Excellence Awards 2026: Lenny Kravitz 2026 Summer Tour

Public voting for the Excellence In Live Design Awards 2026 opens in October.

Project Name: Lenny Kravitz 2026 Summer Tour

Type Of Project: Arena and festival tour for Lenny Kravitz. 

Design Criteria
The artist and I agreed that video wasn’t essential for this tour—that the emotion and experience needed to be felt as much on stage as in the audience. Heavy lighting and unique uses of smoke effects played big roles.

Kravitz and the band are in darkness with brilliant white light behind them in parallel rows
Kravitz and the band are in darkness with brilliant white light behind them in parallel rows

Challenges and Solutions

The tour began in festivals and expanded into arenas half way thru. The design needed to be modular for various European festival requirements often changing daily. Then growing into the arena required a design expansion that was organic. 

Equipment

15 custom lighting pods with Portman Lights, Chauvet Professional COLORado PXL Curves, and lots of smoke. Lots of side light from side trusses for sculpting of the band and Lenny Kravitz especially as they were often shirtless! Ayrton Profiles and new H-1 PLUS moving foggers. Architectural weight and aesthetic was crucial—using shape and depth for all layers of the design. 
 

Creative Team

Bryan Barancik, Luxious Creative: Show Designer
MIke Gionfriddo: lighting director
Joe Bay and Chris Fernandez: lighting programmers
David Bruster: PM

All photos by Chema Hernandez