Copyright Lighting&Sound America December 2010 http://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/lsa.html Justin Bieber s new tour is designed to introduce his young fans to the joys of concertgoing By: Sharon Stancavage or Justin Bieber s current My World Tour, the singer s manager, Scooter Braun and tour director/production manager-designer, Tom E. Marzullo, had a simple goal. We re hoping that the public has a great time when they come to the show, and leave with over-amped excitement that spills over to the next school day; that s what it s all about, Marzullo claims. For many of the audience, this is their first concert and we want to make that a perfectly positive experience. The overall concert season has been turbulent, with many big-name shows underperforming at the box office, but things have been quite the opposite for the Bieber tour. Initially, it was slated for theatres; it then moved to arenas in a 180 configuration. Finally, it became a full arena show, and, according to Marzullo, Currently we re at 240 and can t find another seat to sell. In terms of size, the tour is traveling with a respectable nine trucks. My goal is always to do a show that looks big but doesn t necessarily have a big price tag and a lot of trucks, says Marzullo Justin up close and personal From the beginning, Scooter was adamant about having a lot of video on the show, because, obviously, Justin got his start on YouTube, says Marzullo. It s a new world out there, and people want to see his face. It s probably no surprise that the majority of Bieber s fans are young girls, who do indeed want to see their idol up close and personal. We wanted to make sure that we gave them heaping doses of Justin, and have everyone get the video experience as well, the designer adds. That heaping dose comes via an IMAG system from Chaos Visuals Productions, of Los Angeles. We have two Sony D50 cameras one at the front of house and one handheld plus four Sony BRC 300 robo-cams, explains Chaos COO, Nick Jackson, who handled the Bieber tour for the firm. The video package also includes a Sony MFS- 000 switcher. Michael Tinsley handles live video direction. Although Marzullo wanted a large video presence, there was a budget to keep in mind. To keep it cost-effective, I didn t have the usual option of a high-definition LED wall, All photos: Todd Kaplan 42 December 2010 Lighting&Sound America
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he says. We basically have a rearprojection show. The setup consists of an inset center screen that uses double-stacked 20K Barco FLM R20+ rear projectors, as well as Barco FLM R12+ units for IMAG stage right and left. To make it look bigger, we ve got several panels of Main Light [Industries ] Soft-LED curtain, and basically there s a video drape that runs from one dasher to the other, he explains. The Main Light drapes not only enlarged the look of the stage, but were extremely budgetfriendly. For a 16-year-old in his debut arena-headlining tour, it s certainly given him a great look, says Jackson. The show s original video content was created by John Martinez, of Mondo Productions in Los Angeles; Alfredo Flores created the B-roll, while John LaBriola, the coproduction designer, handled everything else. It s honestly a big mishmash, says LaBriola. Most of the song-specific custom content is all through John; the filler stuff for background and accents is mine; there s even a handful of stock imagery mixed into the pile as well. For control of the content, LaBriola turned to a Catalyst media server, a new piece of gear for him. The biggest challenge was taking on Catalyst really quickly, and we didn t have the most ideal amount of production time, he says I can t put a price on the assistance the guys at Chaos provided; it was awesome. Spectacle built for touring Like the video, the key word for the lighting rig was big. It was built to be as big as possible, but portable at the same time, comments LaBriola. The key to this combination of size and portability is the truss setup. It was decided it would completely consist of swing-wing-type truss before we even started doing the design, LaBriola confides. The swing-wing truss is stackable, and therefore keeps the truck count down. There are 31 pieces of swingwing truss with trim heights ranging from 18' to 45'. It s in sections and lengths, and its hung on angles, LaBriola adds. Another way of keeping inside the budget is to opt for off-the-shelf gear, so when it was time to choose the rig, LaBriola admits. We just went with everything that Christie had in-house. And indeed, Christie Lighting of Atlanta had an extensive inventory of luminaires. There is a little bit of everything on this show, adds LaBriola. It includes a variety of Martin Professional gear (MAC 2000 Wash XBs, Mac IIIs, and Mac 700 Profiles and Wash units) Syncrolite MX4000s, Thomas Molefays and, of course, a bevy of Martin Atomic strobes with color changers. The Mac 2K wash is the foundation of everything up there, says LaBriola, adding, the Mac 3 is doing most of the work in regards to what people actually see. The rig also contains various LED units Martin Mac 401s, Coemar ParLites, and Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlasts. Jason Jennings handled programming on the grandma very ably, with oversight and input by Marzullo and LaBriola. Jason was doing such a great, efficient job at programming when we were in production rehearsal; I pretty much stayed out of it, admits LaBriola. Jennings is also on the road as the tour s lighting director. The set and scenic elements were designed by Marzullo and Robert Achlimbari, and fabricated by All Access Staging and Productions, of Los Angeles. There s one 10' bridge that runs across the upstage and a slightly curved staircase on the right hand side that we also use as a platform for the four background singers, says Marzullo. The set also includes non-identical jump-down platforms on both stage right and left. All pop shows like to open with a bang, and the Bieber outing is no 44 December 2010 Lighting&Sound America
Above: Different views of the Whirly-Gig built by SGPS, in which Bieber travels and which also serves as a mirrorball. The top photo also gives a good view of the Main Light Industries Soft-LED curtain. www.lightingandsoundamerica.com December 2010 45
different. I had a 10' diameter ball made, and it s kind of an illusion you see the ball empty; no one is in the bottom of it. It lands on stage, there s smoke, the lift goes into the ball, and then Justin magically appears on stage, explains Marzullo. The ball, fabricated by All Access, makes another appearance near the end of the show in the guise of a super mirrorball that hovers over Bieber during Down to Earth. Eye candy is another specialty of pop shows, and Bieber does not disappoint. First, there are four lasers three 25W RGBY units and one green 8W Blitz, all provided by Strictly FX, of Chicago, and operated by Marcus Wade. They are the most amazing whites and purples and pinks, things you would never expect to see from a laser, says Marzullo. In the past, lasers could be difficult to deal with on tour. Not any more, he notes: Now these 20W lasers, they re small they re easy to deal with, they plug into the wall, there s no water cooling, they re big and bright and beautiful, he comments. And although the lasers are considered an effect, they play an important role in the overall look of the production. They add a lot of texture to the show, he adds. And there is, of course, flying, thanks to SGPS, of Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Nashville. We wanted to make sure we maximized the budget and the number of seats, and having Justin fly essentially created a B stage in the air, remarks Marzullo. This effect has two separate components a giant aluminum heart with a chair and a stylized basket, like that of a hot-air balloon. Both were fabricated by SGPS. There s video of a hot air balloon; it looks like Justin flies out of the screen and sits above the audience, reports Marzullo. Both are favorites of the fans. In fact, one fan even reports on YouTube, I cried when he was in the air inside the heart. Bieber travels via a SGPS Whirlygig, which is suspended on 120' of an SGPS KB Effects track truss, which runs diagonally from the upstage left garage to the back of the area. The Whirly-gig is a 6' circular tracking unit mounted on our KB Effects track truss it can go in circles, it can go straight, it spins, and it has three down points that are independent, so you can come down and pick whatever you want underneath, explains Brian White, director of operations at SGPS Los Angeles. The Whirly-gig is controlled via the Navigator Automation system, provided by Fisher Technical Services, of Las Vegas. The system is so nice; you can finesse it so well and make large heavy, objects just touch each other and kiss it s stateof-the-art, and is the best thing out there right now, says White. Programming and operation of the flying effects are in the very capable hands of Brian Lolly. Brian has the hefty responsibility of Justin s safety and comfort as he hovers over 12,000 people every night, Marzullo comments. No pop concert is complete without confetti and Marzullo and his team deliver, with some help from Strictly FX and SGPS. Instead of blanketing the entire audience with confetti, which gets very costly and makes the arena unhappy, we mounted two confetti blowers on that same spine truss that goes out into the house, explains Marzullo. The SGPS Whirly-gig that flies Bieber takes the confetti cannons to the back of the arena, and then, during the last song, moves them toward the stage. Basically, we get the confetti effect without having to fill the entire arena and without having five or six canon positions, comments the production director. But that s not all. There s the confetti that starts behind the crowd, so the people in the front don t know it; it just comes up behind them and starts to shower then then, on the last note of the song, there s a big streamer burst and we hit the Indiana Jones music and we re done, Marzullo concludes. For Bieber, Strictly FX has provided three trussmount confetti units, ten CO2 jets, and eight streamer cannons as well as two low-smoke generators. Other surprises for the fans include scenic inflatables (in Somebody to Love ), provided by CMEANN of El Cajon, California. To me, getting the best show for the artist is what it s all about, Marzullo says. The sound the fans want to hear The front-of-house sound engineer Gordon Mack has each arena covered with a Clair Global i-5 rig. Each side is comprised of twelve i-5s, eight BT-218A sub-bass cabinets, 10 i-i5bs, two P-2s, and eight i-3 compacts. It s a pretty good rig, He notes. Working with the Clair PA is Mack s Avid VENUE Profile console. The Venue is relatively small, and audio has a very small footprint, he says, explaining his choice in part. He s also used the Venue for live recording in the past for example, on John Legend s 2000 Summer Tour. Another plus factor: It s very easy to record from using Pro Tools, he adds. Mack s outboard gear is minimal. Everything is through the console- I have a Crane Song plug in for the guitars, I use a few reverbs, a D-verb, the Eventide Anthology II plug-ins for a chorus and verbs, and then one or two [Avid] Smacks, which are on the bass and key bass, he explains. Essentially, Mack feels like plug-ins are indeed a luxury, not a necessity. I don t want to get used to it and then move on and not have them available on another console, or be too reliant on them so that I feel naked mixing without them. Another component in the audio portion of the tour is James Scrappy Stassen, the ProTools operator and stage manager. In this situation with Justin, I wouldn t say that the Pro Tools was terribly needed, since he has a great band it s one of the best bands I ve 46 December 2010 Lighting&Sound America
Behind the singer one can see imagery being rear-projected by Barco FLM R20+ projectors. Below left: Laser effects are supplied by Strictly FX. Below right: A view of the two-level stage, fabricated by All Access Staging. www.lightingandsoundamerica.com December 2010 47
worked with, Mack notes. However, ProTools is a way to achieve the goal of every single young fan: to make Justin sound exactly the same live as he does on the radio and their ipods. When you come to a show, you don t want to hear a different representation of the song you want to hear it as close as possible to the record, and Pro Tools allows that to happen. Mack s choice of microphones is deliberately ordinary. I don t like to get too carried away on getting incredibly expensive mics, he admits. He says the lineup includes, Shure Beta 52s and SM 91s on the kick drum, SM 57s on the snares, and Sennheiser 904s for the tom mics. For Bieber, Mack has a bit of a custom setup: Crown 311 headsets with a Heil RC22 cap. There background vocals are on Crown 311 headsets with standard caps, and the guitars are on a Heil PR30. B-stages can occasionally be a challenge to mix, and this time, since it is essentially in the air, one might expect some problems. Mack takes it all in stride, however. I haven t had any issues with him being anywhere up in the air I generally don t have issues with anything other than the volume of the girls. The latter is the bane of the existence of all front-of-house engineers. I don t know what it is, but the frequency and level at which 13-to-17-year-olds can scream is unmatched by any other group of people. It s piercing and it seems like they have unlimited energy, he says. Typically, Mack is stationed at the back of the arena, which is a bit of an issue as well. You want the sound good wherever you are, and you want the impact of the show to hit you a certain way where ever you are at a longer distance, obviously you have to pump the PA to keep the impact, he explains. Because he is generally placed 140-160' away from the stage, the sound level at the front of house usually runs at 110db. Overall, the experience with Bieber has been a positive one. All the people I m working with are incredibly competent guys, they include Rob Rankin, systems engineer; Tony Luna, monitor engineer; and audio techs Nathan McBee and Rick Roman. Everyone is happy to be out. Justin Bieber s tour continues in North America until the end of December. For fans who weren t able to make it out to the show, a 3D film of the concert is slated for release next year. This is an age-appropriate tour that rocks and were hoping that the kids and the parents have a great time when they come to the show and leave with great memories. The single-most rewarding part of presenting this tour is watching the parents and kids react to the show it s a joyful rite of passage watching a whole new generation of live music fans jump in with both feet and we are proud to be a part of it, concludes Marzullo. l i g h t i n g t r u c k i n g p r o d u c t i o n s u p p o r t s a l e s s e r v i c e s t o r a g e AC/DC Tour CIRCLE READER SERVICE 32 CHICAGO LOS ANGELES w w w. u p s t a g i n g. c o m 8 1 5. 8 9 9. 9 8 8 8 821 Park Avenue Sycamore, Illinois 60178 Ph. 815-899-9888 Fax 815-899-1080 415 North Canon Dr., Suite 1 Beverly Hills, California 90210 Ph. 310-859-9800 Fax 310-859-2804