TOTAL PRODUCTION INTERNATIONAL
www.tpiawards.com
TOTAL PRODUCTION INTERNATIONAL
WWW.TPiMAGAZINE.COM JANUARY 2015
ISSUE 185
LIVE EVENT DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY • JANUARY 2015 • ISSUE 185
LADY GAGA OBSESSIVELY OPPOSED TO THE TYPICAL
INSIDE THE GLOBAL ICON’S ARTRAVE EXTRAVAGANZA
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: EAW’S ANYA • ON THE ROAD: DENMARK • UK FESTIVAL AWARDS • KASABIAN IN PROFILE: L-ACOUSTICS • CELEBRATING THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL • LINKIN PARK • PSA
PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lady Gaga
ARTRAVE: THE ARTPOP BALL WHEN INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ICON LADY GAGA EMBARKED ON THE FOURTH HEADLINE TOUR OF HER CAREER, SHE ONCE AGAIN STEERED THE WAY IN TERMS OF ARTISTIC VISION AND LOOKED TO LIGHTING AND PRODUCTION DESIGNER, LEROY BENNETT, TO REALISE THE CONCEPT. TPi’S KELLY MURRAY SPOKE TO THE CREATIVES AND PRODUCTION CREW, LED BY PRODUCTION MANAGER JASON ‘JD’ DANTER, ABOUT HOW ARTRAVE: THE ARTPOP BALL BECAME A TOURING FRIENDLY SUCCESS. It was a meeting on the Britney Spears Circus tour in 2009 that would lead Production Manager Jason ‘JD’ Danter into the artistic realm of Lady Gaga and her intrinsic live productions. Spears’ Tour Director, the late Mo Morrison, asked Danter to get involved, an opportunity he still relishes. When TPi met Danter in the busy backstage area of Birmingham’s NIA Arena, the PM - although clearly very busy - immediately set the scene, enabling us to feel at home. This atmosphere was felt throughout the various rooms and hallways for the duration of the evening; there’s dancers warming up in corridors who are fascinated by the idea of this magazine, bus drivers we’ve met on countless tours before, who want to catch up over a ‘proper brew’ and personal security guards that hold 22
industrial doors open without so much as causing the slightest suit wrinkle. PRODUCTION Over the course of the last three arena and stadium tours that Danter has worked on for Lady Gaga, a couple of the production suppliers have remained in place: Eighth Day Sound for audio and TAIT Towers for staging needs. “Nobody is locked in, it’s always been put out to bid,” he told TPi. “With suppliers it’s all about their service and the price - who can provide what we need for the duration at a budget conscious price? Finding the right balance between value for money and quality.” For artRave: The ARTPOP Ball, Danter also chose Pyrotek again for special effects, lighting from PRG, Solotech for video, Phoenix Bussing,
Fly by Nite trucking, caterers Eat To The Beat, freighting by Sound Moves, Jet Sets for stage props, Air Works for its inflatable expertise and The Appointment Group for hotel and travel bookings. “This was actually an easy tour to get on the road, it all ran very smoothly,” he explained. “It was all indoor shows - 70-plus arena shows across the world - and then a few weird and wonderful festival dates in between.” Rehearsals took place in Chicago, with the live tour beginning on May 4 in Florida. By the time TPi saw the show, it’s a well-oiled pop explosion, but according to Danter, this production was always met with ease: “We had a very successful rehearsal period and the tour settled down very quickly, it always loaded in and out quite fast so it wasn’t difficult to take on the road. That was partially down
PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lady Gaga
Opposite: TAIT Towers created a stage design which took a total of six weeks to build. Below: Netherlands-based Airworks created the incredible ice kingdom style inflatable structure for the set.
to the design being so crew friendly. People had the ability to work on different areas of the production at the same time, which really helps.” The stage design sets the scene for a magical glacial neon landscape. As is to be expected from a success such as Lady Gaga (or LG as Danter fondly refers to her) she is a young woman with a lot of very creative ideas. This led to a period of whittling down the ones that could be transformed into something tourable. “It’s always good to work with people who work in the same way as you and for this tour, LeRoy Bennett was the man who could turn LG’s dream into a reality. Having done three completely different tours with LG now, I know that you never know where she’s going to
take you; it’s an unexpected journey. It’s very colourful because she has such great ideas, and you can never second-guess what she’s going to do, which is always interesting. She might come and look at a part of the production, decide she wants a bit changing that you hadn’t thought of and after that change has been made, you stand back and say ‘yeah, she nailed that!’ It’s very enjoyable to work with her, because she’s so spontaneous like that.” LIGHTING DESIGN Globally renowned Lighting Designer, LeRoy Bennett, has visually caressed the ice kingdom themed set with a stunning and well thought out light display. A main feature fixture wise is Clay Paky’s latest moving head, the A.leda
B-EYE K20, of which there are 107 on tour. Bennett chose the B-EYE and 83 Clay Paky Sharpys as the main basis for the design. “My first thought when it came to creating the rave style concept was that the audience has to be fully immersed in the show and become part of it,” he said. “I chose the Clay Paky B-EYEs for their versatility and unique personality, they are the icing on the cake tools that add all the detail.” Supported by Lighting Director, Whitney Hoversten, who has taken the show on the road, Bennett also specified 37 PRG Best Boys, 66 Philips Vari-Lite 3500’s, 104 Martin Professional Stagebar 54’s, three Lycian M2 short throw follow spots and four DF-50 Hazers, all supplied by lighting vendor, PRG. Yet it’s the
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PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lady Gaga
Below: The Video crew, including Video Engineer Tim Brenann and Video Director, Bertrand Pare; The audio crew, with FOH Engineer Chris Rabold at the helm.
B-EYE once again, which has impressed the lighting department on this tour, as Hoversten also enthused about the B-EYEs: “They’ve certainly been a creatively fun tool, They’ve offered endless artistic possibilities and LeRoy has pushed their creative potential all the way.” The artRave extravaganza certainly looked like a magical ice kingdom, painted with decadence at every opportunity. “LeRoy loves to break down every little nuance in the music, he has an amazing ear,” explained Hoversten. “Having a fixture like the B-EYE gave him countless creative ideas and has allowed him to explore some remarkably fresh new looks. It’s fantastic to have individual control of each of the cells. Every single one can be a different colour, or we can divide each fixture in half and
signature look of the show, so much so that even where we weren’t doing full production we still brought the mega pod with us. I can’t imagine this show without it,” continued Hoversten. “They are just amazing to play with, they were a brand new fixture when the tour started so we basically had them all as soon as they were made! We had the majority of whatever existed in the world. I think we have 108 in total now. They are spectacular fixtures, they’ve defined the look of the show. “Production and Lighting Designer, LeRoy Bennett’s approach to the show was to make it an immersive rave that reflected Gaga’s nonstop party aesthetic,” added Programmer Jason Baeri. “That means active, alive, vibrant and high energy, it requires us to be just as active
“Gaga has always been a visual artist so the video is an integral part of what she does…” Video Director, Bertrand Pare.
have one half doing the snare beat and one half doing the bass beat. It’s so cool.” In fact Bennett’s design sees the B-EYEs used in a multitude of ways including rigging them in large clusters overhead and combining them in a 72 strong ‘mega pod’ to create one huge light or low res graphics screen, which sits above the high resolution, stage wide video screen upstage. “When LeRoy told Lady Gaga about the fixtures, she was as excited as him, so we knew we needed a prominent place for them in the rig. The mega pod of B-EYEs is by far the 24
on stage as in the crowd. The audience is every bit as much a set piece as they are a room of spectators, so we had to include them as part of Gaga’s same party not just watching the spectacle from afar. Cue wise, that’s almost like programming two shows at once: Both had to behave as one cohesive element.” For control, two full size MA Lighting grandMA full size consoles were the desk of choice, one as a main board and one as a back up. This desk was chosen for its reliability, ease of use and simple layout design. Having
taken the reigns on the road for the first time with both Lady Gaga and PRG, Hoverston is delighted with both how the tour has gone, and with the lighting supplier’s back up: “Because they have reps all over the world, there’s always someone to help out if needed. Not that I’ve had any problems really, but if I do need them PRG are very responsive.” STAGING AND AUTOMATION It took staging giants TAIT Towers a total of six weeks in which to complete the build of the set pieces complete with inflatable sculptures, scenic pods and translucent runways. The set incorporated 96 pieces of clear acrylic, 478ft of airhose, 110ft of runway (spanning over the audience below) 1,850 sq ft of carved foam surfaces, 65 gallons of white paint to coat fascia and 21,346 man-hours to design and build. The stage was project-managed by TAIT’s Brian Levine. Within the set, there were three motorpowered lifts which were hidden under each of the three stage sections and some inflatable flowers which rise out of the stage for the song Venus. These gags were controlled by a Fisher Technical Services Navigator by Automation Operator, Robin Henry. Once up and running, 30 VIP guests could be seated in TAIT’s custom, full-service bar area. Hoversten commented: “One of the best parts of the show is the set and stage, what TAIT has done is amazing. The runways which allow the artist to go into the audience is something I’ve not seen done in this way before; you’re completely surrounded and the audience really becomes part of the show just as much as the dancers, it’s all integrated which is how she likes it. The fans are an important part of this design too.” Alongside TAIT which also built some of the stage props, Netherlands-based Airworks built an inflatable 18-metre wide snow ‘sculpture’ which cemented the ice kingdom style
PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lady Gaga
Below: Eighth Day Sound supplied the tour’s audio for its duration, including a d&b audiotechnik J-Series PA.
landscape. The sculpture was created using 3D software. Once printed, the mesh is unfolded and sewn together with a light weight polyester material. A big advantage of making inflatables in this way, is explained by Airworks’ Matthew Whitehead: “By taking the analogue industry of building artistic inflatables into the digital world, we are able to create far more complex sculptures and also save a lot of truck space because it packs down so easily. You can even leave a design in a flight case for 10 years and then re-use it again if you wanted. “It’s an exciting time for the creative arts part of touring. Every year it seems like there is a new technology to grab on to, but what we create is not the norm yet, it’s very unique. A lot of people have a misleading impression of inflatables but with tours like this and Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz [for which the company made a giant husky in the vain of the singer’s pet dog] can show artists and designers that the quality of product we make doesn’t look like an inflatable.” Staging soft goods were provided by Jet Sets. VIDEO Another newcomer to the tour is Bertrand Pare, Video Director: “When Solotech became
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PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lady Gaga
Below: PRG supplied the lighitng rig, which LeRoy Bennett designed. He opted for Clay Paky a.Leda B-EYE K20’s as his main fixture of choice.
the video vendor, they reached out to me. We’d wanted to work on a project together for some time but I was always booked on something else. My position was solidified for this tour when my friend at Live Nation, Ciaran Flaherty, saw my name on the short list. It was a production team I had never worked before, so I imagine JD was probably a little weary of bringing a new video director on board but Ciaran vouched for me, luckily. It’s worked out great!” Pare soon found his feet with this artist: “Female divas are quickly becoming my specialty; I’ve worked with Whitney Houston, Rihanna and now Lady Gaga. I’m very conscious of how women look through the lens, which is always difficult in a live setting. The standards of [perfect] beauty and pressures on female performers are often out of control. It takes just one bad angle at the wrong time to go viral. As a director you have to be very sensitive to that.” In order to fit seamlessly into Gaga’s production team, Pare worked closely with Lacee Franks, Creative Coordinator at Haus of Gaga. “Lacee is really great to work with. She’s usually the direct link to Gaga and her vision,” he noted. A great deal of the visual content was directed and designed by Ruth Hogben, a fashion photographer and filmmaker from London. “Gaga has always been a visual artist so the 28
video is an integral part of what she does, and that goes without saying. One of the challenges was that because of the way the stage was created, when she would be in the middle of the room, much of the crowd would only see her back for entire parts of the show. Therefore it was important that we use the middle upstage screen during those moments, so that the people in the front row could still feel connected to the show. Tim Brennan, Video Engineer had previously worked with Pare last year on Rhianna’s Diamonds tour, and as the union went well, he asked me to come back out on tour for Lady Gaga, a job which he described as “kind of groovy!” Solotech has supplied a Sony MU6 3000 Video Switcher, six Barco HDF-W26 projectors (placed in the roof truss for projection mapping), four Christie 20K J Series I-MAG projectors, Solotech’s own SL PRO 8 video wall (70ft by 15ft), six Green Hippo Hippotizer media servers, a BlackMagic 40 by 40 matrix, two AJA KI pro recorders and four AJA FS2 AV processors and four Sony HXC 100 hand held cameras. The tour’s Video Programmer is Loren K. Barton. Said Brennan: “The video switcher is somewhat unusual for a tour such as this: “It’s Sony MU6 3000 is normally used in a studio environment but it’s got quite a lot of interesting items within it; you can do a lot of
layering and it’s ideal for straplines. We use an overhead shot for certain aspects of the video look, for example there’s a rotating part on the stage which she sits on so we get an overhead shot of that. We also get some nice back shots when she’s out on the catwalk areas, so we can see the audience in the background and her in the foreground, that’s a good composition for people watching the screens.” Pare concluded: “Solotech have been lovely to deal with, absolute professionals that really know their stuff. They had all the gear we needed, and they provided a great team to go with it. It’s been a whirlwind of a year, but a pleasure to work with everyone involved.” SPECIAL EFFECTS Reid Derne, Crew Chief and Hayden Hale, Laser Programmer and Operator of Las Vegas-based Pyrotek were new to the tour, but Pyrotek has been the go-to special effects company three tours in a row. “It’s definitely been a lot of fun to do this tour,” said Derne. “This was our first time working with JD too, and that’s been a great experience.” Although there are a lot of visually stimulating aspects to this show, the production doesn’t carry any pyrotechnics per se. artRave boasts a display of lasers predominantly, as far as the effects go. There is also an array of smoke effects and, of course, techno rave style
PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lady Gaga
Below: Lady Gaga worked closely with Production Designer, LeRoy Bennett and the Haus of Gaga creative team to deliver a road-worthy world-class tour.
confetti. Continued Derne: “There are nine songs which make use of confetti and each one has a different type of confetti ready for each queue. A big thing for us is the use of smoke effects. The smoke machines are actually a low-lying fog, which makes the set look like it’s dry ice. We use LeMaitre LSG Low Smoke Generators, which roll off the edge of the stage and rise a couple of feet, as if the stage is one big ice cube.” In addition, there are eight full colour 20W lasers from Pyrotek in use, six on the main stage and two around the piano area, which plays an intimate part in Gaga’s performance. “Software for this particular laser design was done using Pagolin LD2000. It’s an older software, but it’s very reliable,” added Hale. “The software has been the industry go-to for around 15 years now so it’s pretty common on tours like this. It’s very important to know that we have a reliable system that’s tried and tested; you don’t want to crash in the mother ship!” Dave Harkness completed the touring pyrotechnics team. AUDIO Mike Hackman, known as Stacker to the rest of the crew, is the tour’s PA System Engineer who joined the camp for the Born This Way 30
tour, upon which he developed a good working relationship with FOH Engineer, Chris Rabold. “For the very first part of that tour, there was a different FOH engineer, then Chris came in and we struck up a good relationship. When this tour came up, it seemed like a good idea to do it all over again!” The PA system is a d&b audiotechnik J-Series. “We’re using J8’s with J12’s as down fill on the front and the sides of the design. There are 20 J8’s with a J12 combination on the front and 16 J12’s on the side hangs with eight J-SUBs flown between them. Larger venues have a rear hang of V8’s and V12’s - 12 aside flown - to do a 270° coverage. For subwoofers on the ground we use 18 d&b B2’s in a cardioid format and they’re in an arc across the front of the stage. We also have a set of E8’s doing infill duty, which are fitted to the set pieces across the front, alongside a couple of Q7’s. “We use two aside, just as like an outfill on the ground, to bring the focus down a little bit, so it doesn’t sound like it’s all coming from the air. We carry a few extras too, for if we get some of those difficult venues. Occasionally you get those difficult venues where you just can’t hit the seats properly without an extra box.” The system is driven by the new d&b D80
amplifiers and runs at 96k. “It sounds pretty great, particularly with the [DiGiCo] SD7 desks on the end. We like to keep it in the digital domain,” he added. For extra processing, Stacker uses a Lake LM44 system on the front end for EQ system zoning. “The main system EQ is actually on the Lake tablet and Lake system and we have two of those aside, covering eight different zones of the PA. This set up is definitely one of my systems of choice,” he enthused. “It works well for this kind of music.” On the road, the support felt from audio supplier Eighth Day is certainly a talking point for Stacker. “They’re great because they can now offer worldwide support so their service is second to none. We’ve had three different rigs: one in the US, a rig based in Australia and one in Europe which are all put together from our identical spec. Considering the size of this tour, they’re also a very amenable company because nothing is too much trouble for their clients,” he concluded. FOH POSITION Chris Rabold, FOH Engineer joined the Gaga nation originally as a fill-in engineer. “They needed someone to bridge a gap of about three weeks during rehearsals for the Monster
PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lady Gaga
Below: Fly By Nite handled the tour’s trucking needs; Phoenix Bussing transported the crew throughout the UK and Europe.
Ball tour, including a few promo stints. I hadn’t done pop music before her, other than for a quick one off. I came in and it ended up going pretty well, then I befriended JD so I went on to do some other gigs for him, such as a Beyonce tour. Eventually Lady Gaga needed an engineer change, so they called me up. Needless to say I ran out here! That was three years ago and this is now my second tour with her. Once again Rabold specified a DiGiCo SD7 “The only thing I’ve done differently on this tour - and it’s not because I disliked them - but I did
away with plugins so it’s all either on the desk or in the rack. There are a lot of good desks out there, I’m not exclusive in any way, but I do really like the DiGiCo SD7 because it has features galore! The input count is amazing. Even on a tour like this, I never have to worry about having enough space. “Sonically, it’s just as clean as it can be. In fact, it’s so clean that I’ve put some pieces across the stereo bus to ‘dirty it up’ a little. I also like that it’s laid out kind of sensibly like an analogue desk would have been, it’s a very cool
desk.” Microphones on the instruments are a mixture of Telefunken, Shure and Neumann. Lady Gaga uses a Sennheiser e900 Series microphone, the MD 5235. “We have about 10 different mics for her, customised, of course. Her headset is by far the best one out there; it’s a Shure Beta 54 and is [no pun intended] head and shoulders above anything else out there. With the right equipment in tow, Rabold operates a mix, which “doesn’t sound like every other pop act out there.” In other words, Gaga
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PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lady Gaga
Below: The Eat to the Beat catering crew; The Pyrotek Special Effects team; Monitor Engineer, Ramon Morales; Production Manager, Jason Danter.
needs a live sounding show, rocky in places, clubby in others. “It needs to sound very full of life so the live drums are the loudest element in the mix next to her vocals. The guitars do a lot of neat stuff too, they’re not doubling anything on the track, but rather doing their own live things all around it. She’s a talented musician as well as a performer, so she’s just wild to mix, and I want the rest of the show to sound equally as wild!” Does the wild nature of the artist mean there’s some grey areas for the engineers? “She’s pretty trusting with what we do, but when she wants something, she’s dead set in that she knows exactly what she wants to happen!” he laughed. As for Eighth Day, Rabold is also a fan: “Not only do they have good gear, but all of their guys know how to use it. I think they’ve always been ahead of the game with products and training their people to understand why those products do exactly what they do. The owner, Tom Arko is a good friend of mine and in a business of sharks, he’s definitely someone I don’t mind swimming with!”
this his third tour with her. “The SD7 is my desk of choice. Because it has so much flexibility, I can do pretty much anything I need to do on this and have almost no limitations on what I need. That seems to work out. It’s got enough input and output, I can route anything wherever I need to route it. It just does the job. It sounds great on top of that. It’s very robust, yeah. Very robust, when you’re doing this for such a long time, you need to find something robust. It’s got to keep up with everything else. For Gaga it’s more of a full mix, I would say, she kind of gets everything. Of course, she has to hear herself on top of everything and make sure she can still hear it all, so there’s a balance you have to find between all that. That goes for everybody else.” Also working out of monitor world is Daniel Bluhm, an RF Tech with a decent supply of Jammy Dodger biscuits. Working closely with Morales and managing 45 channels of RF daily, he told TPi: “We’re using Sennheiser 3732 wireless receivers mainly, and her Shure PSM 1000 in-ears and that combination is working out great.”
MONITOR WORLD Ramon Morales, Monitor Engineer has worked for Lady Gaga for the last four years, making
RIGGING As always, the rigging crew is first in the venue on a morning. Mike Farese, Head Rigger
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explained their routine: “We come in and mark the floor at about 7am and then we figure out our bridles for the different venues. Once we unload the trucks, we build the steel, hang the motors and run the gear, checking everything is in perfect working order. We’re using 128 Columbus McKinnon one and two tonne motors; they’re what I really like to use.” The tour runs an average of 50 tonnes in rigging weight, depending on the size of the venue and its needs. Truss is a standard package from lighting vendor PRG. Continued Farese: “This show works really well, it comes down and goes into the carts easily, which is very useful for us. ”The rigging crew is completed by Danny Machado, Rick Wilmot and Kenny ‘Skippy’ Ruhman. “This has been a great experience for me, I like it out here; we have a really nice team who work great together.” CATERING Backstage in the foodie hub of Birmingham’s NIA, the Eat To The Beat (ETTB) catering crew have made the arena kitchen into a scene from a busy family home; there’s a hum of friendly chattering, a hug a minute atmosphere and plates of tour grub being dished out to every kind of appetite. Susanne Howe, Operations Manager for ETTB and Susanne Power, Event
PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lady Gaga
Below: Lighting Director, Whitney Hoverston; The rigging dept, led by Mike Farese; Some of Lady Gaga’s dancers backstage in warm up mode.
Manager, both of whom we managed to grab for a quick chat before the busy dinner service ensued, lead the company’s catering crew. Said Power: “We feed 150 by the time it comes to the evening meal, so it starts out with a basic crew of 80 in the morning and then it goes up during the day as the dancers and band arrive, and then it’s the full production crew by dinner at 5.30pm. “We do a choice of everything so there’s a healthy option for every meal time, but there’s also the stodgy option; we’re more like a moving restaurant in that respect. Tonight we have grilled chicken with brown rice and kale as
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the healthy option and chicken breast of chicken stuffed with mozzarella, wrapped in Parma ham with roast potatoes,” she noted. For the non meat-eaters, there is smoked haddock Florentine and a vegetarian option of caramelised onion tart and a selection of vegetables and side dishes. Deserts include hot and cold options and a plethora of fresh fruit. We have a few vegans and gluten-free and lactose-free dietary requirements but there have been no issues with diets. They’re a really nice, laid back group on this tour; relaxed and happy. “It’s been a good run throughout Europe but the UK is always easier for us produce-wise. It’s
much faster to get specialist Asian ingredients for example.” Howe added: “We’ve been looking after Lady Gaga tours for some years now in Europe and the UK but as we’ve also been to the US, Singapore and Hong Kong with them. We’ve travelled a lot with them and we know it’s a really fluid operation from the top down.” LOGISTICS To quite literally get the show on the road, a team of logistic experts were drafted in. Sound Moves provided freighting for the tour throughout its duration.
PRODUCTION PROFILE: Lady Gaga
Below: Pyrotek utilised laser technology in the design, operated by Pangolin software.
“It was a pleasure to be working again with [Road Manager] Philip ‘Ky’ Cabot and Jason Danter and continuing the working relationship we’ve built up since 2009 when we supplied Lady Gaga’s very first tour bus. This time we also worked with production staff Alicia Geist and MaryJo Spillane,” said Phoenix Bussing’s Andy Gray. “For this tour we supplied 11 double decker sleeper buses: six for the crew, two for the band and dancers and three for the artist party, one of which was in artist configuration with a king size bed in its own suite.” TPi Award winner Phoenix worked closely with Ky and Danter to make sure that drivers hours didn’t interfere with any of the journeys and therefore supplied second drivers wherever needed to cover legal breaks and longer shifts. “Some of the drivers we supplied have worked on Lady Gaga tours before including the lead driver Chris Moulson who organised the crew drivers and dealt with Jason and Alicia for the production requirements on a daily basis. Lady Gaga’s bus driver, Carl Mackenzie, has driven her bus personally for the last three tours so has a great understanding of how the ‘A Party’ rolls while on tour. This makes life easier for road and production management, as they can rely on the drivers to get the job done professionally,” he said. 36
Fly by Nite supplied the production logistics with a fleet of 26 Megacube arctic trucks. The company started working with the artist in early 2009 before the mega fame of Just Dance hit the charts, beginning with promo runs in London and other European capital cities with a single arctic truck. This relationship carried on when the singer needed almost 40 trucks at the height of the Monsters Ball tour (a five storey castle for a set will do that!). For the ARTPOP tour, Fly By Nite provided 26 mega cubes production trucks and a smaller truck for luggage transportation. Said Fly By Nite’s Matt Jackson: “We’ve worked with Lady Gaga for a good few years now, and it’s always a big production. The point is that everybody knows their roles and each of those roles plays an important part in the tour.” The lead driver was Paul Brooks, with Assistant Lead Jim Stewart, both of whom have also worked with the production since the start of Gaga’s touring career. GAGA, OOH LA LA! Speaking to the crew involved, it’s easy to see how an artist’s vision can be seamlessly transitioned with the minimal of fuss on a global scale like this. There’s a consistent state of practicality and technical know-how, working
alongside some of the most creative and innovative minds in the industry. When artRave: The ARTPOP Ball played its last show in Paris in late November 2014 after a seven month run across the world, almost a million fans had been to see the arena-sized production in support of the singer’s third studio album, ARTPOP. Boasting revenue figures of around $83m USD, the tour was deemed a success from continent to continent with both the fans and the touring crew who enabled it to happen safely. TPi Photos: Sarah Rushton-Read and Jade Dannielle Martin http://ladygaga.co.uk www.leroybennett.com www.8thdaysound.com http://jetsets.com www.taittowers.com, http://pyrotekfx.com www.airworksinflatables.com www.prg.com www.solotech.com www.phoenix-bussing.co.uk www.flybynite.co.uk www.soundmoves.com www.eattothebeat.com www.appointmentgroup.com