Skip to content

What’s New from LDs Tess, Cory, Sarah, Patrick, Ethan, Jeremy, Mark, Lenny, Mikey, Keith, Craig, Tom, Brent, Ed, Max and Landon

Share this Post:

A week before preproduction began, an unexpected challenge was thrown into the mix when a bicycling LD Tess Falcone was struck by a motorcycle and broke her arm. She had designed the Treehouse tour for electronic pop duo Sofi Tukker, and in a cast, she continued to get the design up and running and programmed with one hand. She reports that she’s getting relief when lighting director Dora Gaskill takes over for her on the tour. “It definitely could have been much worse. Could have been my programming arm!”

The set uses UV-reactive paint to create a rave-jungle feel for the duo’s upbeat live performance, centering on a MIDI-trigger “book tree” for which they are known.

Meanwhile, she’s in recovery through an upcoming tour with Jimmy Eat World, and while working on a design as LD for Weezer’s summer co-headliner with the Pixies.

‡‡         Cory at Coachella

Cory FitzGerald was the lighting designer for Beyonce’s Coachella headliner performance this year, featuring two weekends of her special two-hour shows which also wowed the crowd with a full marching band, husband Jay-Z, sister Solange and the Destiny’s Child reunion. Says FitzGerald, “This was a one-of-a-kind performance and will not be repeated! We are now moving on to preproduction in the upcoming OTR II stadium tour. I’m looking forward to creating another new and unique experience for the tour.”

‡‡         Fever Ray’s Female Crew

Sarah Landau is on the road with Fever Ray as their lighting designer and operator–headlining the U.S. in May and then European festivals all summer. Fever Ray is an alias of Karin Dreijer of Swedish electronic music duo The Knife. “We have lots of short breaks between the fests, so I’m looking forward to many mini-European vacations instead of flying back and forth to and from the U.S. each time,” she says.

Another thing that has her enthused about the tour: 10 of the 13 people on tour (band and crew) are female. ”It’s special—we have all worked together before, even the dudes, and it’s a really nice vibe!”

‡‡         Quick Cues

Patrick Dierson reports another busy month for production design firm The Activity. “We helped the Navy SEAL Foundation raise over $10 million at their annual fundraising gala in Manhattan, handled lighting and production design for Ultra Music Festival’s 20th anniversary (three days of shows in Miami) alongside creative director Richard Milstein, as well as lighting designs for T-Mobile and IBM corporate events.”

Ethan Weber tells us he’s preparing for another Rolling Stones run from May through July on the second leg of the “No Filter” tour. All dates are in Europe—mainly U.K., with a few on the continent at the end.

Designer Jeremy Roth heads out this summer with a new production design for Ray LaMontagne. Lighting directors Max Blackman and Michael Grant continue to work with his design for Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, while LD Tim Semakula directs Sheryl Crow.

Mark Butts reports that he, Mike Swinford, Andre Petrus, Will McLachlan, Mark Carver and Han Henze are gearing up for the ABC shoot for the CMA Music Festival, featuring four days of concerts June 7-10 at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium.

Lenny Douglas has designed, programmed and is out operating the Underoath tour, which supports the hardcore Christian group’s first album in eight years. U.S. dates run to May 25.

LD Mikey Cummings has designed a plethora of tours, which hit the road in April: Stone Temple Pilots (with lighting director Roger Gant), Moon Taxi (with programmer Dan Grabus and lighting director Matt Eldridge), Lake Street Dive (with lighting director Dan Grabus), Revivalists (with lighting director Mike Gionfriddo), Brandi Carlile (with lighting director Justin Bridges), and John Prine (with lighting director Sarah Jaffee).

Lighting director Keith Hoagland will carry out Chris Lisle’s new production and lighting design for Jason Aldean’s “High Noon Neon” tour,” which launches May 10.

Craig Gaff belongs to the night as lighting director with Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo’s acoustic tour, whose dates run to Aug. 9 in the U.S. and Canada.

LD Tom Kenny recently designed shows for Univision, Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards, the finale of the tattoo reality competition show Ink Masters, along with HBO and CMT in Nashville and a special show at London’s Royal Albert Hall. He hints he’s “gearing up for some wonderful shows in the future, so lots of meetings.”

LD Brent Clark spent the first few months this year with Stereophonics across the pond. “The U.K. leg was the biggest the band has done to date, show-wise. Lots of moving parts,” he tells us.

LD Ed Warren updated us on his current tour designs with artists Lily Allen, Interpol, Mumford & Sons, The Charlatans, The Breeders, Bruno Major, a Late Show performance for French musical duo Ibeyi, Bishop Briggs and English electronic music duo Honne. He also finished his fifth music video, this one for Barbarossa.

After Tyler, The Creator’s winter tour, LD Max McDougall ramped up his show to play the main stage for both weekends of Coachella, with Drew Best of Imminent Visuals providing content for the massive LED wall on the festival stage. McDougall is now preparing for Tyler’s multiple U.S. and European festival dates again as designer, programmer and lighting director.

LD Landon Bloss learned to run a console at age 11 at his local church. Now he’s LD with The Mavericks. For more, see “On the Road,” this issue, page 14.

Touring season is heating up. Get your news to Debi while it’s hot and fresh! Reach her at [email protected].