LONDON – “When I make my music, I want people to feel good, I can really feel that when they sing the lyrics back to me,” house heavyweight Sonny Fodera told an interviewer from Forbes earlier this year. The Australian-born star must have had no doubt that his music was having the desired elixir effect […]
NEW YORK – Mike Grabowski was thrilled with his experience designing the multiple stages under his purview for “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” in Times Square this year, except for one thing. His single regret didn’t involve the rain that fell for much of the evening, either. After all, the “unpredictability […]
When Allen Branton and the rest of the production team saw their design concept for the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction in place at the Microsoft Theater, their first reaction was something along the lines of “wow, this feels really modern!” This might have come as a surprise to some, given that […]
MIAMI – As Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas steamed out of port December 7 for the Welcome To Jamrock Reggae Cruise, Nesta Garrick, Abbas Ritscher and the entire team at The Design Oasis were grateful that they would be able to do something, they’d never done before: leave all their fixtures unbagged overnight! “This […]
LOS ANGELES – When Allen Branton and the rest of the production team saw their design concept for the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction in place at the Microsoft Theater, their first reaction was something along the lines of “wow, this feels really modern!” This might have come as a surprise to […]
BERLIN – After more than 25 years on the road, iconic Ontario pop-punkers Sum 41 still have an insatiable hunger for touring, rolling through one-night stands like so many all-night drive-thrus. The Grammy-nominated and Juno Award-winning quintet, which has played as many as 300 nights in a year, is showing no signs of travel-fatigue on […]
LAS VEGAS – What’s in a name? Sometimes, just a glimpse of the total picture. Take the annual iHeartRadio Music Festival. Although it’s called a “festival,” this star-studded event is also, at its core, a nationally televised special. Tom Kenny always has this duality firmly planted in this mind when designing the lighting rig for […]
PHILADELPHIA – You better check your email right now! Patrick Dierson is no stranger to getting text messages like this when he’s on a job site, especially when he’s overseeing the production design at the Jay-Z curated Made in America festival. “I love this event, because it never fails to surprise with unexpected challenges,” he […]
MORRISON, CO – A casual observer might describe Rowdytown as a “concert,” but the event’s organizers, the talented electronic music duo Big Gigantic, and their legion of fans prefer “party,” a term that more accurately captures the close-knit, free-flowing and fun-filled vibe that fills the air during this two-day affair. Regardless of what they call […]
NASHVILLE – It’s fitting that one of Jon Pardi’s most famous songs (and the second of his four No. 1 hits) is “Dirt On My Boots.” As its title suggests, the song, like the artist himself, embodies the rugged, rock-solid values that run through the heart of country music. This deeply rooted attitude is front […]
Alès, France – The art of lighting design lies not only in how it heightens an audience’s visual experience but also (sometimes), in what it shields an audience from seeing. Guillaume Fournier and Victor Lagiewski from Chromatik mastered both ends of this artistic spectrum recently at the Fous Chantants d’Alès concert, featuring Pascal Obispo. A […]
LONG POND, PA – The fifth annual Elements Music and Arts Festival took place at a new site less than a two-hour drive from Mid-Town Manhattan, adjacent to the NASCAR Pocono Raceway, but as far as fans at this three-day event were concerned, it could have taken place a million miles from anywhere. Nestled within […]