Jack White hits the road with Claypaky Sharpy
- Details
White’s tour follows the release of his new solo album, Boarding House Reach. The Detroit native began the tour in his hometown in April and will play dates across the US and Canada before heading to Europe. Then he will return stateside for more dates in the fall and possibly into 2019.
Montreal-based Luz Studio designed the show’s production, lighting and video elements. Using a blue-and-white colour palette and White’s penchant for the number three, or multiples of three, the design features “three column-shaped rotators upstage with video on one side and three rows of 12 Sharpy Washes on the other, which can be positioned individually allowing for a wide variety of looks”, explains tour lighting director Michelle Sarrat.
“There is an LED backlit stepped semi-circular riser, which the band plays on top of, while Jack’s world is downstage centre allowing him to travel between the band members freely.”
Additionally, there are two rows of nine Sharpy Washes on the floor upstage and downstage to provide aerial looks and band illumination.
“The show has no set list – it’s all live. We have a pool of about 70 songs, and the show is always different. Having flexibility in how we use lights and video is great for the show,” says Matthieu Larivée, creative director at Luz Studio.
“We chose the Sharpy Washes because they are very bright, beam-style fixtures that are still lightweight and compact enough to place on the back of the rotators,” says Sarrat. “And they also have colour mixing capabilities, which is important because we need to maximize our options in a limited palette.”
In addition, the Sharpy Washes “have a vintage lighting look with the fresnel lens”, notes Larivée.
Upstaging is the lighting vendor for the Jack White tour. Rob McShane is the video director, Kit Blanchard the production manager and Lalo Medina the tour manager.
Francesco Romagnoli, Claypaky area manager for North and Latin America, adds, “This is a great team bringing to life the work of a great artist! We’re thrilled to be involved.”
(Jim Evans)
