Photo: Press/Facebook
One of the most technically advanced tours of the year hit Brixton Academy in August when Childish Gambino (a.k.a Donald Glover) brought his 'Deep Web' tour to the capital. As one of our favourite live shows of 2014 (not least for the extraordinary visuals on the screens), Gigwise spoke to tour production manager Chad Taylor to give his behind-the-scenes perspective on how the show came to life.
What surprised you most about working with Donald?
Donald is a big thinker. Why wouldn’t you be - if you aren’t thinking big then why are you touring it? What surprises me though is how simple the idea is sometimes in the planning phase, often it starts with a comment in passing or something that Donald casually mentions like, “You know what would be dope here? If I disappeared...' Small ideas built the character of this tour and created fantastic production pallettes to build a script from.
How long did it take to produce the tour and was there anything in Donald’s initial script that simply was not possible?
We got a late start, I’ll admit. It took a second to get the routing in order. One thing we didn't have time to pull off by the start if the tour was holograms. We wanted to have some hologram moments to fill out the story - who knows maybe we will add them [in the future]?We’re into just doing things for the heck of it lately.
Which visual effect in Deep Web are you are most proud of?
My favorite moment in the set is “Zealots” into “Urn” and then out of that song. It was one of those ideas that we had thought up while we were touring UK/Europe in February 2014. So super late into the process and logistically a nightmare to get prepped in time for production rehearsals in LA. The moment consists of 3D mapped choreography in the mansion - at moments you feel as though your eyes are playing tricks. Also, Donald extended “Urn” and added strings from Sweden. It sounded incredible.
In your initial conversations with Donald, where any particular tours or shows that were mentioned as references?
Of course we talked about Kanye. That’s what was popping! I hadn’t seen the Yeezus tour, but I had HEARD about it from everyone. Donald had seen it. He really didn’t say much but he did say it was “an experience - you went somewhere”.
We knew we wanted to do that - we wanted to write a script. We talked about Phoenix and M83 when it came to lighting. We loved their asymmetry on the last tour for Bankrupt and the symmetry of M83’s “Hurry Up We’re Dreaming” tour - we were looking for ways to combine. We talked about Erykah Badu when it came to sound... so we hired her sound engineer.
What’s the key piece of software that makes it all possible?
I can’t tell you the “key” piece, that’s a secret - but I can tell you it lives in a road case and travels everywhere with us around the world and is labeled “Roscoes Wetsuit” . There a couple amazing vendors that totally helped us out. LMG provided us with fantastic lighting/video equipment and techs to help maintain it the whole tour. Moment Factory out of Montreal worked the content and concept with us. Ai in London helped facilitate the video servers and techs for the projection.
What was the hardest aspect of the tour to get right?
Everything works if you do your homework. Advancing this tour, working out the details with each promoter and production manager for each specific show, that's the hardest aspect to get right. Leaving ourselves time to adapt to each venue was how we made this work. The show always looked great no matter where we were.
Before Donald came on stage audience members could post comments on a bid screen. What’s the funniest message that has appeared on screen you've seen?
“Meet me in the bathroom, I’m selling weed!”
What’s been the most spectacular tour by a musician you’ve ever seen that you haven’t worked on?
I was super impressed by Beyonce’s 'Single Ladies' tour.
Can you see apps increasingly becoming part of the live gig experience – what do you think of the Lil Wayne/Drake Capcom one for instance?
It will definitely exist in the live space for a while, until the digital backlash occurs. I haven’t had time to use the Lil Wayne app but I am sure with all the money they have for development… it is great. Those guys are rich.
What are you personally working on next?
Donald, Fam [Rothstein] and I are who concerted out this tour. The three of us have started a company called “Wolf & Rothstein” - We will be working on building that out over the next year. This company will serve as the creative machine behind whoever we decide to work with!
And who would that be?
I would love to work on Lorde.
Donald Glover's album Because The Internet (Island/Glassnote) is out now.
