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On the Road

Kevin Cauley selfie from a previous trek.

LD Kevin Cauley and Soundgarden

Tour Dates: The current leg includes the two broadcast shows at SXSW and a Lollapalooza run through South America at the end of March.

Design: It supports and emphasizes a mood where shadows delicately outweigh highlights. Vertical ladders left and right get the pretty light angles, and the video content supports a surreal theme. The show is based on a lighting design by Kille Knobel with production design by Justin Collie. It’s an eclectic mix right now, as these are a series of festival style shows, and luxuries you enjoy on a standard tour are not always available. Soundgarden music is a primal, distorted, haunting version of their own psychedelia. The task is to support and convey that mood no matter what rig I have to use.

Tony Bennett and Ron Farino. Photo by Debi Moen

LD/Stage Manager Ron Farino and Tony Bennett

Tour Dates: Year-round worldwide

Design Concept: “Our show is all about the music. We don’t carry any of our own lighting gear so I have designed a lighting plot that is flexible in many venues. We use moving lights whenever available however our lighting plot is conventionals only. I lean towards an asymmetrical look in the background, I find that more interesting. Our show is a theatrical piece. I am trying to create a mood.”

Fitz and the Tantrums on tour. Photo by Amber Stokosa

LD Chris Smith for Fitz and the Tantrums

Tour Legs: Feb. 10-18 (U.S.); March 3-16 (U.K./Europe); April 3- May 15 (U.S.)

Design Concept: “The shows in February will be one-offs, so I’ll spec out a system. The new tour design happens in April when we’re carrying gear again. We’re talking about adding more video elements and beam fixtures surrounding and encasing the band.”

Alex Skowron photo by Debi Moen

Alex Skowron Lights John Fogerty

TOUR: John Fogerty Tour

DATES:  Oct. 10-Nov. 14, 2013 (U.S.)

THE SHOW:  “It opens with a 16-minute video intro of Fogerty fun facts you might not know. The first half of the show alternates with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s entire album of Cosmo’s Factory (1970) or Bayou Country (1969), and then old hits and new favorites.”

Jeff Archibeque, LD for ZZ Top/Gang of Outlaws tour. Photo by Joe Kaiser

Jeff Archibeque and ZZ Top

Tour: ZZ Top

Tour Name: Gang of Outlaws Tour. (ZZ Top with 3 Doors Down, Gretchen Wilson)

Dates: Feb. 14-Dec. 31, 2013, in Australia, Europe and North America

Marty Postma, LD for Alice in Chains/Uproar Festival

TOUR: Alice in Chains, headlining act for the Uproar Festival tour

UPROAR FEST DATES:  Aug. 9 to Sept. 15, 2013

THE DESIGN: “Nearly all moving lights and LED screens are designed to bend like a shell around the band. The screens’ hanging angles and shape of the lighting trusses help accomplish this. We’ve got 68 moving lights, six small LEDs and five conventional blinders. For LED screens we have six larger panels over the stage and four smaller panels across the front truss.”

Robert Plant Presents Sensational Space Shifters’ LD Chris Lisle

On the Road with LD Chris Lisle

 Tour: Robert Plant Presents Sensational Space Shifters

 2013 Dates: Singapore/Australia/New Zealand March 21-April 11; North America June 20-July 27; UK/Europe Aug. 31-Oct. 31.

 Design: “Minimalistic. With just 12 feet of truck space, the tour counts on filling front and back trusses with local gear and 14 moving lights. Plant always wants par cans as side light; he loves the ‘70s feel. But at some points he wants psychedelic looks. As this tour would travel to South America with active crowds, Plant thought ‘let’s do some flash, some fun’ in the lighting looks to appeal to dance-oriented crowds.”

Jeff Rials. Photo by Paris Visone

Jeff Rials, LD/Lighting Director, Limp Bizkit 2013 Tour

TOUR DATES: April and May in the U.S., June in Europe. Returns to U.S. in fall with new design, much bigger tour.

THE DESIGN: “This is kind of a guerilla run. There’s no production other than a small light sign we had back in 1997 and some white plastic chains hanging everywhere on stage. We are playing small clubs the band hasn’t played in 15 years.”