Justin Timberlake: Man of the Woods

It’s pretty much a given in the world of live event design and technology that a Justin Timberlake tour brings with it next-level technical production and unparalleled creativity. The artist’s latest effort is no exception, and features an elegant, projection-centric show design and a gigantic stage system. Man of the Woods - Timberlake’s 6th solo headline tour - follows the release of his 5th studio album of the same name, and presents his music in several ‘worlds’, which are themed around the original aesthetics of his now extensive back catalogue…

The Man of the Woods stage, fabricated by Tait, stretched almost the entire arena floor, with a winding runway that features 2 satellite stages and several performance areas where Timberlake could engage with fans. The 35 projection silks that lined the stage were a key aspect of the design, serving as a canvas for both IMAG and original video content. Each silk was an 8ft wide ‘roll drop’ curtain that could be released at 3ft per second by Tait Nano Winches, creating 50ft of projection space apiece.

Tait and Production Manager, Robert ‘Hydro’ Mullin, worked together on The 20/20 Experience tour back in 2013, and were reunited again with an extended team for Timberlake’s Man of The Woods tour. Other key creative members were Production Designers, Josh Zangen and Brian Bucker, and Creative Producer and Lighting Designer, Fireplay’s Nick Whitehouse. Kelly Sticksel, Fireplay Producer and SFX and Laser Designer, and Alex Barratte, Video Technical Designer and Screens Programmer, also lent their talents to this mammoth undertaking.

“It’s a very choreographed show because we didn’t want to block any seats. A lot of work went into making sure that everything can be seen everywhere,” said Whitehouse. “Even when the transparent roll-drop screens come down for video projections, the audience can see through them for a really cool effect.”

The opening of the show saw Timberlake emerge from a tunnel of light, under a 30 x 30ft ‘MOTW’ lighting rig constructed from LED rods. The rig is lowered and hangs from 16 active Nav Hoists above the 68ft wide, circular main stage, which includes 2 upstage scissor lifts that connect to 2 ramp lifts and a centre stage ramp lift creating an on-stage, automated walkway. The walkway sits upstage from a pair of revolves - 22ft in diameter - where Timberlake’s band, the Tennessee Kids, began the show. To create the main stage walkway, Tait Navigator cues the main stage revolves to rotate clockwise and anticlockwise, while also cueing the scissor lifts and ramp lifts into proper set positions.

A massive, roller coaster-like runway, decorated with scenic trees and etched flooring, extends from the main stage to a B-Stage, via a central VIP Stage that featured a full bar, an LED flooring section, and was enclosed by branch-like handrails.

John Wagoner of Guardian Barriers Services supplied a key element to the show. He stated: “The Man of the Woods stage layout has been designed in such a way that it affords Justin the ability to get perform within close proximity to his audience. The multiple curves in the design can be difficult for some barrier vendors to keep the tight profile, but with Guardian’s Variable Corners, this is executed simply and safely, allowing Justin to interact with the crowd. Worldwide tours such as the Man of the Woods require international coverage and with our recent expansion into Belgium this allows for a quick, global execution.”

Indeed, mid-way through the show, Timberlake and a few of the Tennessee Kids made their way to the B-Stage to share an acoustic jam session around a faux campfire that ascends from below the stage on an electric prop lift. Additionally, the B-Stage slopes down to a lower performance platform featuring 168 grass actuators. During the performance, ‘grass’ grows under Timberlake and his dancers’ feet as they strut down the runway. These custom-made grass actuators were also cued by Tait Navigator.

Automation Engineer, Aaron Levy, commented: “This show is a very busy! There’s 7 stage lifts, revolves, the roll drops, and a 12,000lb sign grid. The Nano Winches - which were originally developed for Red Hot Chili Peppers - have been adapted for the roll drops and have been super reliable. They give us the ability to control the screens so they move more organically, and we managed to pair it very well with the video projection during production rehearsals.”

Levy continued: “During the show the rest of team and some of the carps are spotting all over the place to make sure it’s a safe as possible. I end up calling the show for everybody, as automation runs the show channel on comms and everybody else breaks off from there, if necessary.” The crew headed to former sporting event and concert venue, Meadowlands Arena - previously known as the IZOD Center - in East Rutherford, New Jersey, for 2 months of rehearsals.

“We went through a pretty big shift during that time,” noted Levy. “A show loaded in, then and a whole bunch of stuff got cut, moved around and redesigned. The video content was being produced while we were there at a quick rate. The nice thing about this rig and working with Nick is finding ways to incorporate everything. This meant doing overnights for a while but the design team is great so it just felt fun and creative to put it all together. You have more ownership of it this way, particularly as I programme the show as well.

“That creative period is one of the best parts of my job; Justin has such a clear sense of what he is producing that for him, it’s a whole piece of theatre, not a night that’s all about himself.”

LIGHTING / SHOW DESIGN Many of those on the Man of the Woods crew roster had also been integral to Timberlake’s previous arena tour, 20/20, which graced TPi’s cover in May 2014. One such returning crewmember LD Nick Whitehouse along with Production Designer Josh Zangen and Brian Buckner - also part of the Fireplay team - were the creative producers and overall designers of the show.

Whitehouse told TPi: “I have been working along side JT for 12 years now. When we started this process, we wanted to do something unique and different; we wanted to create a stage that encompassed the whole arena and turned it into an intimate experience whereby from each vantage point, fans got to be up close and personal. As Fireplay, the creative team took this on and worked closely with JT and his team to create something that could deliver this inspiration by using elements from his Man Of The Woods aesthetic & we brainstormed together.

“We had some crazy ones; the camp fire, the grass growing out of the stage and the VIP Dance floor. A great deal of time was spent developing these internally at Fireplay and with Tait and Strictly FX, and ultimately, JT himself. He’s very hands-on in the design process. We worked through rehearsals and programming, and he often worked late into the night, tweaking audio tracks, lighting and laser choreography. All these elements were tweaked in unison, which is why the result is so cohesive and polished.”

Zangen joined the conversation: “I first got involved with Justin in January of 2013 when I got a call from Nick Whitehouse to see if I was able to fly out to Los Angeles to start developing the Grammys performance of Suit and Tie,” recounted Zangen. “Jumping on an airplane that night to met with Justin the following morning to talk through the albums, concepts behind them, and ideas on how to create a visual world around the upcoming announcement/release and run up to a fall 20/20 world tour. It was a very organic process and during breaks Justin would come by and talk through the concepts and continue to develop new ideas. He’s heavily involved in all parts of the process and super engaged in everything we have developed with him.”

Moving the conversation onto the current Man of the Woods run, Zangen explained some of the original concepts to the show design. “The whole tour revolved around 2 opposing forms – nature and the modern digital world,” he outlined. “We wanted to make sure the space always felt immersive and that you were connected directly to the performance. This is where the natural winding stage concept mimics the Mississippi River and gives a natural flow to the environment. In addition to this, the flown projection surfaces play a key role in allowing video and IMAG to be extremely flexible and placed where it makes the most impact in any of the many scenes in the show.”

Always wanting to push boundaries, the Timberlake camp were keen to create moments that were atypical to the standard arena tour.

“The campfire is the biggest departure from a standard concert environment,” stated Zangen describing the moments when the singer and several of his band sat around stage prop creating, “the most intimate and truly natural humbling experience of comradely and friendship.” Another key moment that demonstrated the amalgamation of technology and nature was seen when grass ‘grew’ through the stage.

“The black gloss trees around the space are a homage to American artist and designer KAWS who Justin is a huge fan of, and bring together a very natural element with a more modern form of texture/finish, allowing them to play a more sculptural role in the space,” added the Production Designer. Finally the giant ‘MOTW’ logo element was one of the later additions, being brought in during rehearsals. The production wanted something that was much more over the top and bringing the “modern digital” elements to physical life, while using the projections, lights and lasers to enhance as the less tangible transformations. “This is why the rehearsal period is so vital,” stated Zangen. “You have the time to play with all the toys and see what is possible. For Man in the Woods with the projectors we stumbled across so many beautiful moments using them as more than just a source of projecting images on surfaces, but also as wonderful light displays just in the haze in the air.”

Zangen continued to talk about the logistics of moving a tour of this scale across the Atlantic. “For staging and automation of the European leg, these systems were a carryover from the North American tour by Tait and their communications throughout the build and while out on the road has been fantastic,” he enthused. “We always love working with them because they make sure everything is taken care of for a seamless and worry free process.”

All the scenic props including the trees and the campfire, were all fabricated by New York based Czinkota Studios also made the trip across the pond to ensure a true replication of the US run.

“We are really happy with the final design and of the finished show product,” concluded Zangen. “But, like every new concepts, there are always ways you can further explore ideas and continue to hone the art we create – that’s what keeps it fun and us on our toes. We can continue to develop these thoughts for the next run and grow as we learn more from each endeavour.”

Creative Producer and LD, Nick Whitehouse, specified 312 Robe Spikies, 130 GLP JDC-1, 68 Claypaky Scenius Unicos, 32 Philips Vari-Lite VL3015 Spots, 32 Philips Vari-Lite VL4000 Spots, 320ft of LED RGB Tape, bespoke RGBW Man Of The Woods sinage and a custom Follow-Me System. He said of the Claypaky Scenius Unicos: “This is my first time using Unico. I was looking for a spot and beam fixture and have had very good experience with Claypaky products before. A lot of vendors are buying Unicos and recommending them, so I decided to give them a try.”

Lighting Director Brian Vaughan added: “The Unicos have been our workhorses and we use every feature they have. They’re a great wash; a great spot with interesting gobo patterns; they key the band, the dancers and Justin; and they can go down to a Sharpy-type beam. We even use the shutters to shutter off the edges of the stage for a super-clean look.”

A total of 68 Claypaky Unicos are in the air while 2 are positioned on the floor directly behind the stage for entrances and exits. A total of 36 fixtures are dedicated to what Whitehouse described as “an Instagram moment”, when a 30ft x 30ft logo panel surrounded by 36 Unicos descends from the ceiling, tilts and assumes a number of different looks in the show’s opening.

Montreal-based Solotech provided the entire lighting rig for the Man of the Woods tour along with 2 full-size MA Lighting grandMA2’s at FOH and a grandMA light at the tech desk. “Using grandMA2 is second nature to me now,” noted Whitehouse. “It’s really fast to program and with almost 600 lights on the show we used a lot of the system’s features.”

Vaughan tapped the layout feature to create 16 different layout views for the stage. “Every part of the stage has a layout view and there are a few for the entire stage, so I can pick out lights all over the stage very easily,” he said. “I also used the new bitmapping feature in conjunction with the layout views.”

The ability to write custom plug-ins for the MA Lighting grandMA2 has been key to this show as well. “Alex Barrette at Fireplay wrote a cool custom plug-in to work with the Art-Net merge process so I can enable the tracking on Justin to assign lights to follow him on stage,” Vaughan explained.

Esential to any visual feast, 4 MDG theONE foggers/hazers were positioned in the arena - one in each corner. “I spec them for every show,” enthused Whitehouse. “We like haze!” Vaughan added: “They’re the best I’ve ever used. We use the fog feature to fill the arena quickly – in just 6 to 7 minutes – before the crowd arrives then kick back to a 10 percent haze mode for steady atmosphere throughout the show.”

As for the end results? Whitehouse commented: “I am really proud of what we managed to achieve and the feedback from fans and peers who have seen this show has been fantastic!” he smiled.

VIDEO Head Projectionist, Danny Lambert, had 36 Barco UDX 32,000 lumen units to conjure up the textures and images required for the roll drop screens - all of which appeared in 4K resolution. He said: “I start by converging 2 projectors using their software, then Andréanne comes in with server software and adjusts the image. Although the images can be viewed from either side of the roll drops, the main stage is technically front projection, while the VIP projection comes from the inside.

“The projectors are packages in a very tourable design - we fly each one in around 10 minutes. As they are rigged close to the same place every day, we aren’t starting focus from scratch each day, especially if trim is the same. We deal closely with the automation department to ensure all of the disguise and Navigator communication is seamless.”

Lambert added: “This is the only 4K system Solotech owns, and I believe we’re the first to tour it, as of when we rolled it out. Once it was integrated, the 4K possibilities really opened doors.”

Media Server Tech, Andréanne Lafrance, was charged with handling the arsenal of disguise media servers. She said: “We have 9 disguise gx 2 media servers - 2 of which had custom 4K inputs - that receive signal from Navigator to track the movement of the screens. The rig changes a little each day so I have to focus all of the screens to account for trim height and any other adjustments. Only one of the songs is content-only, and some make use of overlay, colour delay and so on. We have Notch on 3 songs. All of this was programmed during rehearsals.”

She continued: “I make sure I hit the 5 cues I have during the show and there is one effect that goes in live because it’s dependent on the lights. We also control full content on the LED dance floor, which is triggered at beginning of song.”

LED Tech, Quincy Yip, went into further detail: “The dance floor is stage right of VIP, and is 56 x 56 pixels, per tile. There’s 12 tiles from upstage to downstage then 8 stage right to stage left, which display the content that’s fed through servers. It ends up being a kind of Saturday Night Fever style setup, but he’s right down with the fans in the VIP so it’s a cool moment. The tech comes from Thatrixx Technologies out of Montreal - Solotech bought some of their xVision floor tiles as an investment back in the day so it’s been great to use them for this. As well as being eye candy and a set piece, they also serve as a lighting element down there in the crowd.”

AUDIO As well as establishing a good relationship with Timberlake since he came on board in 2005, FOH Engineer Andy Meyer has spent a number of years becoming familiar with DiGiCo consoles, having switched to them 2 years later. The 2018 Timberlake run sees the mighty DiGiCo SD7 at FOH.

He began: “I love the way that you can integrate analogue gear with DiGiCo, and there’s a great workflow. I’ve also noticed a huge difference in the clarity and warmth with the new 32bit cards. The vocals are much more vibrant and they seem to sit better in the mix. I’m using Optocore X6Rs and DD32R-FX for my I/O, which is DiGiCo protocol. All the gear shows up as a stage rack in the console, which made the integration really simple. There’s also limited cabling as it’s all inside the rack.”

Meyer continued: “I love the sound of analogue and the precision and control of digital, so I researched how to create a hybrid environment.

When you mix a record you have it master it, and I started thinking about implementing that live as well. I use mastering gear from Thermionic Culture, MASELEC and Neve on the PA, which gives a nice polish and makes it sounds like a big, fat record.”

Most of Meyer’s inputs are live instruments, the rest are wireless. For drums Meyer chose Audio-Technica ATM230 to mic the toms, Milab DC-96Bs for the overheads, sE Electronics sE5 on the bottom of the snare and hi hat, sE8’s on percussion, a V7 on the piccolo snare, and a V7X on the detuned snare. Meyer also selected Audio-Technica AT4060’s for guitars and Rupert Neve DIs. A Shure Axient with a V7 capsule captured Timberlake’s vocals.

“It’s a very challenging show to mix for sure,” he said. “He mixes multiple genres of music and spends a lot of time under the PA. It’s a more bombastic sound than on the record, and there’s more going on musically.” With 4 brass players, 4 backing vocalists, 2 keys players, 2 guitarists, a bassist / bass synth player, a drummer and percussionist, Meyer had a lot to stay on top of - as well as a Pro Tools rig underneath the stage that sends multiple tracks and timecode.

He continued: “We’re shooting into these rooms so the way each venue behaves quite often dictates what kind of day you’re going to have. I use 200 snapshots all of which are fired via timecode. They are really just starting points really, as you have to push differently every night. We do all of the room integration during the day and can always make adjustments during the show as my System Tech, Justin [Lenards] walks the room.”

The impressive audio setup at Manchester Arena, courtesy of Clair Global, consisted of 8 hangs of 12 CO-12’s and 4 hangs of the new CO- 10 for infill, with 14 flown CP-218’s and 7 more on the ground for bass reinforcement. There was also 6 hidden CP-6’s as front fill and 8 JBL speakers doing surround sound in the VIP area.

Lenards commented: “Myself and Andy worked very closely to design this system. We’ve done some things that Clair hasn’t done before, like the 4 custom-built amp racks we have flown. We had to come up with a system design that could go in and out of buildings quickly, but still being powerful and efficient. With the flown racks, and using chain sliders for all the cables, all of the arrays can come down independently and leave racks in the air.” The flown racks also allowed Meyer to fly his Optocore boxes, facilitating a straight fibre connection right from the desk. “We’ve noticed a great impact from that, sonically, and we have less cable to run out,” the System Tech said. “During rehearsals we implemented spatial audio things like bird and clock noises that could be used during transitions. This was present in the arena and mirrored in the VIP area. Due to a lack of software we had to use matrix sends from the DiGiCo but we figured it out eventually!”

“It’s my first time touring with the Cohesion system but it’s performed brilliantly. This design allows you to mix more quietly and still have the sound in your face and intelligible without exciting the room too much. There’s tonnes of power Meyer laughed. “I use primary source enhancer plugins, selective gating, and just work through it with the room. More artists are coming out in front of the PA now so it’s just become one of the daily challenges but it’s more than manageable with this setup.”

Timberlake is well renowned for getting thoroughly involved when it comes to his live offering, and this goes for audio as well as show design. Meyer explained: “He is always involved in rehearsal and building the show. When the tour starts he has enough stuff to think about so he expects us to act professionally and do our part. We discuss the room with him each day, and there’s nothing left to chance.”

MONITORS Paul ‘Boyo’ Manuel [he’s Welsh, in case you didn’t guess!], Monitor Tech, and Paul Joseph Klimson, Monitor Engineer, were stationed in the depths of underworld, just below the stage left revolve that housed the drum kit. Between them, they were responsible for ensuring that the dynamic (and mobile) stage performers and integral crewmembers all received crystal clear, tailored mixes of the show.

Klimson has been with Timberlake since the Australian and US tail end of the 20/20 Experience, and has built an instinctive rapport with the artist in that time. He said: “I started with the band during rehearsals in LA, before we moved to the IZOD Centre. It’s not an entirely new show file but it’s been altered as a bunch of new songs are in there and some of them have been rearranged.

FRONT ROW EVERY SHOW

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“I kept the band EQs and compression pretty flat, then I have groups for Justin where I dig in a little more to make it work in his ears. This particularly means holding off on the bass. He’s very hands-on with writing and producing of these songs so he knows the signature elements of them.”

Klimson also trusted a DiGiCo SD7, with a Shure PSM1000 IEM system for the artist, band and crew’s monitoring and Jerry Harvey Audio JH16V2 PRO moulds that matched Timberlake’s own. He chose a Rupert Neve Designs: Portico II Master Buss Processor to “give the band a squish”, with a Smart Research C2 compressor on the stereo buss “for a little extra love”.

He continued: “The audience mix for is panned for him so he knows where someone’s shouting out to him and so on. He interacts with the audience more than most artists I’ve worked with, and that’s always at the forefront of my head. Any other gig I’ll be passing through the band throughout the show and tweaking things but he’s so dynamic that I spend most of my time on him.

“I alter the mix when he’s in the middle for timing reasons, bringing the hi-hat forward for example, and a couple of the falsetto bridges are quite tricky, but it just requires me to push the lead a fair amount. It’s almost instinctive now, and I leave myself a lot of notes in the desk.

“As well as the CCTV system, I have another monitor tech, Hugo, out there with ears and a talk-back on to look after any necessary changes. The boss knows what he looks like and can raise any concerns. There’s also a Midas Venice outboard rack for the 9 channels of audience mics.”

Boyo was yet another long-time DiGiCo user, and so was comfortable with the setup underneath the stage at Manchester Arena - not to mention during the one-off Timberlake shows that he stepped up to mix. He said: “We have about 30 ears mixes in total - all of the techs and band have talkbacks as well. We use the DiGiCo SD-Nano Rack to get into the Optocore loop. As these are 360-degree shows, we have a Shure VP88 Stereo Condenser Microphone upstage to get upstage audience on top of the sE8’s dotted around.

Boyo continued: “Although some songs are only one snapshot, we do have some such as Suit & Tie with 3 sections that are a little more complex to mix. The C2 goes across his mix for some nice warmth and fatness, and we use distortion and phaser on specific songs. It’s quite a complex session but nowhere near as complex as Andy’s!”

SPECIAL EFFECTS Kelly Sitcksel designed all the effects and lasers built by Strictly FX. Tour Operator for Strictly FX, Justin Seedle, was stationed by Meyer’s side at the stage left FOH structure, up in the heady troposphere of the VIP boxes at Manchester Arena. He said: “We have the MA Lighting dot2 for flame and cryo effects – which are fired by another operator – while I look after the laser systems. We have 2 systems running Pangolin Beyond, which controls 40 lasers in total.”

Upstage centre were 3 30W units upstage, which were used for the opening ‘tunnel’ look, with another 16 in the central ring truss - 8 15W and 8 6W ARCTOS lasers - that terminate on the VIP Stage for the ‘laser cage’ look for Suit & Tie. There was also 11 lasers on the upstage roll drop - 9 6W units bookended by 2 15W for extra punch - that terminated on stage and 10 more on Spikie ‘dot wall’.

Seedle continued: “We have 3 big laser songs, which are the intro Filthy, Suit & Tie, where he dances within the lasers, and Supplies, where we use all of our units at same time. Everything runs via fibre on our own FX network down to the rack. There are a lot of beam looks and some fans, and the cage effect on the VIP Stage look particularly good.”

As well as the laser gags, there were other FX highlights such as the low lying fog that rolled down the length of the stage for Cry Me A River, and the faux campfire that rose from the stage via electric lift and served as the centrepiece of the acoustic covers section of the set.

Seedle laughed: “I sometimes feel like were loading a stadium rig into an arena! There’s 3 of us hanging the show, with 6 FX crew overall. Sometimes we impress ourselves by getting show-ready by 3pm after getting in around 8:30am. It’s almost robotic at this point, as we’ve been out since 29 January.”

In the UK, Stagetruck provided tour trucks, Austria’s finest, Beat The Street tour buses became a home from home for the crews and Munich, Germany-based Delico fed the teams.

The tour continues in North American through to the tour’s conclusion in Denver in early 2019. TPi Photos: Ralph Larmann & TPi www.justintimberlake.com www.strictlyfx.com www.solotech.com www.clairglobal.com www.taittowers.com www.fireplay.com www.beatthestreet.net www.stagetruck.com www.delico-catering.de