Time never stands still… neither does true creativity, which is why iconic bands like The Doobie Brothers find the courage to shake things up, even after more than a half century has passed. Last year, to mark their 54th anniversary, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers surprised the music industry by breaking new ground on the uplifting “Walk This Road” album, their first recording ever that featured both Tom Johnston and Michael McDonald.  (The two superstars had recorded with the group at different points in the past, but never together.) This bold embrace of the new carried over to Seth Jackson’s production design for the successful national tour that has been supporting the album this summer and fall. Breaking with traditional expectations, the show supported the Doobie Brother’s performance with a vibrant new storytelling design that included no beams.

Jackson explained the inspiration behind the creative process. “Since this show is supporting the first recording with Tom Johnston and Michael McDonald, we wanted something out of the ordinary. Pat Simmons (a founding member of the band), was very focused on having a show that reflected the idea that ‘at our core we are just a Northern California rock and roll band, so let our music tell the story.’ The album’s cover art reflected that concept.”

In keeping with this vision, Simmons requested that Jackson and his colleagues “give the show a traditional feel by being untraditional.” For the band and their designers this meant avoiding the usual smoke, beam, and “audience assault” effects, and creating deeper more nuanced textured looks that had light and video working in harmony. “I jumped at the chance to flip the rig around and make it about textures, colors, and balance to create the energy of the show from a whole different angle,” said Jackson.  “These guys have been doing this for over 50 years. We were excited to give them a great visual environment to work in and get out of the way.”

Essential to Jackson achieving this vision was his melding the show’s 43’x16’ video screen with lighting from a rig anchored by 13 CHAUVET Professional Maverick Storm 2 Profiles, six STRIKE Array 2 strobe-washes, and 10 STRIKE P38 blinder-strobes, supplied by Gateway Studios and Production Services. “For me, the best part of the whole project was balancing video and light,” said Jackson. “Since I was lighting the stage and the screen surround, I wanted to let the video imagery drive the color choices and cueing of the lighting.  I matched everything to the imagery.  It was something Steve Cohen taught me back on Star Wars in Concert – light for the film and let its narrative drive your creativity.  We brought in Brent Sandrock and Ross McNamara from Creative Lumens to create content for the new album songs and to catalog and clean up the existing content.  I then did pre-viz for the show with the content already in place.

Jackson and his LD Ryan Garner had to stretch their creative reach to come up with lighting looks that flowed with the evocative video imagery. “We couldn’t just go to our muscle memory,” said Jackson.  “You have to think differently about creating accents and energy in a show that has no beams.  We did a lot of exploration with other ways to create big rock moments but turn them around.  We found that the STRIKE P38s were extremely helpful to keeping things animated, especially when playing with them in lower intensity effects.”

While the STRIKE P38 units were accenting video content, the STRIKE Array 2 fixtures were providing audience lighting that artfully flowed with the imagery on the screen. Meanwhile, the Maverick Storm 2 Profiles ensured that the band remained front and center in this panoramic setting by delivering precise key lighting. “Each principal on the front line had a dedicated key light and backlight – with the follow spots simply filling in the shadows from the relatively steep angle of the front truss,” explained Jackson.  “Michael had two key lights and a backlight (he is not a fan of the follow spots).  Every band member had a dedicated key light as well.  These lights NEVER moved.  These were the Maverick Storm 2 Profiles.  They were the perfect balance of brightness and solid color rendering for the key and back lights.  Ryan Garner, was able to adjust the balance and temperatures from day to day with regards to indoors/outdoors, dark at show time or daylight, etc. — and had great success getting good skin tones for everyone.”

In addition to praising the work of his LD, Jackson credits David Haskell from Gateway, along with lighting and video crew — Kate Bielski (Crew chief), Steve Grzejka, and Peter Pham with helping to bring to life a show that captivated audience with timeless imagery that ranged from the ethereal, such as scenes rich with stained glass images and beings walking in the clouds, to the evocative– like wild horses running through open countryside.

Among Jackson’s favorite looks was the “crazy graphic novel” for one of the band’s new songs “Angels and Mercy,” which featured constantly changing narrative scenes. “It is very, very active look,’ he explained. “Our lighting stuck with the video throughout it all. If one of the animations was lit from the left, we went from the left with the lighting.  If the animation was gray and blue, we went gray and blue lighting.” The net result, said Jackson made the film seem as if it were “blowing off the screen” … carried no doubt on the wings of light that blended perfectly with video in this beautifully balanced design.

Learn more about Chauvet at www.chauvetprofessional.com

This article originally appeared in PLSN.