music: Jack Johnson - Talk of the Town

Because this post will be full of lighting-geek speak. Onward!

The lighting guy tradition of using blue on the ballads is a cliche that I've been hesitant to break, mainly because the color just works so well on slower songs about love and introspection. It's a universally- loved color, and tends to to look nice with just about every other color except a saturated red. But every now and then I'll see some other designer's work, someone amazing like Chris Kuroda or Chris Stuba and think "Huh, I hadn't thought of that." This happened a few days ago as I was watching Kuroda do lights for Phish's "Chalkdust Torture". Something about the show suddenly made me reconsider the blue look I normally use on this song.

One of the things I consistently notice about my lighting designs is that I tend to use a lot of saturated colors. "Gypsy Boots" uses the darkest red I can get from my fixtures, the band intro runs through the whole rainbow as I give each soloing band member his own "look and color". I'm rethinking that decision now, leading more toward going with nothing but warm incandescent whites on "Now That I Found You" and again on "Love Me Like A Man". These songs pretty much in the middle of the show and I think that's a great place for sort of a visual palette cleanser. Of course, doing this won't be an option at every show, but I envision having tons of four-lights or maybe some big Molefays around Terri and the band to use to bathe the stage in light. Think the music video for Big Daddy Weave's "Every Time I Breathe" - unobtrusive, simple, almost stark light to do nothing but highlight the players. I'd keep the light deliberately dark on "Now The I Found You" - it's a very soft, touching song that wouldn't benefit from a bright, glaring light - maybe add in some soft blue from the movers, but no overwhelming colors.

"Love Me Like a Man" would feature a full-on, brightly backlit stage during the song, with a fade or two during the part where the band comes back, and of course the giant blackout right before the end sequence. The band intro would feature the same color palette.

Oh, and I want like a hundred million of these.

Exit, stage left. Sparks