“Tim McGraw likes his rock ‘n’ roll,” says lighting director Pat Brannon in what proves to be an understatement. “He likes that big look.”
If there’s a word that sums up McGraw’s current Sundown Heaven Town tour is “big.” Big set. Big lights. And perhaps most of all, a big new 7mm video screen custom designed by Screenworks NEP that has put that company in the manufacturing business.
It all makes for a very different show, so please, check your preconceived notions at the gate.
“There’s an aesthetic to the show that is unusual for country music,” video content creator Olivier Goulet says. “Tim wanted to be more abstract in a way that kept you focused on the music. There are very few pieces that are [literally] narrated to the music.”
Going big or going home, McGraw chose the former in the name of one of the top visual designers in the business: Baz Halpin.
“Wall of Light”
Parnelli-Award winning designer Halpin’s name is typically associated with the Big Arena Tour. His roster of clients includes Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Pink and Usher, among others.
“Tim wanted this show to look different than anything he had done before and have more of a modern vibe to it,” Halpin explains. “He wanted the ability to have a completely clean stage at one moment and have a massive wall of light dominate in the next.” Together they came up with the idea of a video screen that curved up in front of the back line and continued up the wall behind the band. This gave the illusion of a completely clean and sparse stage. “We then hid 41 custom built eight-foot by four-foot ‘crates,’ which each contained three GLP Impression X4s and thousands of feet of LED tape behind the floor LED scoops.”
The crates were constructed by Omaha, NE-based Acass Systems and were stocked with three GLPs and LED tape built within and the concertina stack on the floor. Over the course of the show they rise up, seven columns wide, to create a massive wall of light.
“This was my first time working with production manager [John] ‘Lug’ Zajonc, and he was fantastically helpful,” Halpin adds. “When we finally got to rehearsals there were no surprises and everything worked right out of the box. It was also my first time working with Pat Brannon and [lighting programmer] Troy Eckerman, and I’m sad to say it has taken me so long! Pat and Troy have a long history with Tim, so there was almost no guesswork. We were able to get everything programmed and anticipate what Tim would and wouldn’t like. The process with the guys was both artistically fulfilling and a lot of fun.”
That Big Clear Screen
“The new 7mm Screenworks NEP product is outstanding,” Halpin states. In addition to the high-quality image it creates, he also credits the clever framework that was designed by Acass Systems. “The type of content we were putting on the screen meant that we really needed the color balance to be perfect. We used a lot of solid colors, which is normally where you really see the imperfections of the tiles, but this screen is flawless. Olivier Goulet of GeoDezik created video content.” The screen is 37 square meters big.
Screenworks NEP’s Danny O’Bryen says that video screens came from Halpin’s specs. “We put in five ROE Creative Linx 9mm video screens that curve down front, but we ended up creating a whole new product in the X7-HD 7mm screen that was the main screen,” O’Bryen says.
So Screenworks is now in the manufacturing biz? “Through the years I’ve been through every kind of screen from every manufacturer, and we finally just said, ‘let’s just build our own screen,’” O’Bryen says. The new screen is already going out with other projects, like the Houston Rodeo and Wrestlemania.
“Officially I guess we’ve been working on the X7-HD for about a year, but really we’ve been working on it since 1992,” O’Bryen says, with a laugh. “The challenge has always been how many driver chips you can put in it and other variables.” Noting that historically video screens went from 35mm down to 10mm, “so a 7mm screen would be next, as obviously the desire is to get higher and higher resolution. Having black and white look good is always the challenge, and this gives the right black levels and everything else on the screen is so crystal clear. Baz is the best, and we first worked with Olivier [Goulet] with an N Sync show, and his content has progressed immensely. His content was inspirational.”
They had the tiles custom made, “and also hand picked a better processing system then you would normally get from oversees vendors. We cut the original width of the upstage wall by three-foot so we would have exactly 1920 pixels wide, this keeps the HD cameras at a native resolution (1920×1080), so no scaling is done for I-Mag. Aaron Cass of Acass Systems made the touring frames and carts. Aaron also made the LED boxes that drop down during the show.” All Access Staging & Productions built the set pieces.
Goulet notes they aren’t using it as a typical “backwall,” as it’s extended in front of the drum riser with curved pieces called “scoops.” “They were really well designed, and the crew can install them super fast.”
The Touring Visualist
This is Goulet’s first time working with McGraw as well, and he says that McGraw was very hands-on during the design process. “He wanted something a bit different for a country music act, and I think we delivered,” he says. As for him, the creative palette of the new, super clear big screen “connected” to the video “scoops” made for a lot of possibilities. “The whole design process was great — I was lucky to be part of a great team where many were throwing out different ideas for songs. The result is a graphic element that is very dynamic with the music.”
Toward the end of the show there are a couple of piece that build up nicely and feature some cool 3D effects. “The visual mapping works well, and the combination of lighting and video working together make those last four or five songs amazing,” Goulet says. He sites the visuals accompanying McGraw’s song, “County Outlaw” as an example of not being able to tell what is video and what is lighting.
Video director Larn Poland cut his teeth doing camera work for the likes of the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith. “This is my first country act and my first shed tour,” he says, then dryly adds: “I noticed that I’m outside on these shed tours. It’s humid. It rains. These are things electronic equipment don’t like.”
Poland says one of his adjustments is the challenging of setting up video with the sun still blazing. Another challenge is making sure the video is in sync with the sound. “Light and sound travel at different speeds,” he notes.
In describing the creative process, he says he tries to find color schemes, getting and discuss image possibilities and what colors.
“The black and white images are absolutely stunning on this screen,” he says. “And it’s like a permanent installation the color is that good. Even with the lower curved screen look so good it looks like it’s all the same piece. It’s very difficult to get two different products to look like it’s pretty much the same, and this looks beautiful.”
Arena Show on the Shed Circuit
This is Brannon’s third tour with McGraw and his first with Halpin, who he says he’s “always wanted to work with. Baz has a great eye, and Larn has really worked hard to get the most out of the video switches.”
As the design of the show got finalized, Brannon admits he was a little nervous taking such a big show on the shed circuit. But it’s mostly fit in all but two venues. “We just did a casino in Mississippi with a 13-foot roof!” he laughs.
Otherwise, he confirms the show is pretty much as rehearsed. “We’ve made a few adjustments to the set list, but nothing out of the ordinary. Tim understands that if you want a tight show, you don’t make a lot of changes.”
Brannon says the show is using Clay Paky Sharpys, Martin MAC Vipers, and the new GLP impressions X4s. He uses 131 of the latter. “They are great, I love them. They have some real cool features — on the song, ‘Overrated,’ we have a big pop of white, and I put little smiley faces on them.”
Brannon uses a grandMA2 console for control. “You can’t do these types of shows without one,” he says.
“A lot of things it’s less is more as when you have so much horse power and you throttle it you have to roll down the hill a bit,” Brannon explains. “It’s more theatrical when you sometimes take a less is more approach on songs and do some things in broad strokes. Baz has really created a great design that flows through the whole show.”
Tim McGraw Sundown Heaven Town Tour
Crew
Production Designer: Baz Halpin
Lighting Director: Pat Brannon
Programmer: Troy Eckerman
Production Manager: John Zajonc
Lighting Co: Premier Global Production
Lighting Crew: Storm Sollars (chief), Collin Craig, Jake Sells, Oliver Read
Lighting Company Reps: Richard Willis, James Volhoffer
Video Co: Screenworks NEP
Video Content: Olivier Goulet
Video Director: Larn Poland
Video Engineer: Rick Popham
LED/Crew Chief: William Duncan
LED Technician: Cory Mascari
LED Technician/Camera Operator: Jeff Apregan Jr.
Projectionist/Camera Operator: Jason Lowe
Gear
2 MA Lighting grandMA 2 Full consoles w/3 NPUs
32 Custom pods with 6-ch LED ribbon (192 fixtures)
131 GLP impression X4s
32 Martin MAC Viper Profiles
13 Vari*Lite VL3500 Wash FX
2 Vari*Lite VL3015 Spots
10 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330s
24 Clay Paky Sharpys
20 Elation Design LED Tri-Brics
20 Solaris LED Flare strobes
8 Color Kinetics LED units
3 HES F-100 fog generators
2 DF-50 Diffusion hazers
1 Screenworks X-7 HD 7mm LED video wall (23’x49’)
5 Scoop set pieces w/ROE Linx flexible LED (9mm)
1 Ross Production HD switcher
2 Frankenbox media servers
3 Sony HXC-100s w/2 72x lenses
3 Sony BRC 700s
2 Barco 20K HD Projectors
