Eric Cathcart is out directing the 2015 Van Halen tour designed by Paul “Arlo” Guthrie. Back on stage are the Van Halen brothers, Alex on drums, Eddie on guitar with his son Wolfgang on bass and original lead singer David Lee Roth on vocals. The outdoor shed tour will head back to the West Coast where it started, ending the tour in the band’s hometown of Los Angeles in October with two nights at the Hollywood Bowl. Guthrie and Cathcart were in Los Angeles’ Sony Pictures Studios for about 10 days for rehearsals and programming, then moved everything to the first venue outside of Seattle for four days.
Eric Cathcart
Lighting Director
“The full production rig has worked in most venues we’ve played though there are the occasional ones where we were a few feet shy of the desired trim. We have lost a section of truss here and there — one time, we moved the bulk of the rig downstage a bit to shift the weight from the center of the venue roof. But overall the rig has stayed intact. I think Arlo did a good job of making this rig suitable for the venues that we are playing.
“The tour started off using haze, but soon afterwards became a non haze show. For the most part, the show transformed well. The bulk of the fixtures are the GLP Impressions and the GLP X4 Bars. Even though you may not be seeing beams from the fixtures, the faces are so big that you still maintain the look in the show. Had the bulk of the rig been small aperture profile fixtures, we would have been scrambling when the haze went away. We have also been quite fortunate in that the majority of the shows have been ridiculously humid, achieving the look of having a nice even thin haze.
“The lighting company for the tour is PRG, with Curry Grant as our rep. Our crew chief, Jason “Attaboy” Stalter — well, I can’t say enough nice things about him, just stellar. Doug Eder is getting all the power and data where it needs to go from Dimmer Beach, and Dale Jewett, Randy Foote, David “Speedy” Hernandez, and Dean Thomsic are getting it all together on the deck. Matthew “Skinny” LeRoux had to leave us for medical reasons, but hopefully will be making a return soon.
“This tour is a teenage dream come true. I am thankful that Arlo has placed his trust in me to carry out his vision. I have learned a good deal working on this level with him. His attention to detail is impeccable, and I hope to be able to hold on to that in my future projects.”
Van Halen 2015 Tour
Crew
Lighting Designer: Paul “Arlo” Guthrie
Lighting Director: Eric Cathcart
Lighting Co: PRG/Curry Grant
Lighting Crew Chief: Jason “Attaboy” Stalter
Lighting Techs: Doug Eder, Dale Jewett, Randy Foote, David “Speedy” Hernandez, Dean Thomsic, Matthew “Skinny” LeRoux
Tour Manager: Marty Hom
Production Manager: Bill Leabody
Stage Manager: Shawn Saucier
Media Servers: Bigtime Lighting Design LLC
Staging Co: All Access Staging & Productions
Trucking Co: SOS Transportation
Gear
1 grandMA 2 full size console
95 GLP impression X4s
24 GLP X4 Bar 20 fixtures
42 Martin Rush Par Zooms
26 PRG Best Boy HP Spots
12 PRG Bad Boy Spots
12 Clay Paky Mythos
12 Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330
6 Clay Paky Stormy CC strobes
18 DWE Duets
17 DWE 4-Light Moles
354 Chromlech Elidy LED video panels
1 Catalyst media server
For more Van Halen 2015 tour photos by Steve Jennings, go to www.plsn.me/vanhalen-plsn
