The Super Bowl halftime shows rarely thrill me. I think the lighting, production and staging of these shows is usually incredible, year after year. But to be honest, the last time I think I saw an artist that really impressed me with their performance was when Prince killed it. But this year rocked.
Read More »
DATES: Feb.-Oct., 2017. “A weekend-warrior schedule.”
THE DESIGN: “As we do festivals, fairs and clubs, the design needs to stay flexible, so I look carefully at fixture types, placement and purpose.”
Read More »
With Glenn Close returning to the character of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, the role that won her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical 22 years ago, one wonders what the creative team could do to top the previous production. As Sunset’s new scenic designer James Noone notes, the last mansion set was enormous and very realistic. “It was a beautiful, stunningly executed, Gothic Hollywood movie palace that came down from the flies and moved forward,” he says.
Read More »
PLSN caught up with Bon Jovi’s longtime designer Doug “Spike” Brant of Nimblist, the company he runs with Justin Collie based out of Lancaster, PA. Together the two designers and their team put on various immersive entertainment projects, live sports, broadcast specials, festivals and special events and most notably concert tours with the likes of Lady Gaga, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, just to name a few. We spoke with Brant about his work on the current Bon Jovi — This House Is Not For Sale Tour, along with lighting director and automation programmer Joe Bay.
Read More »
Spike Brant and Justin Collie Rebrand
Performance Environment Design Group (PEDG), noted for their creative work in the live event and installation world and currently designing the Bon Jovi tour, has rebranded.
Read More »
Unique “Organ Pipe” Look Gets Additional Video Halfway Through Sell-Out Tour
“They are big, ugly, and intimidating when they are sitting in their set carts,” Jason Rothberg says of The Lumineers’ set for their Cleopatra world tour. “But once they are flown, lit and have content going through the Sceptrons, they make a beautiful transformation.”
Read More »
LD Bob Barnhart on the Long Path to Lighting the Super Bowl Halftime Show
Super Bowl LI took place in Houston on Feb. 5, 2017, and while the world will never really know if the halftime show’s patriotic themes gave the team from New England the edge they needed for their come-from-behind second half victory, the general consensus was that the show itself was a marvel.
Read More »
PLSN Checks In with the PMs Running the Top Tours of 2016.
Read More »
Three Industry Pros Define their Role on the Road
Road manager. Tour manager. Sometimes the titles are interchangeable. Above all, it means this: Make your artist happy. And make the show happen. Whatever it takes.
Read More »
PLSN caught a look at Twenty One Pilots’ ongoing “Emotional Roadshow” tour, the band’s biggest tour to date. With a design that started just two short years ago, playing in club/theater size venues, the band has grown to play to sold out arenas, and their design has grown with it. We spoke to production, lighting and set designer Daniel Slezinger and lighting director/co-designer Tyler “Shap” Shapard about the current trek.
Read More »
LD Kendall Clark Keeps the Beat on the EDM Duo’s “Spring Tour”
In 2015, the EDM track, “It’s Strange,” from Chicago-based EDM duo Louis the Child scored 10 million SoundCloud plays, spurred in part by a fortuitously timed shout-out from Taylor Swift.
Read More »
Lighting, Video Setup Helps Draw Top DJs, Friday Night Crowds for Marathon Sets
Miami is famous for its all-night clubbing scene, and since it opened in Sept. 2015, Heart has emerged as a top destination for revelers in the city’s downtown area on Friday nights (and some Thursdays and Saturdays too).
Read More »