Richard Neville of Sydney-based Mandylights said the “big project of note” is Ricky Martin’s “One World Tour,” which hits North American arenas Sept. 15-Oct. 25 after previous tour legs in New Zealand, Australia and Mexico earlier this year.
Call her “Deadicated.” Forty-seven years ago, in 1968, Candace Brightman lit The Grateful Dead for her first time at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. Her first tour with them was in 1972, she recalls. She’s held the key as the overall production designer and lighting guru since then — keeping alive the psychedelic ballroom vibe no matter what the venue.
“He said music has color, and the color of music is blue,” said LD Chris Stuba. The design inspiration for Brian Wilson’s summer tour starts with that thought from the Beach Boys legend. Wilson, who is performing with fellow band mates Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplain, presents a welcoming design and programming challenge for Stuba on the lighting console. “Sometimes the bridge of the song starts at the beginning, or the song changes through many time signatures throughout,” Stuba said. “I had to approach programming and running this show differently because of those variances.”
This year Mercedes-Benz has been launching its new model luxury automobiles, but along with its sophisticated exteriors, the lighting needed to shine on the advanced electronic technology inside. A key theme: “driverless driving.” To accomplish this, the German auto manufacturer tasked its longtime lighting designer Richard Profe with using lighting technology that would also reflect the luxury, efficiency and high technology of its own cars.
Production designer Marc Janowitz devised a design in early April for singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell tour in support of the March 31, 2015 album release named for the singer’s mother, Carrie — who died in 2012 after suffering from mental illness — and his stepfather. Stevens channeled his grief into his most personal, intimate songs. To present them on the road, he eschewed the props and gimmicks for which he’s known, and Janowitz sets the stage for a more melancholy mood.
Patrick Dierson is gravitating more to production design these days, he told PLSN. Most recently, he was production designer for DirecTV’s Super Bowl Fan Festival Jan. 28-30 in the Phoenix area. “I continue to handle discipline specific duties in lighting and visuals on certain projects as well, but production design seems to be what most productions are turning to me for,” he said.
LD Brent Clark operated his design for The Tragically Hip’s Fully and Completely tour through mid-February in Canadian arenas. He then returned to Sarah McLachlan’s U.S. run Feb. 27-April 1. Describing The Hip’s design, Clark explained: “Our main focus was to create two distinct shows. The main part of the show was the band playing the album Fully Completely in its entirety, which they had never done before, and then book end that set with five songs. So those five songs had to look and feel entirely different. We did this by using only black and white I-Mag side screens and straight up rock and roll lighting with no video content. So when Fully Completely started, all the video elements rolled into play and the side screens sprang into color. It was quite a fun project to work on.”
Moving up from lighting director to lighting designer can be an organic process. Or there could be an unusual story involved, as there is for Scott Pearson.
As we pull the plug on 2014 and flip the switch for 2015, Designer Watch checked in with designers, directors and programmers to inquire about their state of mind. We asked: What are you grateful for? What are your goals or resolutions? What are your hopes and wishes for the New Year?
Holiday tours are spreading multimedia magic across the country. Production designer Bryan Hartley has reimagined a new look for the annual Trans-Siberian Orchestra tour, which again runs an identical East and West Coast leg Nov. 13-Jan 4, 2015. Hartley could hardly contain his excitement, telling PLSN, “My new design and concept for this year show and story is probably the best thing I’ve done. It really is a masterpiece! It is my favorite design.”
X Japan, billed as “the most successful rock band in the history of Japan,” performed a one-off at Madison Square Garden in New York City. LD Peter Morse designed the set and the lighting for the Oct. 11 show, working with production manager Phay MacMahon. “I designed a smaller show for their warm-up concerts in Yokohama, which took place one week prior to the show at the Garden,” said Morse. “The MSG show was shot for DVD, and consisted of 600-plus fixtures, ably programmed via ESP previz by Troy Eckerman and Craig Caserta. We only had one actual day — show day — with the entire rig! So previz was an absolute necessity.”
Children in wheelchairs not only have special needs, they need special design consideration when they’re part of a show. Getting them in and out of the audience, getting them onto the stage requires ramps, elevators and other accessibility features. While the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has recently swept social media to raise funds for ALS, the MDA Telethon has been raising money for ALS, muscular dystrophy and other neuro-related diseases since 1966, traditionally during Labor Day weekend.