The Your Songs tour is crossing the world in support of Connick's eponymous album released last fall. He brought the tour to Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre in July where the last two performances were recorded live for television.
Halpain, who has worked with Connick on tour since 2003 and has an extensive credit roster of tours with other artists plus TV shows and special events, began the tour with a grandMA full-size then migrated to the grandMA2 full-size when vendor MAS Lighting acquired the new model. "The grandMA was a great console, but we fell in love with the grandMA2 when we had to reprogramme the show for Broadway," Halpain reports. "And now we've taken the grandMA2 light out for the rest of the tour."
Halpain, who also serves as lighting director and programmer for the tour, notes that Connick has no set list for his concerts. "He hates being confined. We know the first song, then he calls them out as he goes along. We need a desk that's flexible so we can easily jump from song to song."
Lighting designer Ted Wells was brought in to help design the lighting for the multi-camera recording of the Broadway concert for TV. George 'Chip' Davis was head electrician and John Robison the tech for the Your Songs tour and Broadway run.
(Jim Evans)
