On the Road

TOUR: Immortalized Tour

DATES: Feb. 2016 into 2017

THE DESIGN: “My intent was to do a 100 percent LED rig. I got close, but at the last minute, I changed the profile fixtures out. I really needed a bit more horsepower to cut through the wash. There were several conference calls about ideas and direction. I was their LD when they went on hiatus back in 2011, and was flattered to get the call back. Fortunately, there was already a relationship built, and we picked right up where we left off.”

[caption id="attachment_268337" align="alignnone" width="800"]Charles Ford photo by Debi Moen[/caption]

Tour: “Gimme Love” U.S. and Canada tour
Dates: Feb. 12-April 5, 2016

TOUR: July 2015 to Feb. 13, 2016

THE DESIGN: “Grace improvises, she loves spontaneity. She likes to lead the audience somewhere. I like those unscripted moments. Sometimes it’s a moody show, and it goes from heavy pop songs to a psychedelic feel. She dances, weaving in and out of shadows and light. It’s viscerally exciting and keeps me on my toes, as I can’t cue stack the show. She is legally blind, so followspots are an impossibility as she can’t see with them — she would literally walk off the stage, so I had to create a system for her to be seen on the downstage edge which she inhabits. I use LED side bars on each side of the downstage. There’s not a lot of light spillage, it’s more narrow. I’ve also played with colors more so she knows where the light is and will lean into it. We use tape to outline the stage.”

TOUR: Aug. 2015-Aug. 2016 world tour

TWO MOSIERS BACKSTAGE: “My oldest son, Calvin, is a lighting tech. It was great having him on the crew. The first time he called me Mac instead of Dad, coming across the stage, it threw me. But I got used to it. He goes out with the Stones in January.”

Band: Rise Against

Tour Dates: Late 2015 (July to Dec. 8)

Tour: April 2015-Fall 2016

Design: “I had free rein, not something I’m used to, so it was fun. We use a lot of LED elements — for pixel mapping, as movers, strobes, PARs — including a LED Wall. We made a scrim using the band’s album art, which the video wall shines through.”

Home Base: London, England

Years in the Industry: 13

Tour: May 28-Aug. 16 North America; Oct. 20-Nov. 2 Japan; Europe/UK Dec. 6-19

Design: “This show is big, bold looks. It’s the old school looks of a rock and roll show but with new technology. There’s barely any gobos — just in two songs — and no video, although in Europe we may use video.

Tour: ZZ Top tour of North America, U.K. and Europe (May 30-Oct. 4, 2015)

Design Process: “ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons pays attention to all the production: I-Mag, video, lighting, sound. That’s awesome; it takes some of the guesswork out of it.”

Tour: LD Jon Pollak is supporting Boz Scaggs’ 2015 tour, with U.S. shows in May, July-August, 2015. The photo here is of Pollak in New York City circa 1976, when Scaggs’ album, Silk Degrees, scored a #2 on Billboard‘s Top 200. The more recent shot of Scaggs himself (below, performing in Austin, TX) was taken by Debi Moen in 2015.

Design: “I’m working with Seth Jackson on the new tour starting in May. We are trying to come up with a nice little rig that will look good in amphitheaters, small fairs/festivals.”