It was announced at the end of 2015 that “classic era” Guns N’ Roses lead singer Axl Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan would be regrouping … after months of speculation and anticipation. Fans, press, media, the social universe and the music industry went into overdrive at the thought of one of the world’s most legendary rock bands being back on the road with this incredible lineup.
Setting previous issues aside, putting the music first and reigniting the incendiary performances for which they were universally known and loved, Guns N’ Roses hit the road in a maelstrom of energy on their “Not in This Lifetime…” tour, kicking off with some arena warm ups followed by a U.S. stadium tour.
Welcome (Back) to the Jungle
Phil Ealy — who has worked with the band since their early days in the mid 1980s — came aboard as production designer / co creative director and brought in Rob Koenig to join the creative team as lighting programmer/director. These two know a thing or two about teamwork and producing “big rock show lighting,” and they crafted this one with much love and precision.
Phil has a number of other high profile rock acts on his resume, and he was also the production designer/lighting director for the maverick 28-month GNR Use Your Illusion tour, which started in 1991 and included 194 shows in 27 countries before ending in mid-1993. The starting point for the “Not in This Lifetime…” (NiTL…) tour was getting the right blend of the old-skool “mega rock show” lighting aesthetic and new technology — and naturally — in sensible relation to the budget!
Staging, Visuals and Pyro
Production manager Dale ‘Opie’ Skjerseth already had a Stageco stage/roof system in place for the stadium shows, so Phil took that into consideration … and started the design process from there.
As co-creative director, Phil collaborated with all departments. These included co-creative director Jeremy Leor; Dan Potter at Creative Works in London, who produced all the show’s video content; and video director Steve Fatone, with whom Phil has worked on Lady Gaga. He also coordinated pyro with “Pyro” Pete Cappadocia and Jonesy from pyro specialists Stage & Effects Engineering.
Phil and Rob initially met via Butch Allen during a 2013 Kenny Chesney Tour (for whom Phil is lighting director). Rob was the programmer for Butch Allen (see profile, this issue, page 60), who designed the opening act. “Butch told me that he (Rob) was solid and worked cheap for pizza and beer, so I kept him in mind for future projects,” Phil quipped, to which Rob responded, “GNR was the first time Phil and I have worked together. He called because he knew he needed some awesomeness on-board!” Joking apart, when Phil also learned that Rob was designing and directing for Metallica, this visual hook-up “seemed like a perfect fit.”
Choosing the Rig
When it came to choosing lighting fixtures, Phil wanted to use some of Robe’s BMFL moving lights — the first time he’s spec’d them for a tour. “Basically I thought the joking acronym for BMFL was absolutely appropriate for this tour,” he said. “We needed the brightest fixtures available for the stadium environment.”
Twenty-five BMFL WashBeams were used. The bulk of them hung on truss torms, but four of them were utilized as truss spots. Koenig notes that the fixtures have a special mode for that operation. “The functionality of this light as a truss spot, with the optional handle, zoom and iris capabilities, and the ability to cut through anything, is great. This is the best light I have used to date as an automated truss spot.”
They were joined by 34 BMFL Spots and three BMFL Blades, which together with other fixtures on the rig are scattered over a number of HUD trusses. The truss fills the space in between seven over-stage lighting pods, each of which were loaded with 19 GLP impression X4 LED wash lights.
The rear video wall splits into six columns and tracks into different positions throughout the set, interacting with the seven upstage lighting torms that filled the gaps and also moved. Between them, these two kinetic elements created an impressive array of positional and structural rock-tastic looks.
Rob thinks the BMFLs are “the best spot luminaire currently on the market — great firepower, fantastic smooth and even color mixing and the standard gobo selection is really tasteful.” Having now had a chance to put the BMFLs through their paces for real and see them properly in action, Phil commented, “In my opinion BMFL is the top fixture line currently available.”
In addition to the BMFLs and XL4s, other fixtures on the rig included 10 Robe Pointes, 73 Martin MAC III AirFX, 69 Elation WW4 cue pix blinders, 48 Martin Atomic LED strobes and eight Solaris Flare Junior strobes. Eighteen GLP X4 Bar 10s were also positioned on the upper ramps of the set behind the drums and keyboard risers deck together with the Pointes.
Lighting was controlled via a grandMA2 full size console, which is both Phil and Rob’s desk of choice, based on its versatility and flexibility.
Kudos to the Crew
Upstaging supplied all the lighting gear for the U.S. leg of the tour. It was the first time Rob had worked with the Chicago-based company on this scale. “I am more than impressed with the crew and the gear,” he said. “Consistency is a key on any tour, and they delivered great results on a daily basis.”
Ron Schilling served as the lighting crew chief, with Jason Arhelger looked after the torms, Rob Savage on dimmers, and Daniel Benavides and Benji Meserole working as lighting techs, along with Greg Gore who also managed the cables. Nick Pishghadamian coordinated the truck packing and floor lights, Jonathan Rice oversaw the setup and installation of the three stage right FOH followspots and Matt Tucker handled the three stage left ones.
Although the U.S. leg finished with a show in San Diego on Aug. 22, GNR’s “Not in This Lifetime…” tour is currently scheduled to continue, playing Latin America in the fall (Oct. 27-Nov. 29) and Japan (Jan. 21-29) and New Zealand/Australia (Feb. 2-21) in early 2017.
