Design Who Programs Music Festivals?

[Collin Karim]

When a electronic music festival takes place does every artist have their own LD who programs their shows or do the festival LDs program as well?

What if the artist is not big enough to have their own lighting and visuals team?

 

[techieman33]

It's a mix. Usually the big act will have their own LD, and sometimes that LD will run lights for other acts. Maybe because they fell like, but more likely because the other acts are paying them to. The festival may hire an LD to run things for everyone without their own LD. Sometimes whoever provided the lighting gear will provide a lighting person. Sometimes that person will be really good, and other times it could be a tech that is just competent enough to do some basic looks and keep the lights on. And on some really small event it could be the promoters 2nd cousin who ran lights in high school a couple of times, but they're working for beer so who cares if they are probably going to be awful.

 

[StradivariusBone]

Not a music fest, but we've had a couple bus and trailer tours come through where the LD for the headliner busks the opening acts. They usually have some sort of discussion prior to the show regarding lighting choices and most of the time the LD has a few tricks to accommodate for music he might not be familiar with.

 

[Footer]

Not a music fest, but we've had a couple bus and trailer tours come through where the LD for the headliner busks the opening acts. They usually have some sort of discussion prior to the show regarding lighting choices and most of the time the LD has a few tricks to accommodate for music he might not be familiar with.

Unless the opener is "contained" within the headliner's production this rarely happens. I've actually seen bands come close to firing their crew for working for the support artist.

EDM is kind of a weird world that is apart from traditional R&R. The industry has not really solidified as to what is "standard". I do know the DJ's travel much lighter and depend on local production a lot more than R&R acts ever do, so that might tend to move towards the local LD working more. Then again, lighting/video are a major part of the party so they might travel with people who know the build for the night.

 

[StradivariusBone]

Unless the opener is "contained" within the headliner's production this rarely happens. I've actually seen bands come close to firing their crew for working for the support artist.

These were Christian rock tours, so I'm not sure if they work it out differently. I thought it was kinda strange since they were literally going over their set list with the LD a few hours before the house opened, but the show had been booked for quite a while. It was a weird show in general.

 

[Pie4Weebl]

Unless the opener is "contained" within the headliner's production this rarely happens. I've actually seen bands come close to firing their crew for working for the support artist.

EDM is kind of a weird world that is apart from traditional R&R. The industry has not really solidified as to what is "standard". I do know the DJ's travel much lighter and depend on local production a lot more than R&R acts ever do, so that might tend to move towards the local LD working more. Then again, lighting/video are a major part of the party so they might travel with people who know the build for the night.

That totally happens, all of the time. More and more I am seeing bands share production too! There are a lot more not-quite-co-headliner tours where the main support might get to use 1/3 of the rig and then the headliner gets a bigger rig as a result. Another reason bands like to have their LD run support is it keeps the house guy from going crazy with the strobes, ETC.

 

[DuckJordan]

Going to have to disagree from where I sit in the Industry pie4weebl. 9 times out of 10 I the tech run lights for the opener if the headliner has an LD otherwise I'm the LD all day long for a festival. Now this is r&r not Edm so take with a grain of salt.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[JonathanHarpur]

Medium-sized to smaller local festivals near me almost always rely on the production company supplying the gear to operate it as well, and the acts rarely have their own crew. The festival promoter - who normally arranges for the production rentals - typically expects the gear to be operated by the production company's staff, as arranged within the rental contract. Even when a particular act shows up with their own LD it can depend largely on the situation - unless they're operating as the sole act for that day, they need to work within the constraints of the rig in terms of focus and console time, and with the venue's tech crew.
Depending on the gear's flexibility, and the venue's and/or production company's rules, they may not be allowed to do more than sit beside the operator and ask nicely for certain effects or looks. Or they may be given total control and free rein to do what they like. If it's a long-running, multi-act festival, the drop-in LD may be allowed to operate, but not program; or operate and program, but not refocus any conventionals.
It all depends on the venue, the contracts, the festival scheduling, the gear available, the weather, and, sometimes, the mood of the crew, and the attitude of the visiting techs. Most visiting techs understand that it's a festival, and their band (or whatever) may not be given everything they'd want because of it; sometimes they need reminded gently that they're just one part of the show.

 

[cbrandt]

+1 for most headliners will have their own LD. Stress on most, and sometimes generous on the LD part. I had three festivals out this weekend. All required skilled and competent programmers and operators supplied by us to at the very least prep the rig and run openers. For two of those festivals, all lighting was handled by us, with no road LDs on site.

Just because a tour is carrying someone titled LD, doesn't mean that they will be able to program, call focus, or even operate their own board.

 

[JonathanHarpur]

...just because a tour is carrying someone titled LD, doesn't mean that they will be able to program, call focus, or even operate their own board.

Too true. If they even brought a board at all, and their board has all the right fixture profiles. If they came in expecting to 'briefcase' the gig only to discover the prod. supplier's board is new to them, or the software on it is unfamiliar, they may be up the creek, without a friendly console tech. (Console techs are easily bribed, usually, if your attitude is a friendly one.)