years on the road with Slow Hand, Maxwell is still having a great time. “All of Eric’s tours and shows are extremely enjoyable and very well organized, so it’s always been fun.”
Crew
Lighting Account Rep: John Huddleston
Lighting Designer/Director: Dave Maxwell
Worldwide Crew Chief: Ken Burns, Jr.
Lighting Techs: AJ Patterson, Chris Barclay, Kendra Sandavol
Video Company: Screenworks
Set Design/Construction: Drapeage, Dublin
Production Manager: Mick Double
Assistant Production Manager: Hannah Charlesworth
Tour Manager: Peter Jackson
Stage Manager: Mike Keyes
Lighting Gear
50 Martin MAC 2000 Wash fixtures
40 Martin MAC 2000 Profiles
6 High End Systems DL digital luminaires
200 Element Labs VersaTubes
16 High End Systems Studio Beams
2 High End Systems Catalyst media servers
1 Flying Pig Systems Wholehog 3
Video Tools: Apple Motion, Final Cut Pro
