Behind the scenes of Incubus’ O2 arena show
Incubus’ Arena Tour Photo Credit: Joseph Okpako
Taking it back to the early 2000s, alternative rock band Incubus graced arena stages for the first time in the UK in over a decade. Staging the band’s first ever O2 arena show was a tight-knit crew, which included three members of the same family along for the ride. From Persian rugs to lasers, the Incubus show had it all…
Production Manager, Eddie Kercher caught up with TPi on a break during the tour, while driving to go fishing with Lighting Designer, Graham Rolak, to discuss his longevity with the touring outfit after being a part of the Incubus crew for 25 years. “I’ve been touring for 48 years, and I think it is the fishing that has extended my life,” Kercher laughed. “Coming back to the Incubus camp has been refreshing; it is like being with family – especially because we’ve had the same crew for so long.”
But the Incubus crew isn’t just a found or chosen family, with Kercher’s children, Myah and Zephyn, both taking up roles on the tour – Myah overseeing logistics and production, and Zephyn supervising the tour’s video elements.
“The reason I’ve stayed with the band so long is that they are a democracy, and that makes a difference in how a tour operates, plus being with my family and the same crew every day makes it so much easier when you’ve been on the road as long as I have.”
Running a tight ship, Kercher brought along Entec as a supplier for the lighting and rigging elements, as well as Clair Global for audio, Creative Technology and Screenworks for video, Strictly FX for special effects and All Access for staging. “We were first introduced to Eddie and Graham through our colleagues at PGP, Nashville. Entec and PGP have a great relationship, supporting each other’s projects across various continents,” Noreen O’Riordan, Managing Director/Head of Lighting at Entec commented. “Working closely with Anthony ‘Geddy’ Kordyjaka, our prep team ensured the design’s global consistency. The touring crew’s finishing touches led to a successful production day at The O2 arena. The shows went very well, and we look forward to welcoming Incubus, Eddie, Graham, and their talented touring team back soon so that more people can see and hear a great production.”
Transam Trucking provided seven trucks for the tour. “As always, it was a pleasure to work with Eddie and his team who have been supporting and been part of the Transam family since the 1980s,” stated Natasha Highcroft, commenting on the company’s involvement. “Having worked with Incubus for many years, it was great to see the band selling out these big shows over in UK and Europe with such a great album. Hopefully it means they will be back again for more soon!”
Loyal to his suppliers, Kercher praised them all for the hard work that had gone into supplying the one-off UK show. “It is the relationships I have forged with the people behind these companies that are most important to me both in my personal and professional life,” Kercher said.
“I am true blue to all of our vendors; I am old school, and I don’t like to pit people against each other – I don’t like to work for free, so I don’t expect my vendors to either.”
Beginning with the band just before the original release of Morning View, the Production Manager reflects on how the industry has changed in that time: “The technology, for one, has got 1,000 times better. I’m biased, but despite having seven trucks, the show looks like it has 12,” Kercher said. “It feels full circle to be doing this tour with the band now, and this is more than a job to me. I could retire and not work another day in my life if I wanted, but I enjoy it too much to let it go.”
Touring for nearly half a century, life on the road is second nature to Kercher. “There are no limitations to this line of work,” he enthused, offering up advice to aspiring roadies. “If you want to be great, it is all truly what you’re willing to put into it… Oh, and pick up fishing.”
The first port of call on a show day in a new venue is Stage Manager, Dan Monsees, who oversees the seven trucks of production for the tour, but for Monsees, setting up the Morning View tour at the O2 arena was a ‘piece of cake’. “It’s an easy-breezy arena to work in. The staff are very accommodating, and the venue has every amenity you could need,” he said.
Taking a couple of hours to unload the kit into the venues on the tour, Monsees told TPi that his load-out process takes him longer than loading into a venue, due to carefully organising the trucks in a particular order.
“At this point, the show is really dialled in,” Monsees concluded. “It’s a beautiful production all around, from the lighting andvideo content to the onstage riser configuration – it really is the culmination of hard work from a dedicated crew that love what they do and a group of talented veteran musicians. I always love to see that first interaction between the band and the crowd when they first walk out. The entire crew puts in a tremendous amount of effort over long days and to hear that excited roar when the lights go down and the band steps onto the stage reminds me why I do this job. It doesn’t get old for me,” Monsees concluded.
Incubus’ Arena Tour Photo Credit: Joseph Okpako
AQUEOUS TRANSMISSION
Lighting Designer, Graham Rolak – who also took care of the video content on the run – focussed the show on the original Morning View aesthetic. He worked alongside frontman Brandon Boyd to f inalise the creative for the tour. “I tend to create concepts and build the whole thing in my brain, and then I’m able to show Brandon what I have come up with,” Rolak began. “This past couple of years have been free-flow for us, and in my eight years of working with Incubus I have only ever had to change two or three things.”
Including fishing with Kercher, Rolak often spends his spare time designing stages and pulling reference from his everyday life, he elaborated: “I’m a city guy so I often use a lot of references from differing architecture and museums, for this particular run I looked at the staging concepts from the original Morning View tour and was able to build the rig from that.” Included on his rig were 36 Ayrton Eurus, eight GLP impression X4 Bar 20, 33 JDC1, 13 Martin Professional MAC Aura PXL, 32 Robe MegaPointe, six Robe BMFL WashBeam, and nine Elation CUEPIX Blinder WW4 lighting solutions – all controlled by an MA Lighting grandMA3 console in MA3 mode. Rolak doesn’t just control the fixtures from the MA Lighting console, but also his curated video content, using Resolume media servers.
Talking TPi through his favourite looks on the tour, Rolak was eager to inform that the show wasn’t timecoded in any way, and that the design varied night by night to keep the show fresher for returning fans.
“It makes it more fun to not do timecode, the band aren’t on it, so I didn’t want to be either. I think not using it leads to more mistakes,” Rolak said, further explaining his reasoning. “There is something organic about running the show live, this way happy accidents happen, and I can make something more of it later.”
Busking the show and looking after the video content is no easy feat for Rolak, but for him, it is what makes the show most fun. “I like to keep it fun, and making sure every show is different, even if only slightly, keeps it fresh,” Rolak added.
Kercher praised the lighting design, noting the designer’s strategic rig and how big the show felt with a clever rigging pattern. “Graham really does a lot with the lights alongside Nick, our Laser Operator,” he said. “The show feels much bigger because of how it is designed.”
Growing up listening to Morning View on his way to school, Rolak reflected on how it is to be involved in the anniversary tour and to work with Entec: “It’s so fun having this piece of history, where I remember driving to school listening to this album in its entirety and now getting to listen to it start to finish every night we do a show. I’ve been working with Entec since 2017; they are just so easy to work with – Noreen will do anything for us, and Patch is an amazing person to work with. They have great gear and provide wonderful staff for the road. I do this role to be a part of cultivating joy,” he continued.
“People work so hard, save up money and set aside time to come see a show. I maintain that the most important part of my job is to make sure the crowd leave having had a good time, then I will enjoy this job for a long time and feel very happy about what I am designing.”
Incubus’ Arena Tour Photo Credit: Joseph Okpako
