Sister Act’s Co-Headlining Tour Rocks with New Rig, LD
Forty years after their first hits climbed the charts, American rock band Heart teamed up with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts for a “Queens of Sheba” 2016 tour through Canada. The Wilson sisters — Nancy and Ann — performed their rock staple hits beneath an automated rig provided by Solotech.
Passing the Torch
Dale Doucette, who has been a freelance lighting and set designer for 35 years, working with a wide range of acts from Kitarō to New Kids on the Block, also served as lighting designer/director for the Wilson sisters for eleven years prior to taking on the role as production manager just over a year ago. With the extra workload he has now, Dale felt the time had come to hand the button pushing duties off to another lighting director.
On the Canada leg of the “Queens of Sheba” tour he worked with Gabrielle “Gabi” Scheff, an up-and-coming designer with previous experience from East Coast Lighting & Production Services of Rhode Island. “I gave her the keys to the car, so to speak, on this one, and she has run with it and is doing a great job,” says Dale, who has been serving as a mentor of sorts for Scheff for the past four years. “This summer will be her first shed tour as an operator, and having this Canada run has been a great way for her to get her feet firmly planted for the summer.”
A New Lighting Twist
As a huge part of the design, Dale and Gabi incorporated ACL 360 Matrix moving panels, a fixture Elation sales personnel Blaine Engle and John Dunn introduced to Dale. “John and I talked initially about a couple of different fixtures but we settled on the ACL 360 Matrix’s, because I thought they brought a whole new look and personality to the rig,” Dale says.
“They have some great capabilities and effects possibilities as well, which Gabi and I had some fun with while programming in Montreal with some real wow moments in the process,” he continues. “Gabi really wanted to explore what they were capable of doing by running them in extended mode, spending hours exploring what she could get out of them effects-wise and it paid off. We got some really great chases and effects out of her drive to make them perform. We are using 20 fixtures in the rig and they stand alone in their presence.”
Solotech’s package also included Elation ELAR 180 PAR lights to wash the stage with colored beams. For the hard edged sources and gobos the design team stayed with the trusted Vari*Lite VL3000 spots. “For strobes, we just relied on the strobing functions on all the fixtures. That worked well for us,” Dale notes.
Screens for Media Content
Behind the band was a large rectangular landscape wall of 15mm video tiles erected by Solotech. Offstage of the main wall are two more portrait-style screens flanking either side with torm racks of light fixtures separating these walls. The tour did not use I-Mag or any cameras, relying solely on media content.
Dale obtained the custom content he desired from Mark Devlin Visual Design, a popular content developer out of Marina Del Ray, CA with a long history of providing content for musical acts. “I have continued my relationship with Mark for all our video content for this year’s tours. Mark does an amazing job of converting some of my crazy ideas into visual master-
pieces.” Media was fed to the screens by ArKaos media servers; triggered by the lighting desks.
Separate Looks, and Control
Gabi chose to run the Heart show off of a grandMA2 console while Joan Jett’s team used a Hog 4. Most of the light rig is also used for Joan Jett’s set with the exception of the ACL 360 Matrix fixtures. “I chose to hold them back for Heart only because I wanted some separation between the looks of the bands,” Dale states. “Blaine and John have been great in making all this happen and the fixtures have exceeded my expectations of what I thought I could with them. They have really added that difference I was looking for and have performed wonderfully.”
The Canadian run started in Abbotsford, BC on March 7 and ended in Montreal on March 21. Solotech served as vendor for all the sound, video and lighting gear. “David Bergeron of Solotech, who has been a great friend and crew chief for a couple of tours with Heart helps me make my vision quest as we call them become reality in auto cad form,” Dale comments. “This whole concept was draw on a napkin and passed along to him to bring to life.”
Matt Lavallee served as the lighting crew chief, and Eric Simard looked after the video. Dale also credits Dean Roney of Solotech Vegas and tour manager Rusty Hooker, “who worked hard together to get all this on budget and make it happen.”
The ten-show “Queens of Sheba” tour was a prelude to a longer 37-show run that will tour across America this summer and include Cheap Trick. The summer tour, dubbed the “Rock Hall Three for All” tour, will coincide with Cheap Trick’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (The Wilsons and Jett were inducted in 2013 and 2015, respectively). This summer will be the fourth time Heart has toured with Joan Jett and her band. After some solo dates, including a short U.K. run, Heart will start the summer run in July in Detroit.
