Rollin' and tumblin'

For a spring tour of Japan and the US, and a second run of dates this summer, Jeff Beck is back out on the road in support of his new CD, You Had It Coming. With him is LD Jasper Johns who designed, programmed, and operates the light show. Johns started out in the club scene back in 1989, having “expanded from my bedroom,” his rig consisting mainly of effects projectors. He then teamed up with his friend Crom, forming Fruit Salad Lights, and he toured with many English psychedelic bands such as Ozric Tentacles. When Crom left the business, Johns merged with Colour Sound Experiment, and worked with numerous bands such as Underworld, Marillion, and many others in the European festival scene.

For Jeff Beck, Johns designed two circular projection screens, one on each side of the stage, and a triangle behind the drum riser. There is a fast-paced movement of light and projection that complements the feel of Beck's new record as well as connecting with his older material. “For the song ‘Roy's Toy’ we have video clips of hot rods on the screen — that was one of Jeff's ideas,” Johns notes. “Other than a brief of ‘a more modern and techno feel’ I was given a free hand. I try to avoid ‘looks;’ it's more of a kinetic experience that complements the music. I listened to the tracks that Jeff was going to play, then experience and creativity took over from there. The designs on the screens are from a collection of kinetic projection images; it's an excellent resource to have. I added a live camera on Jeff because he is the most amazing guitarist — I wanted to let people see him more. The specials we have carried everywhere have been supplied by my own company. These include the projections and screens, and the star cloth we made using blue LEDs: It's DMX-controlled, and has 96 separate strings of LEDs, giving a lot more possibilities for programming.”

Lighting contractor for the tour is LSD/Fourth Phase, using High End Systems Studio Colors® and Studio Spots®. Production manager is Ravi Sharman, lighting crew chief is Tod Metz, and lighting technician and spot-caller is Jim Petresson.

JEFF BECK 2001 TOUR

LIGHTING EQUIPMENT

Light & Sound Design supplied
16 High End Systems100 Studio Colors
15 High End Systems Studio Spots
9 Diversitronics101 strobes and scrollers
6 ETC102 Source Fours
1 Flying Pig Systems103 Wholehog II
with expansion wing
Truss and rigging
Colour Sound Experiment supplied
5 Optikinetics104 K4 projector and solar system
4 20'×10' blue LED star cloths
Video control and cameras
PSL supplied
2 Barco105 6400 video projectors

Circle Number on Reader Service Card