LD Ryan “Stumpy” Campbell with City + Colour
Tour: City + Colour
2016 Tour Dates: Feb. 7-28, Europe; March 24-April 9, Australia; April 20- May 8, South America; June 1- 20, Canada; July-October, North American festivals.
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The Pie’s the Limit
Scott Pask’s Scenic Design for The Waitress
The Tony Award-nominated musical Waitress, adapted from the film by the late actor/writer-director Adrienne Shelly, combines splashy sets and breezy music with serious themes of repression, enlightenment, and female empowerment. Jessie Mueller plays Jenna, a diner waitress who possesses a passion for making pies with exotic names that reflect real-life themes and ideas — such as Marshmallow Mermaid Pie, I Hate My Husband Pie, and Kick In The Pants Pie — but she is under the thumb of her controlling and verbally abusive boyfriend Earl. Once she learns of a pie-making contest with a nice monetary prize and also begins an affair with a handsome doctor, she begins to feel a sense of liberation that she has been craving.
Peter Gabriel & Sting “Rock Paper Scissors” Tour
Two British Artists (and LDs) Meld Ideas to Create One Unique Show
This summer, two talented English legends joined forces (and bands) to unite on stage for one big show. Proclaiming the tour as Rock Paper Scissors made a lot of sense, as each artist played and sang on the other’s songs as band members effortlessly formed different ensembles to play a multitude of both artists’ hits. What made this production even more interesting was the collaboration of two popular English lighting designers, Rob Sinclair and Danny Nolan, who looked after their respective artists’ looks. They melded ideas, then networked two different lighting consoles together to run a dynamic looking show for a six week run of dates in America.
The Cure
Longtime LD Angus MacPhail on the Band’s Latest Trek
The Cure performed another of their marathon more-than-three-hour concert performances to a packed amphitheater of devoted fans, performing both hits and rarities in their ever-evolving set list. There’s no denying the bands influence and originality in a career spanning 40 years. Bringing even more mood and impact to vocalist Robert Smith and the band is lighting designer and director Angus MacPhail, who talked to us about his long association with the band.
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Cage the Elephant 2016 Tour
Lighting designers Eric Cathcart and Michael Grant have been busy lately piecing together three different bands — Cage The Elephant, The Arcs and Silversun Pickups. They’ve managed to work out the scheduling to alternate LD duties from one to the other… timing has been on their side. PLSN spoke with Cathcart and Grant about the Cage The Elephant tour.
Vivid Sydney 2016
Vivid Sydney is a 23-day festival of light, music and ideas that takes place in Australia’s largest city. Now in its eighth year, Vivid began as Smart Light Sydney festival with a focus on energy efficiency by lighting designer Mary-Anne Kyriakou and headlined by musical artist Brian Eno. It is now called the world’s largest outdoor “art gallery,” with the 2016 event drawing more than two million visitors outdoors to downtown Sydney during May and June, the coolest (and darkest) time of the year in Australia.
Getting Personal with Comedy
Lighting for Comedy Specials Reflects the Star’s Distinctive Style
When Gabriel Iglesias sold out two nights in the Chicago area’s Allstate Arena May 20-21 for the filming of a Netflix special, lighting designer Robert Peterson knew he had a major challenge on his hands.
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Creative Sparks: Pyrotecnico Hosts PyroFest 2016
This past Memorial Day, more than 12,000 people at Cooper’s Lake campground in Western Pennsylvania attended PyroFest 2016, where they were treated to a celebration featuring two-days of fireworks and pyrotechnical special effects. Now in its fifth year, the event is hosted by New Castle, PA-based Pyrotecnico, a still-family-owned business that has been working with fireworks since 1889. New Castle is known as the “Fireworks Capital of America,” so there’s no better place to stage this spectacular annual showcase.
E3 and Lightswitch: Long Time Runnin’
Once upon a time, by the sea in a western land called L.A., before the creation of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), there was a gathering called the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Great in size and broad in scope, much confusion reigned, for the leaders who ran it had no idea about what do about a village of “video games.” The video game players would gaze on the latest innovations in car alarms, refrigerators, stereos, and telephones imploring in despair, “Where are our games?”
Enhancing the Worship Experience with LED Fixtures
LED lighting has been around for at least a decade now. While interest in LED fixtures has always been high, the performance has often been lacking, causing potential adopters to hold back on making the transition, or ending up with a lighting rig with issues. In recent years, however, LED lighting has given house of worship lighting designers the brightness, control, and color options they had been seeking to bring their worship services to life.
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At Northwoods Community Church, a Total Systems Upgrade
While the technical systems at Northwoods Community Church, located in Peoria, IL, were adequate for most services, there was no room for growth and little flexibility. To improve, the church upgraded or replaced almost all of their technical systems. Matt Hemmele, Northwoods’ Technical Director, walks us through their technical systems along with Graeme Brown, president of Peoria, IL-based Advanced Audio and Lighting Systems, who handled all of the lighting, video, and audio work for the project.
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Automated Consoles
It’s been more than 20 years since the first consoles designed to run automated lighting fixtures appeared on the market. Proprietary consoles for running certain companies’ light fixtures were available in the 1980s, but it took a while for someone to invent consoles that could spit out DMX and run any automated fixture as well as dimmers. Early on, there was the Whole Hog1, Scan Commander, Light Coordinator, Animator and the Status Cue to start the long learning curve. Here, we have more than a dozen top-of-the-line consoles listed. They are available to meet the needs of users with a wide range of features and price points. This month, as a bonus, we also reached out to more than a half-dozen LDs to get their perspective on the favorite features and functions of a sampling of different consoles.
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