AVRIL LAVIGNE WAS SET to embark on a tour in support of her sophomore release, “Under My Skin”. Tour manager David Ellison reached out to me and arranged an in-person meeting with the Canadian singer at Network’s offices in Los Angeles. I arrived at the meeting with a completely realized design and renderings, which Avril looked at and seemed… less than interested. So I closed my computer and asked “what would you like to see?”

This led to a banter back and forth, during which she grabbed a pencil and scribbled out a crude drawing of a classic 8-light Molefay fixture, saying “I really like these big lights that look like this”. We created a “napkin-CAD” sketch of a basic layout. Having gained trust and building a rapport, I went back to the drawing board to create a whole new design featuring multiple backdrops and a classic “line of amps” setup on stage. Classic PAR cans and different Molefay fixtures featured prominently in the design as well as six massive Syncrolite fixtures.

The tour lasted over a year, during which we performed on every continent (with the exception of Antarctica) and mounted two full production tours of the US and EU. The concept of cloning a light show to different lighting rigs was fairly new in 2004, and I gained invaluable experience realizing her visual show in different environments, including festival appearances and one-off shows in Jakarta, Bangkok, Taipei and counte