Wide Angle

While the Grateful Dead officially called it a career last fall at 50 years old, nobody really expected them to fade away. For this side project, they brought in John Mayer to take the place of the late Jerry Garcia while going by the name of Dead & Company. Guitarist Bob Weir shared the playing and singing duties with Mayer as they plowed through two sets of Grateful Dead music. Original drummers Bill Kreutzman and Mickey Hart handled the rhythm section.

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.

Lighting designer Peter Morse has had a long history with the Divine Miss M, Bette Midler, supporting tours since the Experience The Divine world tour (1993-1994). Subsequent tours and shows have included the Return of the Divine world tour (1996-1997), the Emmy Award-winning Diva Las Vegas HBO Special (1997), the Kiss My Brass tour (2004-2005), The Showgirl Must Go On (at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, 2008-2010, which was also taped for a special that debuted on HBO on NYE 2011). The current Divine Intervention tour kicked off May 8, 2015 in Hollywood, FL and toured North America through the end of June. The production has since shifted to the U.K. for five more shows this month.

After six weeks of rehearsals in Vancouver, the band officially kicked off their new tour in Rogers Arena on May 14. The iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE tour proves to be a visual masterpiece. Once again the production design team knows no boundaries and ventures into untested waters with their visual concepts.

Real World Lighting, Inc. was founded in 1989 when Bob Peterson shifted his energy from vending to design. His primary focus has been television lighting for music, comedy and special events, with clients including Garth Brooks, CMT Crossroads, a bevy of comedy specials for Showtime, HBO, Comedy Central and the POTUS [President of the United States]. Real World recently designed lighting for the concert segments of Pitch Perfect 2, the feature film, which gets released this month. Rascal Flatts and The Band Perry have also used Real World Lighting’s tour design consultation services.

EDC Production Crew

Producer: Insomniac Productions
Executive Producer: Forrest Hunt
Production Director: Alyxzander Bear
Production Designer/LD: Stephen Lieberman/SJ Lighting

The annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival kicked off its 15^th season in Indio, CA over two weekends in mid April.  More than 180 acts along with surprise guests and artists performed on six stages each weekend. Headliners included OutKast, Zedd, Muse, Arcade Fire, Skrillex and Pharrell Williams, among others.  graced the various stages throughout the entire festival run. Here’s a comprehensive listing of the crew and gear supporting the lighting, pyro and laser effects at the various stages, along with the staging itself, at Coachella 2014, working with Kevan Wilkins, festival production manager.