Celtic Pr. Rod Stewart s new tour provides both spectacle and an intimate look at the long-lived star CONCERTS

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1 CONCERTS Copyright Lighting&Sound America April Celtic Pr Rod Stewart s new tour provides both spectacle and an intimate look at the long-lived star By: David Barbour April 2007 Lighting&Sound America

2 ide The set is an trio of interlocking circles. On the center stage can be seen the logo of the Celtic Football Club, a favorite of Stewart s. The perimeters of the circular stages are lined with LEDs. ALL PHOTOS: TODD KAPLAN They say nothing lasts forever but then how do you explain the career of Rod Stewart? From swinging London to 21st-century America, he has reinvented himself time and again, for a fan base that has remained determinedly loyal through each manifestation of his persona. Consider the many stages of his career: there were stints with bands like The Jeff Beck Group and Faces, followed by a tumultuous solo run that saw him become, among other things, Rod the Mod, an acclaimed bluesman, hard rocker, arena attraction, disco diva, and specialist in the Great American Songbook. And he s not done yet. Currently, the 60-ish singer is on the road again, covering the U.S. and Canada before heading off to Europe this summer. (Among his U.S. dates is an appearance at the New Orleans Jazz Festival this month.) In many ways, the tour is a return to basics. This is not the Rod Stewart who has recently topped the charts with renditions of Embraceable You and A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square. Instead, it s the return of Rod the rocker in a greatest-hits survey that takes in such classics as Tonight s the Night, It s a Heartache, and, yes, Do Ya Think I m Sexy. (Not one to take himself too seriously, he introduces this number, saying, Here it is; you ll either love it you ll hate it. At Madison Square Garden, where LSA caught this tour, they loved it.) The current tour manages the nifty trick of supplying plenty of visual kicks while simultaneously maintaining a feeling of intimacy. This is, in many ways, an up-close and personal show, a night of give and take between Stewart and his fans. Even though there are plenty of driving up-tempo numbers, and the musical energy is high throughout, the prevailing April 2007

3 CONCERTS atmosphere is easy and relaxed; the fans know exactly what they re getting, and they re more than happy about it. That atmosphere extends to backstage, where many of the creative and technical personnel have been with Stewart for quite some time. Lighting designer Mark Pope Payne has been around for 15 years. Front-of-house mixer and production manager Lars Brogaard has been on board since Together, they, and many others, have put together a show that allows Rod Stewart to be Rod Stewart, sharing his past and his personality to an audience that is eager for both. The Scottish stage This is an in-the-round show; the set is a trio of interlocking circles. At center is a raised circular stage, connected on either side by two semi-circles, each of which contains an area for audience seating. Stewart and the musicians can descend from the center stage down to the circular ramps for plenty of close contact with the fans. Adding to the feeling of intimacy is a set of four IMAG screens this is, according to those involved, the first all-hd tour (more about this later). Before the show, the stage is hidden behind a circular Austrian curtain done in Tartan plaid. The performance begins with a satirical video depicting Stewart as the star of The Rodfather, then the curtains are raised to reveal the set. (Before this, we ve already seen a fife and drum corps pass through the auditorium, striking a note of Scottish nationalism even before the star appears.) Overhead video reveals the logo of the Celtic Football Club, which covers the center stage. (This is, of course, the star s favorite club: Stewart, who tried out for more than one football team as a youth, has never lost his taste for the sport. As arguably Scotland s greatest gift to rock music he was born in London, but considers himself a Scot it s only natural that he should be a passionate fan of Glasgow s football team.) The set, says Brogaard, was done by committee. Ian Knight, the designer, and I went to Rod s house in London. Typically, Ian makes five or six different models. We talk to Rod and then, a week later, bring in more models. When we have an agreement, we bring in Mark to find where to place the lighting, video, and sound. Payne adds, We integrate everything. The devil is in the details. For example, the monitors were built into the set; they re placed on the wireless tower. Another detail: the semi-circular ramps feature sleek railings which allow for close audience contact and eliminate the need for security barriers. The set was built by Tait Towers. The was assembled by California-based Sew What? and consists of 1,500 yards of material. Plaid is a favorite pattern of Stewart s, says Payne, but this is the first time we have used it in a show. Megan Duckett, of Sew What?, says that the idea of digital printing was discarded in favor of a process that involved custommilling the fabric and printing on it with four 60" ink drums; after that, it was put through a flameretardant process before sewing began. Payne s lighting design adds plenty of oomph, bathing the set in colors and patterns, pulling the audience into the show with arenawide color washes, and isolating the star and his musicians, who often fan out across the stage. The designer has done many shows in the round and is at ease with the format; the key to his design, he says, is to keep the focus on Stewart, whom he calls a great April 2007 Lighting&Sound America

4 performer. Payne s lighting rig is dominated by 60 Vari*Lite VL3000s in both Spot and Wash configurations. For me, it s the optics on the Vari*Lite units, he says. The set is covered in a silvery grey, and it takes light beautifully. The zoom is also important. I can get massive gobo looks, covering the entire audience, with 30 spots. Indeed, he s fond of spinning gobo patterns on the audience and deck, a fact established during the opening number, Tonight I'm Yours. The VL3000s also create a highly theatrical beam look in Wear it Well. Also on hand are 16 Molefays and a set of low-voltage tungsten uplighting units built into the decks. The set is outlined in a series of white LEDs, creating a necklace-oflighting look onstage. The LEDs can do chases, as in Lost in You; combined with VL3000s on the floor, they create a kind of glitter-rock effect. A 4' diameter mirrorball comes in at one point, for that discoera feeling. Controlling the lighting is the High End Systems Wholehog III, a board that has earned some major respect after a very rocky start. Payne worked on the Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies in Turin with lighting designer Durham Marenghi, where the Hog III acquitted itself nicely, he says. We had to reset the system once in three weeks, he recalls. Working with WYSIWYG to design the Stewart tour, Payne says he sat at home mapping out the set and seating, the PA, and truss heights, integrating his lighting into the layout. We went into rehearsals at The Forum in Los Angeles before Christmas, and I didn t have to change a thing. We were able to save ourselves a lot of mucking about. I m not a fan of programming in WYSIWYG but, for all the other details, it s very good. In addition, he says, WYSIWYG is integrated into the show s lighting network, which is particularly valuable for running an in-the-round show. Today, he says, by way of example, I m in a position where the drum kit is obscured but I can do the focuses for it in WYSIWYG. I work at the desk and look at it in WYG. Also, if there s a problem with the previous show, I put it into WYSIWYG and fix it. You don t have to have the whole lighting system attached to the desk in order to fix something. Indeed, Payne projects an air of imperturbability as he works, a feeling that no doubt comes from his long experience with Stewart. Then again, this tour may go down as meaningful in more ways than one. Payne s lighting rig is dominated by 60 Vari*Lite VL3000 units in both Spot and Wash configurations. Controlling the lighting is a High End Systems Wholehog III. April 2007

5 CONCERTS This page, top: Stewart uses AKG mics. This page, bottom: The tour is one of the first to feature all-hd video. Opposite: The large plaid Austrian curtain was made by Sew What? Speaking to LSA in February, he happily announced the birth of his first son, Harry. When asked if the son would be awarded his father s nickname, he thinks about it for a second and announces his solution: Harry Popelet Payne. The Stewart sound In a world in which aural overkill is the norm, Brogaard s sound mix stands out for his delicacy and subtlety. Even though Stewart s songs traverse three or more decades of musical styles, the star s voice floats effortlessly about the music in each number. One wonders how much the gear chosen has to do with it. Interestingly, the tour features a Meyer Sound rig; it includes eight hangs of that company s Milo high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers, 100 in all, accompanied by 32 Meyer 700- HP high-powered subwoofers. Near fill is provided by UPA-1P compact wide-coverage boxes and nine M elodie curvilinear array elements. He also makes use of Meyer s Galileo loudspeaker management system, in addition to the company s SIM 3 audio analyzer and Windows-based RMS remote monitoring system. The Galileo has been extremely useful for driving and aligning our system across multiple zones, Brogaard notes. It makes it very easy to cut out the frequencies we don t want and emphasize the ones we do, especially in the bass range. We like a lot of punch at 60 and 80Hz. Upon hearing the comment that Meyer isn t the usual choice for concert touring in the U.S., one typically sees the company s products used in theatres, concert halls, and houses of worship Brogaard says they are are increasingly popular on the worldwide concert circuit, offering Metallica, Avril Lavigne, The White Stripes, and Robert Plant as examples. Brogaard s console choice is the DiGiCo D5, a no-brainer for him. I had a lot to do with the development of it, he says. I have serial number 001. Speaking about digital consoles, he adds, I always try to be ahead, rather than behind, the curve. One suspects that the use of a digital console has much to do with the tour s notably uncluttered sound. Stewart has long had a relationship with AKG, and that company dominates the mic list. Stewart himself sports a PT4000 handheld radio mic with a C-5900 capsule on it. The three backup singers have the same setup; all nine musicians are also on AKG mics. Of course, Stewart has one of the more distinctive voices in rock music He sings from the throat, notes Brogaard but the engineer doesn t necessarily treat it differently. The April 2007 Lighting&Sound America

6 only outboard processing is through a T. C. Electronic System Otherwise, he says, Rod s mic is very powerful. In the monitor world, there are two DiGiCo D5s, one for Stewart and the backup singers, mixed by Sven Jorgensen, and another for the band, which is handled by Toshio Kumagai. There are no wedges everyone in the band uses either AKG SST IEMs or Sennheiser G2 units. The lack of wedges contributes to the clean look onstage, which Stewart prefers, says Payne, adding that, under the stage can be found a considerable network of dressing rooms, storage, and technical gear. Stewart in high definition As mentioned earlier, the tour s video setup is high-definition through and through. One might think that a star of a certain age might balk at the revealing qualities of HD, but Stewart seems not to have given it a thought. Given his youthful looks and energy, it turns out this is hardly a problem. Indeed, the video adds to the intimacy of the tour in more ways than one. Besides providing many close-up views of the star, much of the additional content is highly personal in addition to the spoofy Rodfather opening, there s footage of Stewart s parents, siblings, and some of his children. (During the pre-show, there s a constant stream of, yes, plaid imagery, supporting the tartan idea established by the curtains.) We see the star kicking around a soccer ball and playing with one of his sons, and there s also footage of a certain football club, as seen over the years. One particularly effective use of video comes in Rhythm of My Heart, in which footage of soldiers coming home is mixed with a eye-grabbing overhead shot of Stewart performing as gobo patterns spin all over the stage. Video director Charlie Harris is a sort-of newcomer to the tour but then again, not really. He worked previously for Stewart, running a video camera, then left to tour with U2 and the Rolling Stones. The video rig, he says, includes five Sony BRC 700 color video cameras (as well as two robotic cameras) to pick up the live action, with content delivered by a set of Doremi HD hard drives to Barco FLM R20+ projectors. The HD process, Harris notes, delivers a lot more detail, adding considerably to the impact of the video; this is especially important in a circular configuration, where, at any time, twothirds of the audience can t see the star s face. A For-A video switcher is used to move from live to prepared content. Overall, however, the system is lacking in any unnecessary gear. Staying simple is the way to go, Harris says. Then again, a clutter-free simplicity is the key to the current Stewart tour. With nothing left to prove, the star has opted for a presentation that offers spectacle minus glitz. Few concert tours are this seamless and relaxed. These qualities are, no doubt, hardwon; then again, as Stewart enters his fifth decade as an entertainer, he and his associates clearly know the value of making choices and sticking to them. For that reason, Stewart continues to wear his celebrity very well. April 2007