For the first time in five years, Depeche Mode is back out on tour, in support of their March 2023 album release, “Memento Mori.” Always on the cutting-edge of music and pushing the boundaries of the synth pop genre, Depeche Mode’s 19th tour again delivers acoustically and visually. Lighting Designer Jason Baeri spoke with PLSN about the dynamic design and how it supports Depeche Mode’s music and audience experience.
Muse’s “Will of the People” World tour recently concluded its U.S. arena leg with a visual design aesthetic that is a stark look at a looming post-apocalyptic world. The powerful production design, from co-production designers Jesse Lee Stout and Sooner Routhier, has garnered a lot of positive attention from audiences and industry colleagues for reflecting the band’s vision.
The pop rock sister duo Aly & AJ [Michalka] are currently touring in support of their fifth album, With Love From. The two-time American Music Awards winners are hitting the road with a lighting and production design from Marc Janowitz. PLSN speaks with Janowitz and Programmer/Lighting Director Jacob Wesson.
Live performance trailblazer, Björk continues touring her Cornucopia theatrical masterwork globally through 2023. It’s a fantastic example of using lighting inventively to enhance a much larger mixed media picture that captures the varied expressions, emotions, moments, and messages of Björk’s work. The elegant lighting design is co-designed by UK-based creatives Richard White and Bruno Poet.
The metal bands Gojira and Mastodon are out in 2023 on their co-headlining Mega-Monsters Tour. Lighting Designer Pete Cary has been with Grammy Award-nominated Gojira for six-and-a-half years, while Lighting Designer Eric Price has been lighting the Grammy Award-winning Mastodon for just over a year. They spoke with us about their collaboration on the tour design and the support of Chicago-based JRLX Lighting.
Chicago’s iconic Morton Salt complex is now known as The Salt Shed, an exciting arts and music venue downtown with a skyline view. With both outdoor and indoor stage spaces to realize, owners 16OC worked with Upstaging as the systems integrators and lighting suppliers. We hear about this unique project from Upstaging Account & Project Manager Steve Wojda and The Salt Shed’s Director of Production Tim Schoen.
Always full of unexpected moments, the 21st Annual Parnelli Awards on April 14, 2023, was no exception. NAMM’s Joe Lamond received the Parnelli Hall of Fame award, and a moving tribute to Nook Schoenfeld included naming the Lighting Designer of the Year award in his honor. We even saw Chris Lamb tip his hat in tribute to 2023 Lifetime Achievement award winner Roy Lamb.
Meet the winner of this year’s recipient of the Burry Fredrik Design Fellowship, scenic designer Marcelo Martínez Garcia. We have a recap of the ASTC – USITT Venue Renovation Challenge presentations by four teams and the winners of the Edgar L. Lustig Award and the USITT Director’s Award at the recent USITT convention. The Fusion Studio for Entertainment and Engineering has announced plans and opened registration for its Symposium on Education in Entertainment and Engineering in July at Purdue University. Plus, we have all the information on applying for the Vectorworks Design Scholarship.
An informative interview with Lighting Designer and Educator Lap Chi Chu about working on two shows at Lincoln Center simultaneously; “Camelot” and “The Coast Starlight.” Both shows were very different, yet for the designer, there was more that connected them than just a staircase.
A look at the opera lighting for “Le Maschere” at the Fondazione Teatro Goldoni in Livorno, Italy by Lighting Designer and Chief Electrician Michele Rombolini.
Debi Moen catches up with Michael Ledesma, John “Grinder” Procaccini, Gregg Maltby, Joe Cabrera, and Cat West, as well as Rob Koenig, Nathan Alves, and Seth Jackson, along with several others about the gigs they are on.
Chris Lose makes the case for the newest kid on the block: laser source lighting fixtures. With some expert advice and thoughtful advice, he suggests looking at navigating these new fixtures’ unique considerations.