Jon Kusner Lights Ed Sheeran At The 2021 VMAs

By Ellen Lampert-Greaux Sep 21, 2021 4:41pm

In a remote segment shot at Pier 3 at Brooklyn Bridge Park, singer Ed Sheeran was beamed into the 2021 MTV VMA broadcast from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, on September 12, 2021, with lighting by Jon Kusner of 22°. Was it live or prerecorded, that is the question (spoiler alert, it was prerecorded), with a quick load-in over just two days, with the performance on the evening of the second day.

"We spent the first day in the rain hanging the the lights on the metal Pier I-beams which exist as part of the park and then building goal posts to put in giant scissor lifts (four in total) for the front light and side light to the stage and audience," says Kusner, who is a veteran LD for VMA remote shoots. Each of the goal posts had a fixture mix of VL2600 Spot, GLP Impression X4, PRG Best Boy Ground Control, and PRG Icon Edge.

"Once that was done, some of the gear that sat on the stage was placed (on the deck that was built), but the deck wasn’t complete yet," Kusner points out. "Once dark we then focused, balanced and programmed what we had till about 2am." A battery of 104 Solaris Flares sat on the stage, with Martin Atomic strobes also on stage as well as on upstage vertical beams.

Kusner and his team came back the next day about noon to finish the install and the set build. "We got all the gear actually working and then further programmed and refined the performance Ed was doing for the main show, and then spent what time we head left programming two additional songs Ed was doing for the live audience at Pier 3," explains Kusner. "As evening fell we quickly looked at and refined the song some more and adjusted exposure as best as we could. Eric Marchwinski programmed, Tyler Ericson and Madigan Stehly were lighting directors, with Richie Beck as the gaffer, Ronn Martin as the best boy and Meg Flanagan as the PRG lead."

Kusner adds "the VMA remotes are usually a rapid-fire event to get in place, programmed, and then recorded. This is my fifth or sixth year of being involved in the remotes for the VMAs and I always enjoy the scramble of them and appreciate the work of the team to make the almost unprovable get done."

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