GUNS N' ROSES show designer Greg Shipley is the subject of a new feature at PLSN (Production, Lights And Staging News). The article covers his duties, including production, lighting, video and the sets. An excerpt from the article is available below.

"It's definitely a big show," show programmer Chris Nathan says. Nathan drives the show using a Compulite Vector Red lighting console from his vantage point right beside Shipley at the FOH. "Sitting together allows for great timing, because both lighting and video cues can jump to beats and we can work offer each other," Shipley says. They have a total of four Vector Reds on the tour, two main and two backups. (Camera switching and I-Mag work is still done in video world, handled by Peter Moll.)

Shipley says the whole tour started with a designer's three favorite words: "Budget doesn't matter. I was just told to design something really big," he says. "For me, being from the wrestling background, which is known for a lot of video showmanship, I decided to start with a lot of that." The extravaganza did initially feature 19 video surfaces, though time, logistics, and the economic realities of shipping overseas pared it down to 11. There's one center main wall, two side displays for I-Mag and content, and four other video walls, plus a few other smaller ones.

"Originally, the show had a moving motor system for the circle, and we were able to do creative designs with that," Shipley says. "We also had three center video surfaces in the middle and also downstage, so when the circle split and moved, we ran video on it so people could see that it was moving - and we moved it frequently."

The tour, named after the album Chinese Democracy, started appropriately in Asia and then moved to Canada. Those shows featured the "full design, all the bells and whistles." Then they went to South America where the rig had to be cut down significantly. "And once you cut it down, it's hard to get it back!" But when they hit Europe they did exactly that, bringing back the circle elements and some of the video wall movement. But there were other challenges; sometimes they could bring their own gear to a gig (good!) and sometimes they had to grab what they could (not as good).

Still, there's no "A/B/C" show per se, but instead, Shipley pulls out his CAD and tweaks the drawing right there to fit the venue. "There are several different scenarios for different situations, but every show is unique. Some places we take out some video because of the restrictions to the roof. One time we cut all the video. Some other places had full high trim and we could see the moving motor system. We're all very flexible."

Go to this location for the complete article.

(Photo by Andrew Crow)