Here in the land of Mick-E I mostly write about my motorcycle racing adventures, but sometimes I am motivated by events so write about other parts of my life. This past weekend was one of those events that is worth writing about.
On Friday afternoon late in the day I got a call on my cell from my co-worker Walter. A buddy of his from Felix lighting in LA was looking for someone to fill in for a missing LD who could not get here from volcanically challenged Europe. They needed a GrandMA programmer, and Wally was trying to help a buddy out by finding one. OK fine. I said. I was supposed to have the weekend off, but I could use the money for racing so I said why not. With no information other than to show up at the Catalyst nightclub in Santa Cruz at 11am, and meet the tour manager Matt for a band called Phoenix I was in. I spent some time Friday evening watching Youtube videos of the band from their recent show at the Warfield to get an idea of what their show was supposed to look like. I very much had the idea that I was going to try to recreate as much of the original show as possible. I put their newest album on my ipod, and on the trip down to the club in the morning I put my headphones under my helmet with the album on repeat, and listened away. That's about where my expectations ended and the story really begins.
The Catalyst is a little club in Santa Cruz so the first order of business was to locate the tractor trailer that was coming up from LA which wasn't hard as there was only 1 tractor trailer trying to navigate the tiny streets of downtown Santa Cruz, the next order of business was to figure out how the hell I was going to get this thing unloaded. Part of the comedy of this adventure was I only knew what some of the fixtures were going to be. I really had no clue what was in the truck. Eventually I did the get the truck unloaded with the help of another truck to cross load from the big semi into a smaller bobtail with a lift gate. OK got it. Gear on the ground next task is to open the cases and see what Santa brought us! At this point the bands full size tour bus towing a trailer shows up. So now we have 1 tractor trailer, 1 tour bus with a trailer, and 3 bobtails trucks all trying to unload into this little parking lot. Oh the comedy. Once we had everything unpacked, and the 2 instrument technicians ,Cedric and "Mini Mouse" with the band were working on setting the stage I finally had a chance to sit down with the band and talk about the show, and was I ever in for a surprise. I had studied their video's and I had a pretty good ime dea of what it was supposed to look like, but instead the lead singer Thomas tells "our show is complicated, you'll never get" "let's do something totally different" and they show me some you tube clips from an old Talking Heads concert. I look and I knew exactly what they were going for. Their normal show is very high tech, lot's of video, and LED's and strobes. Instead they wanted to go low tech, and they loved that old Talking Heads concert. I know that concert well because it was lit by a theater designer in a very non rock and roll style. It had lot's of shadows, and was super stark without any flashing lights, just subtle cue changes. I immediately knew what the band was looking for, and I reassured them I could create that look with the gear I had. At this point they asked me since I was doing this show I should do the next show which was Coachella. It was simple really. I get on the tour bus with the band, do the show, and fly back to SF on Monday. Sure easy peasy. All I have to do is find a place to stash my motorcycle (Thank you Jason), figure out how to get it on Monday, and get some clothes to wear for the next 2 days. How could I say no. It's Coachella for crying out loud.
OK it was settled that I was going so on to creating that look onstage. With the gear I had it was no easy task. We had to rent a generator. I let the kid in charge of the club hook up the dimmers, and he blew the fuse on my rack because the generator was set to 480v. He had to scramble to find me a tiny control fuse that protects the dimmers brain, but luckily he found on. The stage was tiny. There was almost no room for any lights on the stage. So I had to get really creative about where I could even place a lighting fixture, then figure out a way to use it. Necessity is the mother of all invention and with 15 minutes before the band took the stage for a rehearsal I had my meager lighting system consisting of 2 2k fresnels, 4 Par64's on the dance floor uplighting the band, and 4 Par64's as high side light. Add a handful of house par cans, all with no color and that was my lighting rig.
During the rehearsal I got my footing for some of the songs, practiced the important Q's for Love Like a Sunset, and 1901, and wrote my notes furiously so as to have some sense of what I was going to do for each song. It was a packed house when the band took the stage, and I tried mightily to create some visual drama with my tiny lighting rig. I would do a whole song with just 1 of th 2k fresnels on, and then add something like the uplights, or a side par. Really subtle changes. I was nervous as all hell. I've punted many shows, but I usually have a large arsenal of lights to create some razzle dazzle, but here this was raw. The band played hard, and the crowd went wild, and after the show the front of house audio engineer who is also the production touring manager told me it was one of the best shows he's ever seen the band play. He was really impressed by all the subtle changes, and thought it was a great looking show. I took a big breath, and could just smile.
OK next monumental task: fitting all the lights, monitors, and band gear into the trailer towed behind the bus. It was almost comical, but Cedric was determined to make it fit, and fit we made it, barely. We ended up putting some guitars in the belly of the bus with the suitcase, and some guitars in the stand up shower inside the bus. Barely fit. About 2am we got on the road outbound for Palm Springs. On my bunk inside the bus was a 3 pack of socks, shirts, and undies, along with a toothbrush. We stopped in Ontario around 10am for fuel, and I bought a terrible looking straw hat, and some redbull.
When we got to Coachella we lined our bus up with all the other tour buses, and began unloaded our trailer to cross load it onto a flatbed truck that will shuttle our gear to our stage. Once at the stage the local lighting stage hands took my console into the production trailer and set it up for me so I could get to programming. Word was out that I was a fill in LD, and people were going out of their way to accommodate me and try and help. It was an awesome feeling. I now had to come up with another basic lighting rig, and figure out how to utilize the gear. Roger from Felix had sourced me some 2 light mole-fays I wanted to use as uplights. When it came our turn to change over we had 25 minutes to set the stage, get my lights set up and program from FOH. Brutal. It was not even close to enough time. If I hadn't had the time in the production office I would have totally crashed and burned. As it turns out I had just enough time to get a couple of things programmed, and I had all my handles set. I took a pause to look up from my console, and turned around to see the crowd. That was a mistake. By this time we were the only band playing on one of the 2 large outdoor stages so lots of people came to see our band. I was later told 55,000 of them came. I didn't panic, but I didn't need to see that. If I was nervous the night before than now I was on edge. Luckily I didn't have any time to think about it because a moment later the band took the stage. I had my notes from the night before, and a new set list so I had to look at my notes, and see what song was coming next. Once again I was trying to create some different looks with a very basic rig. It was not a very exciting light show, but the band looked great on the big video screen on either side of the stage. It was exciting like no other lighting show I've ever done. I now have a new appreciation for rock lighting designers. This stuff is addictive.
When the show was over we loaded up the flat bed as Thom Yorke took the stage. We loaded up the trailer, a little better this time, and got back on the bus bound for LA. When the band got on the bus every member gave me a high 5, and a hug. They had loved it. It was their best show ever, and they explained why. Their normal lighting show is complex and has a lot light behind the band. They explained to me that the way I lit them they couldn't hide anywhere on stage. They couldn't be lazy. They had to play, and play hard. They loved it. They connected more with the audience, and it was a lot of fun for them. They asked if I'd talk to their LD when he made it form Europe and explain to him what I had done. Now that is a compliment.
When we got to LA at 3am to check into our hotel again every band member gave me a hug and thanked me. The crew all shook my hand, and off to bed. They had to get up early for a taping of the Jay Leno show. Me I had a plane to catch, and go fetch my motorcycle.
And this is what can happen when a volcano erupts. If you've read this far please do a search on Youtube for Phoenix Coachell 2010, and you'll see lots of videos. The guys in the band were so friendly and awesome to work with. The crew guys english monitor engineer Adam, French guys, Cedric, and Mini Mouse, and Ausie tour manager Matt were so supportive, and cool. I hope to meet up with again sometime.
Now let's go race some motorcycles.
No comments:
Post a Comment