U2’s 2017 Joshua Tree tour marks 30 years since the band released the classic album of the same name in 1987. The show highlights themes and imagery still current in today’s culture captured by longtime U2 photographer and film director Anton Corbijn. We spoke with creative director and lighting designer Willie Williams on the third date of this tour, which also features a set design by Ric Lipson of Stufish, staging by Tait, and lighting and video supplied by PRG/PRG Nocturne. New technologies include PRG’s Spaceframe and a 4K broadcast camera system integrated into the design.
Willie Williams
Creative Director & Lighting Designer
Dutch photographer and film director Anton Corbijn has been the major visual creative source for the band U2 the last three decades.
“When the idea of revisiting the Joshua Tree came up, there was never any doubt that Anton would be the filmmaker. The album artwork is entirely his aesthetic — he even found the iconic tree so we didn’t have to discuss it further. I sent him the stage design and explained the parameters, then he responded with an initial treatment which was pretty much what he ended making.
“I looked at the ‘87 stadium stage, which was essentially a festival proscenium stage with a painted backdrop and PA scrims, and was very keen to encompass at least a little of that spirit in the new design. A proscenium stage is so out of fashion now that part of me wondered if U2 could do something interesting to reinvent it for the 21st century, but ultimately the sight lines just don’t work for today’s outdoor stadium shows.
“There was no video on the ‘87 tour. We played two nights at Wembley Stadium with a painted backdrop, so recapturing the ‘maximum minimalism’ spirit was important.
“In the end, what we have designed appears to be just that, a great big plywood backdrop with a Joshua Tree painted on it as Act I of the show is played with no video reinforcement. U2 design these enormously elaborate stage effects not because they have to, but simply because they want to. They can still play with nothing at all.”
U2 has a very strong creative team with about eight or nine all told, with various players contributing to different degrees from tour to tour depending on the nature of the project.
“Gavin Friday is my co-director, who deals more with the performance than the hardware. We have Ric Lipson from Stufish and Es Devlin being the set designers, it’s all very much a grand collaboration. Ric has been the lead set designer this time around, with Es consulting on the overall show more than the minutia of the stage.
“Sharon Blankson, U2’s long-term stylist, and choreographer Morleigh Steinberg are also involved throughout, along with Stefaan “Smasher” Desmedt, the video director. I like the fluidity of this group, as it allows everyone to play to their strengths in different situations.
“We couldn’t do this without production manager Jake Berry. Lesser men would not have the balls to go with some of the design proposals, but Jake always rises to the challenge. For this tour, he was highly instrumental in the relationship required with StageCo. to create the massive cantilever structure required to outrig the entire PA and lighting rig up over the screen.
“Smasher was insistent from the beginning that we tour a 4K camera system, and really nobody else on board understood why. I’ve always been the king of low-res, as I enjoy the punk quality of it, so coming to a screen of such insanely large dimensions and resolution was a whole new experience. Without the 4K system, it wouldn’t have nearly the 3D quality that it has. Anton actually ended up shooting his films in 8K, which I wasn’t even aware existed.
“Production time was tight. We had 10 days in Houston for a tech build and programming, then joined the band in Vancouver for 10 days rehearsal. Houston was somewhat hampered by half of the screen being a week late (which is a pretty big deal when you’ve got eight days of programming), so Vancouver was a bit of a scramble.”
The moving system is PRG Bad Boys, mostly HP’s with some of the new long throw units as front of house spots, notes Williams.
“All of the followspots are Ground Control. The throw distances are so enormous and the opportunities for lighting placement so limited (I always seem to do that to myself) that every fixture counts and has to be as bright as humanly possible. On previous tours, I’ve used a mixture of washes and spots, but this time it’s all spots, there really wasn’t any need to do otherwise.
“Aside from the movers, there’s my usual selection of analog antiques; Atomic strobes with scrollers, sodium fixtures, Hungaroflash units, 100W bulkheads and (very proudly) 400 DWEs.
“I have the same team of programmers, operators and crew chiefs that I’ve worked with since the Robbie Williams tour in 2013, and this really helps. We all know each other’s shorthand and they understand what’s important to me and what’s not. They really are the ‘A Team.’ I feel very privileged to have this level of support.
“I decided to include Allen Branton in the lighting team from the very beginning. I presume we’ll shoot this show somewhere but, in any case, when shooting 57-year olds in 4K on a 50-foot-tall screen, it’s obvious that a wise man would pay close attention to lighting for camera. I’ve worked with Allen for decades, and he has the patience of a saint, so it made a huge difference to the band members’ confidence in their own appearance.”
It’s been very gratifying to read wall-to-wall rave reviews about this show, says Williams.
“I never doubted that this show would succeed, because the premise is so strong, but I have been pleasantly surprised by the response; many viewers calling it a career highlight, which I didn’t expect. As much as it is a great privilege to work with a band this good for such a long time, I’ve often felt that we become our own worst critics — there’s something potentially paralyzing about being told that ‘we come to see U2 to see what the future looks like.’
“I remember being asked consistently on the [1992-1993] Zoo TV tour how we could possibly follow it, but I realize now that as long as the band stays interested, then we will always find something new to say. It’s a feisty, creative family and, as with most families, the urge to stab each other to death is quite strong on occasion, but in the bigger picture, we understand that it’s the relationships that produce the great work. There’s really no one like them.”
U2 Joshua Tree 2017 Tour
Crew
- Creative Director & Lighting Designer: Willie Williams
- Set Designer: Ric Lipson
- Executive Director & Band Consultant: Gavin Friday
- Creative Consultants: Es Devlin (Set), Morleigh Steinberg (Choreography), Sharon Blankson (Stylist)
- Video Content Direction: Anton Corbijn, JR, Willie Williams
- Editor: Warren Chapman
- Animation: Chris Shone, Susana Yamamoto, Brandon Kraemer, Brett Bolton, Terry Scruby
- Live Video Director: Stefaan “Smasher” Desmedt
- Lighting Directors: Mark “Sparky” Risk, Alex Murphy, Allen Branton (Consultant)
- Lighting Crew Chief: Nick Barton
- Lighting Techs: Blaine Dracup, Adam Morgan, Gareth Morgan, Joe Simpson, Jason Wright, Matt Leroux, Stuart lee, Michael Butler, Dale Jewett
- Video Crew Chief: Stuart Heaney
- Video Techs: Sandro Bruni, Eric Geiger, John O’Brien, Kes Thornley, Drew Welker, Gordon Davies, Jay Strasser, Jim Toten, Justin Welch, Lewis McMillan, Kenneth Clair Jr.
- Tour Manager: Scott Casey
- Production Manager: Jake Berry
- Tour Director: Craig Evans
- Assistant Tour Manager: Sarah O’Herlihy
- Tour Business Manager: Bob Koch
- Stage Manager: Rocko Reedy
- Stage Manager & Head Electrician: Jon Boss
- Tour Production Coordinator: Aaron Siegler
- Tour Coordinator: Alison Larkin
- Automation: Dion Pearce
- Riggers: Chuck Melton (Head), Jake Harrelson
- Head Carpenter: Flory Turner
- Production Companies:
- Lighting: PRG (Tim Murch, Robin Wain)
- Video: PRG Nocturne (Mark O’Herlihy)
- Set Design: Stufish Entertainment Architects
- Staging & Automation: Tait Towers (James Fairorth, Adam Davis, Aaron Seibert), StageCo
- Video & Show Content Production: The Third Company (Sam Pattinson), Empirical Studio (Ben Nicolson)
- Trucking: Upstaging Inc. (US)
Gear
Lighting:
- 3 grandMA2 full consoles
- 1 grandMA2 Light console
- 218 PRG Bad Boy HPs
- 48 Chroma-Q Color Force 48s
- 4 Chroma-Q Color Force 12s
- 56 Martin Atomic strobes w/ scrollers
- 6 Hungaro Flash units
- 130 DWE Mole fey 4x1s
- 20 DWE Mole fey 2x1s
- 12 Look Solutions Unique 2.1 hazers
Video
- 550 Panels ROE CB8, configured as 50 columns, each 11 panels high. Total size: 197’ x 44’ (W x H)
- 1 Spaceframe w/ 24,500’ carbon tubing
- 4 Miles of carbon fiber cloth (6’ wide)
- 8 Brompton LED Processors (Tessera M2 series)
- 16 Outputs DVI for d3 media servers
- 1 32 x 32 DVI router w/ direct fiber outlets to the processors
- 2 4K d3 media servers
- 2 4K inputs per server, or 8 3G inputs per server
- 2000 Feet of fiber to the wall processing
- 32 32 DVI Matrix
- 10 4K Monitoring
More U2 2017 ‘Joshua Tree’ tour photos by Steve Jennings:
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