IN THE SPRING OF 2021, Jon Dunleavy reached out to me through a mutual friend to ask for some assistance in drafting with Vectorworks, the CAD program which is one of the dominant tools of our industry. Jon had the complete design in his head and had rendered various views of his scene in a basic paint program. Our Vectorworks lessons led to a complete design document that was ready for Gallagher Staging to turn in to a touring set.

Jon then asked me to do a lighting design and program the show when the band’s long time LD and friend of mine Mike Herkimer discovered a conflict in his schedule. I took the job as touring LD as we were one of the first productions to get back on the road after the break imposed by the pandemic.

The set was comprised of LED panels mounted in touring carts which evoked the stacks of retro television sets that the band had used in the video for their new single as well as for tour branding. All of the lighting was built in to the set and four rolling truss carts and it fit within twenty feet of truck space. Brody Harper and Ryan Slaughter of Twoseventwo Productions were tapped to provide stunning video content which was sent to the onstage array of screens from a Resolume server triggered by the lighting console. The band employs no computers or timecode so the lighting operation had to be hands-on, requiring the timing and nuance behind the console for which I am known.