Marc Brickman, Bryan Hartley, Nick Whitehouse, Ed Wannebo, Pete Radice, Nathan Alves, and a host of industry leaders could have all written this. Everyone who had the privilege to cross Eric’s path had the same result; they were lifted. Eric had a way of encouraging, pushing, and pulling out the best in everyone. His energy was infectious. His love for the business he helped create was immeasurable. Even after decades of inventing and crafting new technologies that pushed concert lighting and staging forward, he would become as excited as a kid at Christmas to show off a new C&C router, or a widget he had invented that would make something as simple as a riser deck work better.
With designers, nothing scared him. In fact, he would light up when faced with a daunting challenge. In the twenty plus years I knew him, he never frowned or looked concerned about a new project. Instead, he would get this enormous smile and jump into the challenge.
In my book, I referred to him as a mad scientist. I still think it is the perfect description. When I first met him, I was an up and coming kid, on the verge of being established in the industry. Eric brought me over that hill. His willingness to treat me just like he would one of my own heroes, Marc Brickman, encouraged me to try for the crazy idea – knowing that my mad scientist would dutifully solve any challenge. I began to trust in my own mind and not talk myself out of things just because I didn’t know how to do it. Eric showed no fear, and I drew strength from him.
Yes, Eric was a legend. Yes, Eric helped invent a business. Yes, Eric was an innovator. But to so many of us, the most important memories will be his ability to dream big things, to encourage people to not be afraid, to never say ‘it can’t work’, and to lift and encourage those around him.
Eric helped birth an industry. He then helped raise that industry from cowboys to corporate. Yet he never became jaded. He never lost the spark of an industry that dared to create itself out of thin air. We didn’t go find out how to do this job, people like Eric had to invent it.
Eric lived out George Bernard Shaw’s quote perfectly: “Some men see things as they are and say ‘why.' I dream things that never were and say ‘why not’.”
Seth Jackson
July 27, 2022
Starting with his first company, Showlites, established in 1974, Eric Pearce was a true innovator in the lighting and staging industry, with such products as the Par-Bar. Pearce became a lighting guru for concert touring, while his later companies included ShowStaging and ShowFabrications as he expanded into modular aluminum truss, dedicated equipment packages, and moved into film and television with offices in Los Angeles. Next came ShowRig in Las Vegas, with an accent on truss and motors. The latest iteration, SGPS/ShowRig has seven offices across the United States.