April 28, 2021 • 52 mins
It's impossible to do a show about the biggest tours in the world without talking to the people who design them, who bring the entire experience to life. Leroy Bennet is the production and lighting designer for most of the biggest names in music. Spending 15yrs with PRINCE, he also become a close friend. Nothing is off limits in this interview — Roy gets candid about the early days and the bootcamp production atmosphere, the backstory behind designing some of the most edgy live performances, the Purple Rain phenomenon, Prince’s untimely but eerily predicted death and downtime at Paisley Park with the “off stage” Prince. We wrap with some amazing stories about the Rammstein and how they pull off the massive pyro shows, we get a peak into the world of Lady Gaga and talk about some of Roy’s most cringeworthy production moments and how to get through them.
To learn more about Leroy and to check out all the amazing shows he’s designed for the biggest names in music, go to his website: http://www.leroybennett.com
For behind the scenes photos from these interviews and to send us questions for the Aftershow, join us on social media at: @OnTourPod on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
On Tour is a production of Black Barrel Media and iHeartRadio, for more information about On Tour please visit our website at: BlackBarrelMedia.com
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
On tour as the production of I Heart Radio and
Black Barrel Media. I'm your host, Brian ray On. This
show will take you behind the scenes the music business
to give you the most raw and real tales you've
likely never heard before. We'll share our wildest, most unbelievable,
and yes, most embarrassing moments while on tour from the
Grammys to Coachella to award shows, from Beyonce to Bruno Mars,
(00:36):
from Maroon Five to Arian and Grande. Chances are you've
seen a show Lee Roy has designed. We can never
cover all the megastars and tours Lee Roy has brought
to life, So in this conversation we dive into one
of the most mysterious, most talented performers our world has
ever known and when we lost far too soon, Prince.
(00:57):
We'll talk about Prince's boot camp productions, style, the man
he was off stage, the Purple Rain phenomena, in his
eerie prediction of his own death. If that's not enough,
we throw in a few great stories from LeRoy's days
producing towards the Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, and Romstein. Here's
my conversation with leebro Roy Bennett welcome, Leroy. It's so
(01:31):
good to be with you today. You've been a production
and lighting designer for the biggest tours, of the biggest
acts in the whole world since your career began. You
literally started at the top working with Prince. Somehow you've
managed to keep it going up and up ever since.
Let's start off today with talking about our connection. People
out there may or may not know that you and
(01:53):
I both work with Paul McCartney and have for eighteen years.
What are your first memories of the beginning of that
tour back in two thousand two together. Um, it was
pretty magical time, and it was obviously my first time
working with Paul, which is you know, all beat all
that's a big that's a that's a big step and
(02:13):
quite an experience in itself. I just remember the whole
vibe of the tour was I guess as we called
it was the Summer of Love. It was just a
really interesting meeting of really amazing people. I remember the
first show was probably the most impressive thing to me
because I forget what I did. You know, It's like
because you're so focused on work and you forget who
(02:35):
he is, and so the first day the first night
of the tour in San Francisco. As soon as the
show started, it's like I look up at the stage
and go, oh my god, it's that guy. Hilarious, But
it was just also it was just an incredible experience
looking around me and seeing people in the audience crying
because they were so emotionally moved and everything. So that
(02:58):
was it was just an amazing time. A lot of
people probably don't know that your job being production and
lighting design, it's sort of like the director of a
film like a Scorsese. Mostly the buck stops with you
with the whole experience visually in a big concert, So
(03:18):
it's a it's quite an important role that a lot
of people really haven't heard much about. And it's just
great to be able to sit down with you and
hear from where you grab your inspiration. I know you're
into art and your way into fashion, and you're the
one guy on tour is always dressed like amazing, Like
I don't know where you come up with it. Every
day of the tour we always gone on a new outfit.
(03:41):
You could be out for two months, you'll never see
the same thing twice. Meanwhile, I'm in all black. Okay,
it's it's not the worst job in the world, but
I am in all black. Uh, let's jump over to prints.
It's impossible to know even where to begin. If I
have the timeline correct. You define overnight success in that
you went straight from high school into lighting tech for
(04:02):
rock and roll tours, and in seventies seven and seventy
eight you learned the ropes. How did you first meet
Prince Um I was working for a lighting company. Was
a British lighting company, was based here in l A.
I did a couple of tours with him, and the
director of the company took me out to dinner one
night and he said, you know, I have a feeling
that you want to be more than a technician. And
(04:23):
I said yeah. He goes, okay, Well, the next client
that comes through that doesn't have a lighting designer and director,
I'm gonna put your name for it. Said this is awesome. Great, yeah, absolutely.
So he calls me about a month or two later.
I can't remember exactly how long that period of time was,
but uh, he says, I got a client for you
and his name is Prince. I said, okay, cool. So
this was like late seventy nine, early eighties, and I said,
(04:47):
I'm up for it. I didn't know who he was,
did a little bit of homework. I thought he was
really interesting. Um. I flew out to l A because
I was living in Rhode Island at the time. I
met with he and his manager, Steve Farnoli. Yes, I
was a part of that scene too, I'm sure, um,
(05:10):
And so I got along with him. I got hired,
and the next thing I know, I'm in Minneapolis a
month or two later and rehearsals with Prince. And it
was probably the most unreal experience I've ever had in
my life. It was the hardest five days I have
ever spent. It was hell. Really tell us about that.
(05:33):
It was living out I knew I well. First of all,
how I got the job was pretty funny, I mean,
and I didn't find out, thank god, until later on.
The director Bruno Gath, who the director of the company,
had spoken to Stephen Farnoli, the manager, and told him
that I had done all these other projects that I
(05:54):
had never done. So they hired me on the basis
that I was an experience decide. Oh my god, I
love this, but um no, I knew I could do it.
I mean, I learned early on, when I was younger
that I did not want to be on stage. My
parents or in the musical theater. My mom was an
opera singer. Both my sisters can play instruments and sing
(06:15):
and perform and stuff. I have major stage fright and
didn't want to get on stage. So what I learned
I could perform through running lights, kind of enhancing the
music in a visual way. So anyway, getting back to Prince,
I wasn't rehearsal for five days every day. I mean
he was brutal, He's ruthless. Uh, he was the king
(06:40):
of public humiliation. So thank god. I mean, it was
just you know, the band was there, who were amazing
group of people. It wasn't the Revolution at the time,
but turned into the Revolution. And Bobby Zither drummer, came
up to me after about the third day, gave me
a big hug and he said, don't worry, he said,
(07:01):
every one of us goes through there. She's doing a
great job. He's just putting it through the paces. And
it really was what he was doing. He was just
seeing where my breaking point was and what I would
do and what I wouldn't do. Yeah, he was asking
me to do all sorts of stuff that he didn't
even know what he was asking me just to do it. Uh.
I'd go back to my room and cry, like every night,
(07:24):
just like I couldn't believe what was going on. I
mean I never did that in front of him, but
it was just like I couldn't believe what I was
going through. It was hell, and it was It's like
every morning to wake up and I have to go
back to the rehearsals and was like, oh what am
I doing? Um? He really he was one of these
people that I could see beyond what you thought you
(07:47):
could do. He would push you a way outside your
comfort zone. But he did that to himself all the
time too. So it was I went to the ultimate
boot camp of rock and roll. I was just gonna
it sounds like a boot camp. What sort of things
was he asking you to do that were so difficult?
First of all, he expected me to know every single
(08:10):
song he'd ever written, every song immediately I had to.
And unfortunately for me, I could hear a song and
I remember at one time, and I'm cool with it.
I can do what I have to do as far
as running the lights and understanding and hitting the cue
is exactly what they need to do one time through.
But that wasn't the case with me. I didn't I
(08:30):
had to know everything, even probably the songs he's never
written before. He just funked with me to see how
far he could push me and and try to break me.
And he saw that I would do I would do
whatever he asked me to do. I mean he would
ask me to focus a light a certain way. He
didn't know what he was asking me. He would just
say do that, and so I get up on the
(08:52):
ladder and do it. And not that it made a
difference what I was doing, It's just he wanted to
see I was doing it right. And then I was
focused and I was in tune. And then after those
five days, he saw that I was totally dedicated to
what I was doing for him. And I guess that
It's fairly well known that he had a tough relationship
(09:12):
with his father, and at some point where You're going like,
this isn't personal, this is just who he is, and
I'm the recipient of this tough love that he got. Yeah,
I mean it was definitely it was negative reinforcement. Oh yeah,
she's I don't know how you did it. Were there
any points there in that first five days you said
(09:33):
you would go back to your hotel room crying. Did
you ever feel like, Man, I'm packing it in, I'm
out of here. I can't do this for anybody. A
very brief moment, but I said, no way, I'm not
giving this up. This is my opportunity. I was given this,
This is a gift I was given and I'm going
to go for it. After five days, Stephen finally showed
up and I told Prince to back off what you did,
(09:57):
and then he started to see what I was doing.
And then and after that point it was all smooth sailing.
He and I became basically creative partners in his life branding,
you know, in all the live shows. It was the
Dirty Mind Tour, and it was kind of unfortunately ill
fated because he wasn't really known at that time, and
(10:20):
also the fact that it was very hard for the
the public to accept a little skinny black guy and
leg warmers, bikini briefs and the trench coat. Yeah, attends
to sort of confuse people a little bit. So we
(10:42):
were playing theater, so we're like holding two thousand people. Um,
maybe two hundred people would show up at night. So
after about three weeks we shut the tour down. But
at that point he told Stephen, he says, he says,
I never wanted to do another thing without Roy ever
had he done that without you? You mean no, It's
(11:05):
just like that was me establishing a relationship. Whe He
just said that he never wanted to do another tour
without me. He didn't want to do anything. No, he
never wanted to perform without me. And that was pretty
much the way it was for fourteen years. Amazing. You know,
I did all the live performance stuff and Purple Rain movie.
He got me involved with all this television performances and
(11:25):
the thing with Prince. And this is what I learned,
beyond all the other stuff. I learned how to focus
and listen and filter. And that's how I've been able
to deal with all the artists over the years. Is
that he spoke a language that it was weird. I mean,
it wasn't. He did not speak normal. Um, you didn't
have a normal conversation with him. It was very abstract.
(11:49):
A lot of times he didn't even He and I
never talked, but I just I knew what was going on.
In this had we were very much the same in
a lot of ways, so how we viewed what we
were doing. He was he definitely the ultimate rock star.
I mean he had it down to a t. He
understood everything about what it took to be a rock star,
(12:11):
how to you know, live like a rock star. I
mean he dressed what you saw was him that he
didn't go around and like sweatpants and you know, it
was what you got all the time. He understood also
not to give yourself away in the media. It's a
natural thing for people to have what they can't you know,
they always want what they can't have. That's right. This
(12:32):
is in the years way before social media, where now
it's like, you know, looking for a sip from a
fire hose. It's all the time, everybody's helping your grill.
But it's interesting to me that, um, you know, I
I got to uh, I met Prince a long long
time ago because I was with Cavalla Ruffalo. I remember
going to a seven eleven in the valley and here's
(12:54):
this guy in a black leather trench coat and I
turned around and it was Prince and he got into
a color vet and sped off and around that same time,
I was opening for The Rolling Stones with Hedda James
and Prince was on the bill, and I remember he
was dressed as you just described. I think he was
wearing like five high heels and a leather bikini briefs
(13:20):
like a thong, and a trench coat which came off
early in the show. And unfortunately, the audience there was
just you know, they were there to see hockey talk
woman and they weren't really they couldn't understand it, and
he got booed. Do you remember Prince talking about that?
Did he sound like I was there shocked? Yeh. And
(13:44):
it was the first time that he had ever experienced
the negative reaction. Um, oh, it was horrible. It was
basically at that time of stoness, audience was pretty much
a bunch of bikers. Yeah, and the last thing they
want to do is a see you know, a little
(14:04):
skinny black guy that with a high, high voice and
leg warmers and bikini brief and high heels in a
trench coat. You know. It's they couldn't tell if he
was gay or straight. He was just he was scary
and that was the problem. They anytime somebody reacts like that,
it's because they're scared, they feel threatened, they don't understand
(14:27):
what it is, so they fight against it, you know.
That's yeah, that's interesting. You and I were both there,
and I could only imagine that he thought that this
was going to be amazing, that he was going to
take the world by storm, which he of course later did.
But it must have been an incredible adjustment for him,
so self assured to then go on stage with what
(14:51):
he thought was a great outfit and people are now
throwing things and booing him off stage. It just must
have been really hard. And did you sort of um
come to his side and sort of comfort him in
that moment? And that and is that one of the
reasons why he trusted you to stay with him for
all those years that followed. Well, I mean he and
(15:11):
I had a very close relationship prior to that, so yeah,
I mean I stood by him the whole time he
I mean, after that happened, and obviously cut the set
short and he walked off the stage, got into limo,
went to the airport, got the jet, flew home, And
it took a lot to get him back. It took
MC call on him, it took Bill Graham, everybody just
(15:35):
to get him back. And it finally came back to
finally the second weekend, as you know, and and it
happened again but before but I mean, he stuck it
out as long as he could. But before he went out.
Do you remember hearing Bill Graham screen basically cuss out
the audience. Yeah, I do remember that. You know, he
basically Bill Graham just told him, he said, you guys
(15:56):
are embarrassing me, or you just you're an embarrassment. He says,
you're going to be spent a lot of money to
come see this guy in the future. And of course
a few years later, and look what happened. Absolutely so
along those lines, he became a megastar right in front
of your eyes. Like he always had the vision, he
always had this incredible creative force. But did he change
(16:18):
much as a person or was it more like he
always he just fulfilled what he always suspected. He was
a megastar. Um it all changed on Purple Rain. Leading
up to that, through controversy, we had a pretty steady
momentum of growing, you know, moving up, you know, and
(16:43):
the increments were not huge, but they were they were
steady and quite good steps. But Purple Rain was just
into the you know, the stratosphere at that point. Yeah,
we're you know, we'd load into a city and sometimes
play up to two weeks and one as it definitely
took its toll on him. It was like, be careful
(17:06):
what you wish for syndrome. Definitely, um, it definitely started
the beginning of the isolation, you know. Going back to
that Stones and said it definitely was the turning point.
And how he dressed too, he changed this. I mean
that was probably the last time he ever wore like
Wannerman in bikini brief but they had an effect on him,
(17:29):
so it was but his at that point. It just
as things kept getting more and more, as it became
bigger and bigger, it put more pressure on him, like
it does any artists. More people expect how do you do?
More of the pressure is and he purple rain definitely
I think put him over the edge at that point.
(17:51):
Did you start receding from after show gatherings and was
just a little less visible? Were or every single night
we'd always go up because we filmed every show, so
we'd go to his suite and it would be myself
in the band sitting there with him watching the videotape
were basically reliving the show again right after the show. Unbearable. Yeah,
(18:18):
that's a tough one right there. So would he have
notes for everybody every night after every show? I mean
it was instead of partying, then this was like, well
there was Yeah, that was his version of party. Wow.
I mean it was we reviewed perfect, which you did,
by the way. I mean, there's there's a reason why
you would land in a city and stay there for
(18:40):
two weeks is because it was bloody perfect and it
was amazing, and it changed a lot of people's definition
of what I h a live entertainment show should be.
(19:04):
I was wondering, you were just talking about tour and
he had that great bed that went up into the
into the air from the stage where he stimulated having sex.
How much of that idea was his and how much
was yours? Too? Well, it was both of ours. I mean,
he wanted a bed. The whole set was all Venetian blinds.
(19:26):
And the reason why I chose to use Venetian blinds
is that, particularly during the eighties, it was what was
it American giggilo or something like that, you know, it
was we always associate Venetian blinds with a bedroom and
then all that. So it was a very sexual thing
(19:47):
that everyone had an inner video Baker Street, everyone had
Venetian blinds. It was the you know, it was the
very suggestive texture of the month or year I guess,
so the decade or whatever at that point the decades,
so I mean, yeah, was this bed rose up in
front of the uh, the Venetian blinds and he performed
his a little sex actor. What was funny because I
(20:07):
was talking about this the other day to one of
his costume designers, and the way his pants were they
were it was a diagonal flap that he buttoned up
and he would undo the flap so they would flop down,
so he would think when you saw it in silhouette,
it looked looked like his dick was hanging out, but
it was obvious it was just flap of his pants,
(20:30):
and it was just one of these things. He was
very He just knew how to take it right to
the edge and get people's heads in that space where
they thought, WHOA, he's actually doing that, and in fact, no, Wow,
that was a mind blower. And I remember the reviews.
Friends of mine going to see that show and they
(20:51):
just were blown away and his energy was just off
the charts. But tell us about that, Uh, the infamous
bat tub. Oh my god, Well, we had one made
and the idea was instead getting on a bed and
performing sex, he was going to get in the tub
and take a shower. And so before the shower head
(21:12):
was put up, the tub was sat on a base
that it was clamped down to. Basically, they took these
aircraft pins with just their quick release pins that secured
it to this base, and he rehearsed because we didn't
have the shower head ready, so he would be getting
into the tub where the faucets would be, the flat
vertical side of it. And I went up to him
(21:35):
and I said, look, Prince, you're sitting at the wrong
end of the tub. To the end that you want
to sit at is where it leans back and the
vertical parts where the shower head is going to be.
He said, okay, okay. What I didn't know just after
I told him is what happened after they did the
tub scene. This lift would track up and down stage
(21:56):
the center of the stage. It would bring up piano
up After that, I didn't realize that he told the
carpenters not to pin the tub onto the base because
it was taking too much time to get the tub
off and get the piano on and come up what
it needed to. Oh he went around you. Yeah, okay,
so what happened? So get to that whole point in
(22:17):
the song and he gets in the tub, does exactly
what I told him, sits down, leans up against the
part that leans back. Of course, the tub, not being
pinned down, just kept going. So as he leaned back,
the tapoant right over and I was like, oh god,
my heart was in my throat at that time, and thought,
funk what happened to him? And fortunately what was happening.
(22:39):
It was six ft up in the air off the
deck of the stage, but that next song had these
panels that pulled out from underneath the keyboard rises which
either side of where this lift was. So in fact,
he really fell four ft enough to shake him up,
and he was kissed off, you know, he just and
I thought he got serious, you know, I started go
(23:02):
over and disappear, and I thought, oh god, you know
he's hit the We've seen that happen before. I know, no,
go ahead, so hey, you know she happens in rehearsals
by the tricks pay the price. So it happened anyway.
So he got up. He was fine. He just shook
(23:23):
up and gout in his car, peeled out, flew out
of the place. We never saw him again. So the
lyrics to when when Doves Cry goes it became carpenters
strike curious poses. This is what it sounds like when
tubs fly. So that was excellent. That was the theme
song to the tour. Amazing. So did the tubs stay
(23:46):
in after that? Oh? Absolutely? Yeah. Did he admit to
the fact that he had gone around you and no, no,
it was your fault. Yeah, no, it wasn't. No, he
would never do that to me. Oh that's good. No,
I was fortunate to the first five days. I never
got shipped again ever, ever, ever, ever, I was. I
(24:06):
was absolved to all of that stuff. I was. I
was fine. I mean, he was just mad at the
world and mad at everything, but not at you, particularly.
Now he knew it was his fault. He had never apologized,
so I knew when he was apologizing, it was just
not in a very apologetic Why you just take what
you can get because it isn't gonna be one of
the world's best apologies. What did you ever consider how
(24:28):
that was going to play in the Midwest? The bed
or the bathtub? I didn't care. I mean, we're I
knew we were always out there pushing the edge of morality,
you know, in particularly at that time. It I have
no problem with making people uncomfortable, you know, making them think,
make them, you know, taking people outside their comfort zone,
(24:52):
because it's you know, you're taking people on a journey
and you're making you're educating people, You're you're healing people,
You're do doing all these things. So it's all part
of the you know, part of the job, part of
the show businesses. It's almost like a couple of hours
of psychotherapy. It is pushing boundaries and you're not doing
it right if you're not pushing boundaries. Oh, absolutely, Yeah.
(25:15):
So Prince was rumored to be sort of a next
level perfectionists as we were talking about him now, and
I've heard that sound checks could last for hours. You'd
rehearse and then he'd still want to change things. And
I heard he had hands signals to change things on
stage during the show, sort of like James Brown used
to do. How difficult was it to follow his hand signs?
(25:36):
On stage. Well, I mean I was. I was the
sixth member of the band and so well it would
have been the seventh if you include him, but it was.
I was expected to do my job exactly as a
band member would do. I had to watch everything. Everything
(25:57):
had to be right on all the time, every hit it.
So he had hand signals that he would do, uh
you know, whether it was if it was for horn
hits or turn around or there was all sorts of
stuff down yeah, yeah, And so I would have to
(26:17):
watch him. I didn't take my eye off the ball
basically ever, because whatever he was showing tell the band do.
I had to do the same thing with lighting. And
every once in a while he would play with me
and just turn around and give them the signal where
I couldn't. So his back was to me and he
(26:38):
would not let show me what it was. So I
had to be on it. I knew what he was doing,
and so I had to I'd have to catch the
first note. I mean, as soon as the first squeak
of anything. I knew what it was, and I have
to follow suit because otherwise you would just turn around
laugh at me. I wouldn't be obvious to anybody, but
I know he'd have a big grin on his face
(26:59):
he got you. Oh yeah, I was like, what would
happen if someone missed one of these crazy hands that
go well? I mean it was and it was not
just musicality. It was are you paying attention? Sure? And
if you missed the next thing you hair over the
mic is fifty bucks? You would say that fifty bucks?
(27:21):
Oh yeah. He was full on James Brown with with
that kind of that level of perfectionism and that kind
of demanding nature. Did people get burned out and just
walk away? Either you could hang or you couldn't. And
he was fine with that. I mean, he didn't want
anybody that couldn't keep up with him. I mean, fortunate
(27:42):
for me. He didn't understand my job. He didn't understand
how I did it, but he knew I delivered. Yeah,
it took a lot to you know, to get that trust.
I wouldn't have wanted to been the musician because he
could play everything better than anybody. So it's true. It
was like, and he could play the guitar, get get
(28:05):
the drum machine going, get to play guitar and play
the keyboards at the same time. Yeah, and and you
know it's it's crazy, but I mean he would do
that in sound check and sing and keyboards playing bass.
He could play everything, really what he would do the
guitar and the keyboard at the same time, and we
play the keyboard upside down, basically he being on the
(28:26):
back side of the keyboard playing in reverse while he's
playing guitar with the other hand. Yeah, he's a savant. Yeah, really,
it was like from another planet. So you talked about
being really close with him through all those years. Um,
I can imagine that there was a lot of time
downtime at Paisley Park just hanging out. Did you ever
see another side of him that was warmer and or
(28:50):
was he always on, always being prints When it was
just he and I, he was different. I used to
go hang out with you. Just call me up and
just want to hang out with me, And so we'd
sit and just talk about stuff in this house. We
talked about music or a little bit about fashion. It
was one time we sat and watched a race it
head not consecutively, but about four times, I think three
(29:14):
or four times. I don't think he could wrap his
head around it, but it was making it was enough.
It was obviously a very disturbing movie to watch because
it was so weird. It was just nothing but a drone,
and you know, it's just a very bizarre film. But
it was funny because we'd sit and watch it over
and over again. I think he was just trying to
figure out what it was that was so intriguing about it.
(29:38):
But well, I go over there and I ended up
making him a lemon cake one time, and it became
one of these things where, I mean, he liked it
so much that he'd called me up and he'd make
me come over and make a lemon cake for him.
All the time before he'd spent a night up being
up all night recording and that's what he ate, basically
(29:59):
was a sugar high to keep them going all night long. Uh.
There was one time, just before I Love Sexy, I
was using this one particular moving light company that basically
they said they had issues prior to that, they said
they had resolved them all, and we got into rehearsals
and there was this problems and I had to get
(30:19):
rid of them, and three days before they end of
rehearsals and had to call very lights in the company
that had used prior to that, and so which meant
that I was up for three days straight reprogramming the
whole show to a whole different kind of lighting for me.
So he felt horrible. He just felt so bad for
me that he would come in the middle of the
(30:40):
night and bring grocery bags full of snacks for myself
and for Macmosher, who was my program at the time,
just to make sure all right. I mean, if he
had a really sweet side to it's amazing. So I
guess that's an aspect of Prince that people wouldn't guess
and wouldn't know. That's this love. Yeah. There were times
where after he would do sound Chat and he would
(31:03):
come out to the front of the house lighting console
and just hang out with because he didn't want to
hang out with anybody else. He just like because he
thought we were funny, because we had always joking around,
having a good time and stuff like that, and he
liked that, and he liked the fact that you know,
I and my team got you know, we did everything
we were supposed to do for him. We were on
the case all the time, but we could also have
(31:24):
a good time doing it. So he just get away.
It was like getting away from everything for a bit
and just being able to just relax and be himself. Yeah. Sure,
getting off stage for a second, hanging out with you guys.
What was the beginning of the end for you guys
working together? Was there an event or a problem or
did well? It was not him, it was it was
(31:46):
not Prince. What happened was once he and Stephen farn
only parted ways, it was the beginning of this revolving
door of all sorts of people, lawyers, businessman, managers, managers, anybody,
everybody trying to, you know, save the world of Prince.
They all thought they could do it, you know, they
(32:07):
could make him not spend so much money. And it's
and it was like and of course I was the
I was the first one in the line that they
attacked because everything I did was everything you did was expensive.
So you gotta get rid of Roy. They tried, and
he'd even make me talk to them. He didn't want
(32:28):
to talk to them, so I have to explain stuff
to him, and and I said to him, look, you know,
it's if he wants something, it's gonna happen. There's no
no or it's too expensive. He didn't want to know
about money, because I said, if you said it was
too expensive or involved money, he would he'd have your head,
(32:50):
you know, just just do it, you know. And I
always did what I had to do, and I delivered
what I had to deliver when he wanted it. So
it was that, and then eventually it got I dealt
with it. I mean, he even told me at one
point when he got some new business manager that he
didn't want to speak to them. He said, just you
(33:12):
go talk to them and tell them how we do things.
And I said, no, I said this, that's not what
my job is, you know. Hell, but You've got to
talk to them, not me. And so eventually it got
to this point because stepping back, but he basically had
first read of refusal all the time for those fourteen years. Um.
(33:34):
But I'd also go off and do with different projects,
and it was very hard for him to accept it
first because he was very possessive things that he really
liked and loved and it was his his thing. Um.
I explained to him that if I went off and
worked with other people, I could develop things, I learned things,
and I'd bring it back and it would make our
(33:56):
world better. You know. I just had to keep growing
better for us if I did. You know, he kind
of got over it and it was fine. But what
would happen during this period when this all these people
are constantly changing. I'd have to come back and there'd
be a whole bunch of new people there all the time,
and I have to explain myself to him. As I
was saying, but there was also a whole new regime
(34:17):
of bodyguards. You know. It's just we were doing a
simulcast in it was clam Slam, it was first birthday.
It was the three clubs, one in Miami, the Los
Angeles Club, and the one in Minneapolis. And we were
in Miami performing. After the whole thing happened, I was
sitting in the hallway after and the bodyguards came up
to me started pushing me around, saying I couldn't sit there,
(34:39):
It couldn't be in the hallway. And it was, like
I thought, I said to him, look, I said. I
started to explain who I am, what I did, and
they didn't care. They you know, they just thought I
was full of ship. And I thought, you know what,
if it's come to this, I'm done. So I went
(35:00):
it outside because they threw me out of the building
and he came out and he you know, he's just
said his c l A. And I said, no, you won't.
I said, I'm done. I said, I kind of went
off about the body guards, and I said, you know what,
these guys, if you want to know why I'm not
(35:20):
going to show up again, talk to them. I said,
they completely screwed up here. So I can't take this anymore.
I'm done. You know, I don't want to have to
explain myself while So that was it. Yeah, wow, Well
what a what a long, great time with him. When
when you when you learned that he had passed away,
(35:40):
did you do you remember where you were and how
that hit you. It must have been a shock, as
it was for everybody. I couldn't be further away. I
was in Taipei at the time, right. Were there signs
leading up to it? Did you feel like, if this
guy keeps going, you know, there's no way this is
going to end? Well, well, it's kind of an involved story.
(36:01):
I mean, he when we were younger, in our twenties,
I mean he told me he wasn't going to live
beyond thirty eight, and he had also told the same
thing to the you know, Bobby's and the other guys
and girls in the band. I mean, he had to
have that conversation. He had this kind of fixation of
(36:23):
dying young and beautiful. You know, he was fixated on
Hendrix and Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison and all that stuff.
He it was something about that whole the romantic young
death side of things that he was fascinated by. Obviously,
he he lived by his cell di cell by date
(36:46):
by twenty years according to what he was looking to do.
Fortunately for us um but it, I mean it didn't
surprise me. I felt helpless being so far away. I
couldn't do anything. Did you see signs? Was he, you know,
(37:08):
receding into opiates and stuff like that or was that
a surprise to you? Oh? You know, he as clean
as everybody. You know, he portrayed himself to be. He
dabbled in drugs. He had this hip operation and then
of course got hooked on what they gave him for
pain killers, and of course when they cut him off,
(37:30):
he wanted to keep going. That's as it is with
everybody else, the same story, same inner city man. You know,
it's it's a big problem, and that's what happened, you know,
his last few months. It was definitely the beginning of
the end. And you know, we can all have our
theories and stuff, but knowing him the way he was
(37:52):
that you know, he was very sexual, um, very driven
musically from what I heard that, you know, the last
few days he gonnat know where he told, but he
said his hands hurt. He says, my hands hurt. You know,
he lost a lot of weight, you know, doing the
(38:13):
drugs that he was doing was making him constipated, and
of course then he had to take all the laxatives.
Obviously had this affected his sexual side. So he was
just like no everything, that was it now. You know,
I can't say it was intentional. I don't know. It
could have been that he just, um, I'm finished here,
(38:36):
I've done everything. Yeah. I mean Prince was a meteor,
you know, And it's almost like some of these artists
are meant to burn hot and they're not meant to
last forever. And he was a guy who if he
couldn't be Prince the Magnificent, you know, the hot burning star,
if he was compromised due to his opioids, in his
(38:59):
pain and his hip and his knees, and stuff like that.
You know, maybe he just felt like, I don't want
to be here if I can't be the prince that
everyone expects me to be. Yeah, well it was I
mean I was. I was really lucky that I did
get to see him. The last time I saw him
was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction
ceremonies when he was inducted. And also he played that
(39:21):
the infamous guitar solo. Oh yeah, and while my guitar
gently weeps, Yeah it was. I was the production designer
for the show. So we sat. I was lucky because
we sat for about an hour an hour and a
half in the ballroom just by ourselves and when afre
rehearsals and everything, just hanging out and talking and reminiscing,
(39:42):
and because we hadn't seen each other and spoken to
each other, spoken to each other for numerous years, and
you know, it was great because we finally got to
express how, you know, the love for each other. And
I mean we had said that year's you know, in
decades before were but it was just we you know,
finally just had this really emotional moment of just saying
(40:08):
talking about all the things we had done and Yeah,
reliving a lot of stuff and just how much we
cared for each other. We wanted to do something again,
but unfortunate that timing and finances and all sorts of
stuff that didn't work out. But at least at least
I had that moment with him. Well, that's so beautiful,
that's so wow. It's like a storybook ending for you, guys,
(40:31):
that you were able to come full circle. Was that
the last time you saw him? Then I'm really happy
that you for you had that moment reminiscent and expressing,
you know, your appreciation love for each other. That's just
an amazing moment, man, it was. It was a gift.
(41:03):
So let's talk about Romstein. Be more different than Beyonce,
Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars or Paul. They're the complete opposite
end of the spectrum. You incorporate real fire on stage
and you you build these shows to go from nothingness
to overwhelming insanity. Tell us a little bit about what
(41:25):
the process is working with Ramstein and the planning for
the visual aspects of their show. Well, I mean, Remstigin
is a very interesting group of guys. I mean, it's
it's it's a democracy. One guy doesn't like it, then
doesn't happen. You know, there there's no band out there
like them at all. You know, any banding thinks they've
(41:46):
got pyre of they don't know. They make everybody else
like a bunch of pussies. And they have no fear,
absolutely no fear at all. Um, there are a lot
of fun they're the sweetest guys ever. Um, But they
you know, it's it's it's theater, it's opera, it's industrial music,
(42:09):
it's this grand spectacle and it's just it's one of
the most fun shows I've ever done. It's all the
shows that I've done with them. It's just because it
is so over the top, but done a lot of thought.
I mean, there's a lot of thought that goes into
every single thing that they do. I mean, the the
(42:29):
the safety manual that they bring with them for all
thesserts and certificates and stuff. It's a huge thick book.
I mean, that's how they get away with it. They
have somebody they want the whole time in rehearsals, there's somebody,
a safety officer there making notes and everything, so everything
is there's no way anything can screw up. So it's
it's fun. I mean it's their music is rock, but
(42:50):
then it's electronic, it's it's it's really an interesting array
of music. And if you if you're not a fan
of the band, per se you go see the show.
I guarantee you'll become a fan of the band. Amazing. Well,
how do you top yourselves? I mean those are the
most dynamic, insane visuals ever done on stage for Ramstein?
(43:11):
So how do you top yourself on the next tour?
Do you just start from nothingness? Again? That? What do
you do? Well? I mean a lot of what I've
done with them, my participation is purely the stage set
and lighting. All the pyro is done because until the
singer is a licensed pyrotechnician, so he comes up. He
(43:32):
and uh Nikolai Savodka, who is the tour manager, who
also put production manager, who also owns f FP, the
pyro company, So it's it's Nikolai until coming up with
all the pyro effects. So a lot of what I
build has to take in consideration what we're going to
do with the piro. It's all integrated into the whole thing,
(43:54):
so it's a it's a massive teamwork. Amazing. Tell us
about the creative process. When you first met with Lady Gaga, Ah, Gaga,
she's such a sweetheart. It's one of my favorite people
that just as a human being, let alone an artist,
she means she's an incredible artist. She's definitely the ship
when it comes to doing what she does. She's very visual,
(44:16):
as we know, very involved in the whole vibe. It's
a collaboration. She's a really good She's a fantastic collaborator.
She's one of those people. You give her something, she
owns it, you know, And that's what I love about.
She can improvise. She doesn't need to be um. You
can throw a log on stage and she'll work around
(44:38):
it doesn't matter. Just she's an incredible, incredible artist that way.
So when it comes to creating things, it's Gaga shows
her journeys. They're always a journey. I mean, everything that
she does is a journey, and it's a journey of
her life and healing. And it's not only just for her,
(44:58):
it's for everybody else that takes you know, because everybody
a lot of us have gone through some of the
stuff that she's gone through, and there's a lot of
positivity that it's involved within her show, and it's it's
building a show where she actually physically can go on
a journey trip. It's just building where she's traveling from
one place to another. It's an abstract world or whatever,
(45:19):
but it's just building an environment that she can live
this journey in mm HM as an artist ever said no,
there's no way, I'm not going to do that. Um No,
I've been very lucky. I mean, when I'm in the
design process, it takes a while because I have I
think about it on every level, because I have to
think about the budget, I have to think about the
(45:41):
logistical side and the artistic side, and I always like
to try to push the boundaries as much as possible.
As I'm designing something, I think about what that is
and what it is, how it's going to be, how
it's gonna work within the show, how it's going to
interact with the artist, how are they going to feel
about interacting with it. When you're playing with mechanics and things,
(46:04):
it takes a lot to you know, for the artists
to have the confidence of things that are moving. Particularly
you know it's dangerous, it can be super dangerous, can
you But you know it's just it depends on how
brave they are and how focus they are and doing stuff.
And you know, like I said, like Gaga shows, she
(46:24):
will she's up for trying anything. I mean, as you saw,
but the halftime show where she dropped out of the
ceiling but she didn't drop all the way out, but
I mean she was dying feet up in the air
when the camera came out in that hartist. That's a
long way up. She's a brave artist. Yeah, totally, all
these artists are. Yeah, You've worked with some of the
most brave artists ever. Have you ever had a last
(46:45):
minute production like mcg iver where something very important coming
up was not working and you had to do some
kind of last minute fix um, Well, like McCartney one
of the first shows the first tour that we did
when the screen didn't go up. Oh yes, I remember it. Well,
well wait wait, but these things, those are things you
(47:06):
work around. I've never had to throw an idea out
the window ever. One of my favorite memories is when
we had the curtains on two different tours, and one
of the funniest things I ever remember is the hem
of the curtain caught the end of Paul's lead vocal
microphone and it started pulling it up into the sky
(47:30):
in the middle of the stage on our first song,
and there's no way of getting around that. That is
a very funny situation. And there was Paul laughing his
head off. No, what can you do. We just kept vamping.
We just kept playing until Scott Chase ran on stage
and you know, they reversed the curtain a little bit
(47:51):
tell he could grab the mic, which was like twenty
ft in the air. It was pretty hilarious, but I mean,
it's just stuff you gotta do, you know, you band
together and get it done. And then we launched into
the first song. Absolutely, and you've got a lot of
moving parts, so you know, Unfortunately sometimes things happened. Fortunately,
nothing fatal has ever happened. We're gonna move on now
(48:11):
to what we call the encore, The non glamorous side
of what we do is is the travel. What's the
craziest travel story that's happened to you? And was there
a moment when you said to yourself, this is not
really as fun as I thought it would be. The
first tour, I was on the bus, major accident. The
schedule was crazy and the bus driver fell asleep, you know,
(48:32):
because it was just there. Nobody was ever sleeping. It
was just NonStop. So the bus went off the road
and I remember I was waking up my bunk, and
of course I hit the ceiling in my bunk. We
were flying across this field and the bus got buried
in an overpass embankment. I mean, unfortunately, nobody got hurt,
but the bus was like at a forty five degree angle,
and when we got out of the bunk, everybody fell
(48:54):
into the back of the bus. Important bus driver, I
mean Terry. He was a sweet guy, and all I
remembers waking up going well I heard it was holy
sh it, we're going to crash. Oh man. But you know,
I mean traveling the bus. I mean, you know, there's
(49:16):
drinking and drugs and all sorts of stuff. Obviously, back
back in the in the seventies and eighties, there's lots
of parties and all sorts of stuff. So over your
long career, is there one memory that you would say
was your most outstanding, most special, most beautiful memory. Wow,
(49:40):
that's tough. I mean there's a lot of them. The
opening night in Detroit on Purple Rain with prints where
and we dropped thousands of fresh flowers and silk flowers
all over the audience. It just seemed like it rained
for flowers forever. But the smell, we only didn't Detroit
with the live flowers, but it was carnations. You smelled
my carnations. And the it was so the whole arena
(50:01):
smell of flowers, which is beautiful. The opening that with
the first show we did with Paul in San Francisco
or Oakland, that was amazing. Just the vibe in the room. Boy,
wasn't it something else? Unreal? You know it's it's Paul
in front of the college, inside the Colosseum, but outside
(50:21):
the collos in the next day for five thousand people
was insane amazing. Hey Roy, thank you so much, man,
this has been a really beautiful time, and thanks so
much for all the wonderful moments that you've given us
with your beautiful productions over the years. Are you welcome,
Thanks for coming, Thanks man, beautiful house. By the way,
(50:43):
I'm gonna stay here from now on. Thanks Roy, Thank
thank you for listening, and thank you to Lee Roy
for having us over to his badass home. Next time
(51:06):
you're at a show, be sure to fully appreciate the set,
the lights, the entire scene and for fun. Check out
Lee Roy's resume on his website lee Roy Bennett dot com.
You'll be Amazed On Tour as a production of I
Heart Radio and Black Barrel Media. This show is produced
by Mandy Wimmer with executive producer Noel Brown and I'm
your host Brian Ray. For more information about on Tour,
(51:29):
visit our website black Barrel Media dot com. Behind the
scenes photos from these interviews, and interact with us. This
is our social media at on Tour pod on Facebook, Instagram,
and Twitter. For more shows from My Heart Radio and
Black Barrel Media, is it the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your favorite podcasts,
On tour as the production of I Heart Radio and
Black Barrel Media. I'm your host, Brian ray On. This
show will take you behind the scenes the music business
to give you the most raw and real tales you've
likely never heard before. We'll share our wildest, most unbelievable,
and yes, most embarrassing moments while on tour from the
Grammys to Coachella to award shows, from Beyonce to Bruno Mars,
(00:36):
from Maroon Five to Arian and Grande. Chances are you've
seen a show Lee Roy has designed. We can never
cover all the megastars and tours Lee Roy has brought
to life, So in this conversation we dive into one
of the most mysterious, most talented performers our world has
ever known and when we lost far too soon, Prince.
(00:57):
We'll talk about Prince's boot camp productions, style, the man
he was off stage, the Purple Rain phenomena, in his
eerie prediction of his own death. If that's not enough,
we throw in a few great stories from LeRoy's days
producing towards the Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, and Romstein. Here's
my conversation with leebro Roy Bennett welcome, Leroy. It's so
(01:31):
good to be with you today. You've been a production
and lighting designer for the biggest tours, of the biggest
acts in the whole world since your career began. You
literally started at the top working with Prince. Somehow you've
managed to keep it going up and up ever since.
Let's start off today with talking about our connection. People
out there may or may not know that you and
(01:53):
I both work with Paul McCartney and have for eighteen years.
What are your first memories of the beginning of that
tour back in two thousand two together. Um, it was
pretty magical time, and it was obviously my first time
working with Paul, which is you know, all beat all
that's a big that's a that's a big step and
(02:13):
quite an experience in itself. I just remember the whole
vibe of the tour was I guess as we called
it was the Summer of Love. It was just a
really interesting meeting of really amazing people. I remember the
first show was probably the most impressive thing to me
because I forget what I did. You know, It's like
because you're so focused on work and you forget who
(02:35):
he is, and so the first day the first night
of the tour in San Francisco. As soon as the
show started, it's like I look up at the stage
and go, oh my god, it's that guy. Hilarious, But
it was just also it was just an incredible experience
looking around me and seeing people in the audience crying
because they were so emotionally moved and everything. So that
(02:58):
was it was just an amazing time. A lot of
people probably don't know that your job being production and
lighting design, it's sort of like the director of a
film like a Scorsese. Mostly the buck stops with you
with the whole experience visually in a big concert, So
(03:18):
it's a it's quite an important role that a lot
of people really haven't heard much about. And it's just
great to be able to sit down with you and
hear from where you grab your inspiration. I know you're
into art and your way into fashion, and you're the
one guy on tour is always dressed like amazing, Like
I don't know where you come up with it. Every
day of the tour we always gone on a new outfit.
(03:41):
You could be out for two months, you'll never see
the same thing twice. Meanwhile, I'm in all black. Okay,
it's it's not the worst job in the world, but
I am in all black. Uh, let's jump over to prints.
It's impossible to know even where to begin. If I
have the timeline correct. You define overnight success in that
you went straight from high school into lighting tech for
(04:02):
rock and roll tours, and in seventies seven and seventy
eight you learned the ropes. How did you first meet
Prince Um I was working for a lighting company. Was
a British lighting company, was based here in l A.
I did a couple of tours with him, and the
director of the company took me out to dinner one
night and he said, you know, I have a feeling
that you want to be more than a technician. And
(04:23):
I said yeah. He goes, okay, Well, the next client
that comes through that doesn't have a lighting designer and director,
I'm gonna put your name for it. Said this is awesome. Great, yeah, absolutely.
So he calls me about a month or two later.
I can't remember exactly how long that period of time was,
but uh, he says, I got a client for you
and his name is Prince. I said, okay, cool. So
this was like late seventy nine, early eighties, and I said,
(04:47):
I'm up for it. I didn't know who he was,
did a little bit of homework. I thought he was
really interesting. Um. I flew out to l A because
I was living in Rhode Island at the time. I
met with he and his manager, Steve Farnoli. Yes, I
was a part of that scene too, I'm sure, um,
(05:10):
And so I got along with him. I got hired,
and the next thing I know, I'm in Minneapolis a
month or two later and rehearsals with Prince. And it
was probably the most unreal experience I've ever had in
my life. It was the hardest five days I have
ever spent. It was hell. Really tell us about that.
(05:33):
It was living out I knew I well. First of all,
how I got the job was pretty funny, I mean,
and I didn't find out, thank god, until later on.
The director Bruno Gath, who the director of the company,
had spoken to Stephen Farnoli, the manager, and told him
that I had done all these other projects that I
(05:54):
had never done. So they hired me on the basis
that I was an experience decide. Oh my god, I
love this, but um no, I knew I could do it.
I mean, I learned early on, when I was younger
that I did not want to be on stage. My
parents or in the musical theater. My mom was an
opera singer. Both my sisters can play instruments and sing
(06:15):
and perform and stuff. I have major stage fright and
didn't want to get on stage. So what I learned
I could perform through running lights, kind of enhancing the
music in a visual way. So anyway, getting back to Prince,
I wasn't rehearsal for five days every day. I mean
he was brutal, He's ruthless. Uh, he was the king
(06:40):
of public humiliation. So thank god. I mean, it was
just you know, the band was there, who were amazing
group of people. It wasn't the Revolution at the time,
but turned into the Revolution. And Bobby Zither drummer, came
up to me after about the third day, gave me
a big hug and he said, don't worry, he said,
(07:01):
every one of us goes through there. She's doing a
great job. He's just putting it through the paces. And
it really was what he was doing. He was just
seeing where my breaking point was and what I would
do and what I wouldn't do. Yeah, he was asking
me to do all sorts of stuff that he didn't
even know what he was asking me just to do it. Uh.
I'd go back to my room and cry, like every night,
(07:24):
just like I couldn't believe what was going on. I
mean I never did that in front of him, but
it was just like I couldn't believe what I was
going through. It was hell, and it was It's like
every morning to wake up and I have to go
back to the rehearsals and was like, oh what am
I doing? Um? He really he was one of these
people that I could see beyond what you thought you
(07:47):
could do. He would push you a way outside your
comfort zone. But he did that to himself all the
time too. So it was I went to the ultimate
boot camp of rock and roll. I was just gonna
it sounds like a boot camp. What sort of things
was he asking you to do that were so difficult?
First of all, he expected me to know every single
(08:10):
song he'd ever written, every song immediately I had to.
And unfortunately for me, I could hear a song and
I remember at one time, and I'm cool with it.
I can do what I have to do as far
as running the lights and understanding and hitting the cue
is exactly what they need to do one time through.
But that wasn't the case with me. I didn't I
(08:30):
had to know everything, even probably the songs he's never
written before. He just funked with me to see how
far he could push me and and try to break me.
And he saw that I would do I would do
whatever he asked me to do. I mean he would
ask me to focus a light a certain way. He
didn't know what he was asking me. He would just
say do that, and so I get up on the
(08:52):
ladder and do it. And not that it made a
difference what I was doing, It's just he wanted to
see I was doing it right. And then I was
focused and I was in tune. And then after those
five days, he saw that I was totally dedicated to
what I was doing for him. And I guess that
It's fairly well known that he had a tough relationship
(09:12):
with his father, and at some point where You're going like,
this isn't personal, this is just who he is, and
I'm the recipient of this tough love that he got. Yeah,
I mean it was definitely it was negative reinforcement. Oh yeah,
she's I don't know how you did it. Were there
any points there in that first five days you said
(09:33):
you would go back to your hotel room crying. Did
you ever feel like, Man, I'm packing it in, I'm
out of here. I can't do this for anybody. A
very brief moment, but I said, no way, I'm not
giving this up. This is my opportunity. I was given this,
This is a gift I was given and I'm going
to go for it. After five days, Stephen finally showed
up and I told Prince to back off what you did,
(09:57):
and then he started to see what I was doing.
And then and after that point it was all smooth sailing.
He and I became basically creative partners in his life branding,
you know, in all the live shows. It was the
Dirty Mind Tour, and it was kind of unfortunately ill
fated because he wasn't really known at that time, and
(10:20):
also the fact that it was very hard for the
the public to accept a little skinny black guy and
leg warmers, bikini briefs and the trench coat. Yeah, attends
to sort of confuse people a little bit. So we
(10:42):
were playing theater, so we're like holding two thousand people. Um,
maybe two hundred people would show up at night. So
after about three weeks we shut the tour down. But
at that point he told Stephen, he says, he says,
I never wanted to do another thing without Roy ever
had he done that without you? You mean no, It's
(11:05):
just like that was me establishing a relationship. Whe He
just said that he never wanted to do another tour
without me. He didn't want to do anything. No, he
never wanted to perform without me. And that was pretty
much the way it was for fourteen years. Amazing. You know,
I did all the live performance stuff and Purple Rain movie.
He got me involved with all this television performances and
(11:25):
the thing with Prince. And this is what I learned,
beyond all the other stuff. I learned how to focus
and listen and filter. And that's how I've been able
to deal with all the artists over the years. Is
that he spoke a language that it was weird. I mean,
it wasn't. He did not speak normal. Um, you didn't
have a normal conversation with him. It was very abstract.
(11:49):
A lot of times he didn't even He and I
never talked, but I just I knew what was going on.
In this had we were very much the same in
a lot of ways, so how we viewed what we
were doing. He was he definitely the ultimate rock star.
I mean he had it down to a t. He
understood everything about what it took to be a rock star,
(12:11):
how to you know, live like a rock star. I
mean he dressed what you saw was him that he
didn't go around and like sweatpants and you know, it
was what you got all the time. He understood also
not to give yourself away in the media. It's a
natural thing for people to have what they can't you know,
they always want what they can't have. That's right. This
(12:32):
is in the years way before social media, where now
it's like, you know, looking for a sip from a
fire hose. It's all the time, everybody's helping your grill.
But it's interesting to me that, um, you know, I
I got to uh, I met Prince a long long
time ago because I was with Cavalla Ruffalo. I remember
going to a seven eleven in the valley and here's
(12:54):
this guy in a black leather trench coat and I
turned around and it was Prince and he got into
a color vet and sped off and around that same time,
I was opening for The Rolling Stones with Hedda James
and Prince was on the bill, and I remember he
was dressed as you just described. I think he was
wearing like five high heels and a leather bikini briefs
(13:20):
like a thong, and a trench coat which came off
early in the show. And unfortunately, the audience there was
just you know, they were there to see hockey talk
woman and they weren't really they couldn't understand it, and
he got booed. Do you remember Prince talking about that?
Did he sound like I was there shocked? Yeh. And
(13:44):
it was the first time that he had ever experienced
the negative reaction. Um, oh, it was horrible. It was
basically at that time of stoness, audience was pretty much
a bunch of bikers. Yeah, and the last thing they
want to do is a see you know, a little
(14:04):
skinny black guy that with a high, high voice and
leg warmers and bikini brief and high heels in a
trench coat. You know. It's they couldn't tell if he
was gay or straight. He was just he was scary
and that was the problem. They anytime somebody reacts like that,
it's because they're scared, they feel threatened, they don't understand
(14:27):
what it is, so they fight against it, you know.
That's yeah, that's interesting. You and I were both there,
and I could only imagine that he thought that this
was going to be amazing, that he was going to
take the world by storm, which he of course later did.
But it must have been an incredible adjustment for him,
so self assured to then go on stage with what
(14:51):
he thought was a great outfit and people are now
throwing things and booing him off stage. It just must
have been really hard. And did you sort of um
come to his side and sort of comfort him in
that moment? And that and is that one of the
reasons why he trusted you to stay with him for
all those years that followed. Well, I mean he and
(15:11):
I had a very close relationship prior to that, so yeah,
I mean I stood by him the whole time he
I mean, after that happened, and obviously cut the set
short and he walked off the stage, got into limo,
went to the airport, got the jet, flew home, And
it took a lot to get him back. It took
MC call on him, it took Bill Graham, everybody just
(15:35):
to get him back. And it finally came back to
finally the second weekend, as you know, and and it
happened again but before but I mean, he stuck it
out as long as he could. But before he went out.
Do you remember hearing Bill Graham screen basically cuss out
the audience. Yeah, I do remember that. You know, he
basically Bill Graham just told him, he said, you guys
(15:56):
are embarrassing me, or you just you're an embarrassment. He says,
you're going to be spent a lot of money to
come see this guy in the future. And of course
a few years later, and look what happened. Absolutely so
along those lines, he became a megastar right in front
of your eyes. Like he always had the vision, he
always had this incredible creative force. But did he change
(16:18):
much as a person or was it more like he
always he just fulfilled what he always suspected. He was
a megastar. Um it all changed on Purple Rain. Leading
up to that, through controversy, we had a pretty steady
momentum of growing, you know, moving up, you know, and
(16:43):
the increments were not huge, but they were they were
steady and quite good steps. But Purple Rain was just
into the you know, the stratosphere at that point. Yeah,
we're you know, we'd load into a city and sometimes
play up to two weeks and one as it definitely
took its toll on him. It was like, be careful
(17:06):
what you wish for syndrome. Definitely, um, it definitely started
the beginning of the isolation, you know. Going back to
that Stones and said it definitely was the turning point.
And how he dressed too, he changed this. I mean
that was probably the last time he ever wore like
Wannerman in bikini brief but they had an effect on him,
(17:29):
so it was but his at that point. It just
as things kept getting more and more, as it became
bigger and bigger, it put more pressure on him, like
it does any artists. More people expect how do you do?
More of the pressure is and he purple rain definitely
I think put him over the edge at that point.
(17:51):
Did you start receding from after show gatherings and was
just a little less visible? Were or every single night
we'd always go up because we filmed every show, so
we'd go to his suite and it would be myself
in the band sitting there with him watching the videotape
were basically reliving the show again right after the show. Unbearable. Yeah,
(18:18):
that's a tough one right there. So would he have
notes for everybody every night after every show? I mean
it was instead of partying, then this was like, well
there was Yeah, that was his version of party. Wow.
I mean it was we reviewed perfect, which you did,
by the way. I mean, there's there's a reason why
you would land in a city and stay there for
(18:40):
two weeks is because it was bloody perfect and it
was amazing, and it changed a lot of people's definition
of what I h a live entertainment show should be.
(19:04):
I was wondering, you were just talking about tour and
he had that great bed that went up into the
into the air from the stage where he stimulated having sex.
How much of that idea was his and how much
was yours? Too? Well, it was both of ours. I mean,
he wanted a bed. The whole set was all Venetian blinds.
(19:26):
And the reason why I chose to use Venetian blinds
is that, particularly during the eighties, it was what was
it American giggilo or something like that, you know, it
was we always associate Venetian blinds with a bedroom and
then all that. So it was a very sexual thing
(19:47):
that everyone had an inner video Baker Street, everyone had
Venetian blinds. It was the you know, it was the
very suggestive texture of the month or year I guess,
so the decade or whatever at that point the decades,
so I mean, yeah, was this bed rose up in
front of the uh, the Venetian blinds and he performed
his a little sex actor. What was funny because I
(20:07):
was talking about this the other day to one of
his costume designers, and the way his pants were they
were it was a diagonal flap that he buttoned up
and he would undo the flap so they would flop down,
so he would think when you saw it in silhouette,
it looked looked like his dick was hanging out, but
it was obvious it was just flap of his pants,
(20:30):
and it was just one of these things. He was
very He just knew how to take it right to
the edge and get people's heads in that space where
they thought, WHOA, he's actually doing that, and in fact, no, Wow,
that was a mind blower. And I remember the reviews.
Friends of mine going to see that show and they
(20:51):
just were blown away and his energy was just off
the charts. But tell us about that, Uh, the infamous
bat tub. Oh my god, Well, we had one made
and the idea was instead getting on a bed and
performing sex, he was going to get in the tub
and take a shower. And so before the shower head
(21:12):
was put up, the tub was sat on a base
that it was clamped down to. Basically, they took these
aircraft pins with just their quick release pins that secured
it to this base, and he rehearsed because we didn't
have the shower head ready, so he would be getting
into the tub where the faucets would be, the flat
vertical side of it. And I went up to him
(21:35):
and I said, look, Prince, you're sitting at the wrong
end of the tub. To the end that you want
to sit at is where it leans back and the
vertical parts where the shower head is going to be.
He said, okay, okay. What I didn't know just after
I told him is what happened after they did the
tub scene. This lift would track up and down stage
(21:56):
the center of the stage. It would bring up piano
up After that, I didn't realize that he told the
carpenters not to pin the tub onto the base because
it was taking too much time to get the tub
off and get the piano on and come up what
it needed to. Oh he went around you. Yeah, okay,
so what happened? So get to that whole point in
(22:17):
the song and he gets in the tub, does exactly
what I told him, sits down, leans up against the
part that leans back. Of course, the tub, not being
pinned down, just kept going. So as he leaned back,
the tapoant right over and I was like, oh god,
my heart was in my throat at that time, and thought,
funk what happened to him? And fortunately what was happening.
(22:39):
It was six ft up in the air off the
deck of the stage, but that next song had these
panels that pulled out from underneath the keyboard rises which
either side of where this lift was. So in fact,
he really fell four ft enough to shake him up,
and he was kissed off, you know, he just and
I thought he got serious, you know, I started go
(23:02):
over and disappear, and I thought, oh god, you know
he's hit the We've seen that happen before. I know, no,
go ahead, so hey, you know she happens in rehearsals
by the tricks pay the price. So it happened anyway.
So he got up. He was fine. He just shook
(23:23):
up and gout in his car, peeled out, flew out
of the place. We never saw him again. So the
lyrics to when when Doves Cry goes it became carpenters
strike curious poses. This is what it sounds like when
tubs fly. So that was excellent. That was the theme
song to the tour. Amazing. So did the tubs stay
(23:46):
in after that? Oh? Absolutely? Yeah. Did he admit to
the fact that he had gone around you and no, no,
it was your fault. Yeah, no, it wasn't. No, he
would never do that to me. Oh that's good. No,
I was fortunate to the first five days. I never
got shipped again ever, ever, ever, ever, I was. I
(24:06):
was absolved to all of that stuff. I was. I
was fine. I mean, he was just mad at the
world and mad at everything, but not at you, particularly.
Now he knew it was his fault. He had never apologized,
so I knew when he was apologizing, it was just
not in a very apologetic Why you just take what
you can get because it isn't gonna be one of
the world's best apologies. What did you ever consider how
(24:28):
that was going to play in the Midwest? The bed
or the bathtub? I didn't care. I mean, we're I
knew we were always out there pushing the edge of morality,
you know, in particularly at that time. It I have
no problem with making people uncomfortable, you know, making them think,
make them, you know, taking people outside their comfort zone,
(24:52):
because it's you know, you're taking people on a journey
and you're making you're educating people, You're you're healing people,
You're do doing all these things. So it's all part
of the you know, part of the job, part of
the show businesses. It's almost like a couple of hours
of psychotherapy. It is pushing boundaries and you're not doing
it right if you're not pushing boundaries. Oh, absolutely, Yeah.
(25:15):
So Prince was rumored to be sort of a next
level perfectionists as we were talking about him now, and
I've heard that sound checks could last for hours. You'd
rehearse and then he'd still want to change things. And
I heard he had hands signals to change things on
stage during the show, sort of like James Brown used
to do. How difficult was it to follow his hand signs?
(25:36):
On stage. Well, I mean I was. I was the
sixth member of the band and so well it would
have been the seventh if you include him, but it was.
I was expected to do my job exactly as a
band member would do. I had to watch everything. Everything
(25:57):
had to be right on all the time, every hit it.
So he had hand signals that he would do, uh
you know, whether it was if it was for horn
hits or turn around or there was all sorts of
stuff down yeah, yeah, And so I would have to
(26:17):
watch him. I didn't take my eye off the ball
basically ever, because whatever he was showing tell the band do.
I had to do the same thing with lighting. And
every once in a while he would play with me
and just turn around and give them the signal where
I couldn't. So his back was to me and he
(26:38):
would not let show me what it was. So I
had to be on it. I knew what he was doing,
and so I had to I'd have to catch the
first note. I mean, as soon as the first squeak
of anything. I knew what it was, and I have
to follow suit because otherwise you would just turn around
laugh at me. I wouldn't be obvious to anybody, but
I know he'd have a big grin on his face
(26:59):
he got you. Oh yeah, I was like, what would
happen if someone missed one of these crazy hands that
go well? I mean it was and it was not
just musicality. It was are you paying attention? Sure? And
if you missed the next thing you hair over the
mic is fifty bucks? You would say that fifty bucks?
(27:21):
Oh yeah. He was full on James Brown with with
that kind of that level of perfectionism and that kind
of demanding nature. Did people get burned out and just
walk away? Either you could hang or you couldn't. And
he was fine with that. I mean, he didn't want
anybody that couldn't keep up with him. I mean, fortunate
(27:42):
for me. He didn't understand my job. He didn't understand
how I did it, but he knew I delivered. Yeah,
it took a lot to you know, to get that trust.
I wouldn't have wanted to been the musician because he
could play everything better than anybody. So it's true. It
was like, and he could play the guitar, get get
(28:05):
the drum machine going, get to play guitar and play
the keyboards at the same time. Yeah, and and you
know it's it's crazy, but I mean he would do
that in sound check and sing and keyboards playing bass.
He could play everything, really what he would do the
guitar and the keyboard at the same time, and we
play the keyboard upside down, basically he being on the
(28:26):
back side of the keyboard playing in reverse while he's
playing guitar with the other hand. Yeah, he's a savant. Yeah, really,
it was like from another planet. So you talked about
being really close with him through all those years. Um,
I can imagine that there was a lot of time
downtime at Paisley Park just hanging out. Did you ever
see another side of him that was warmer and or
(28:50):
was he always on, always being prints When it was
just he and I, he was different. I used to
go hang out with you. Just call me up and
just want to hang out with me, And so we'd
sit and just talk about stuff in this house. We
talked about music or a little bit about fashion. It
was one time we sat and watched a race it
head not consecutively, but about four times, I think three
(29:14):
or four times. I don't think he could wrap his
head around it, but it was making it was enough.
It was obviously a very disturbing movie to watch because
it was so weird. It was just nothing but a drone,
and you know, it's just a very bizarre film. But
it was funny because we'd sit and watch it over
and over again. I think he was just trying to
figure out what it was that was so intriguing about it.
(29:38):
But well, I go over there and I ended up
making him a lemon cake one time, and it became
one of these things where, I mean, he liked it
so much that he'd called me up and he'd make
me come over and make a lemon cake for him.
All the time before he'd spent a night up being
up all night recording and that's what he ate, basically
(29:59):
was a sugar high to keep them going all night long. Uh.
There was one time, just before I Love Sexy, I
was using this one particular moving light company that basically
they said they had issues prior to that, they said
they had resolved them all, and we got into rehearsals
and there was this problems and I had to get
(30:19):
rid of them, and three days before they end of
rehearsals and had to call very lights in the company
that had used prior to that, and so which meant
that I was up for three days straight reprogramming the
whole show to a whole different kind of lighting for me.
So he felt horrible. He just felt so bad for
me that he would come in the middle of the
(30:40):
night and bring grocery bags full of snacks for myself
and for Macmosher, who was my program at the time,
just to make sure all right. I mean, if he
had a really sweet side to it's amazing. So I
guess that's an aspect of Prince that people wouldn't guess
and wouldn't know. That's this love. Yeah. There were times
where after he would do sound Chat and he would
(31:03):
come out to the front of the house lighting console
and just hang out with because he didn't want to
hang out with anybody else. He just like because he
thought we were funny, because we had always joking around,
having a good time and stuff like that, and he
liked that, and he liked the fact that you know,
I and my team got you know, we did everything
we were supposed to do for him. We were on
the case all the time, but we could also have
(31:24):
a good time doing it. So he just get away.
It was like getting away from everything for a bit
and just being able to just relax and be himself. Yeah. Sure,
getting off stage for a second, hanging out with you guys.
What was the beginning of the end for you guys
working together? Was there an event or a problem or
did well? It was not him, it was it was
(31:46):
not Prince. What happened was once he and Stephen farn
only parted ways, it was the beginning of this revolving
door of all sorts of people, lawyers, businessman, managers, managers, anybody,
everybody trying to, you know, save the world of Prince.
They all thought they could do it, you know, they
(32:07):
could make him not spend so much money. And it's
and it was like and of course I was the
I was the first one in the line that they
attacked because everything I did was everything you did was expensive.
So you gotta get rid of Roy. They tried, and
he'd even make me talk to them. He didn't want
(32:28):
to talk to them, so I have to explain stuff
to him, and and I said to him, look, you know,
it's if he wants something, it's gonna happen. There's no
no or it's too expensive. He didn't want to know
about money, because I said, if you said it was
too expensive or involved money, he would he'd have your head,
(32:50):
you know, just just do it, you know. And I
always did what I had to do, and I delivered
what I had to deliver when he wanted it. So
it was that, and then eventually it got I dealt
with it. I mean, he even told me at one
point when he got some new business manager that he
didn't want to speak to them. He said, just you
(33:12):
go talk to them and tell them how we do things.
And I said, no, I said this, that's not what
my job is, you know. Hell, but You've got to
talk to them, not me. And so eventually it got
to this point because stepping back, but he basically had
first read of refusal all the time for those fourteen years. Um.
(33:34):
But I'd also go off and do with different projects,
and it was very hard for him to accept it
first because he was very possessive things that he really
liked and loved and it was his his thing. Um.
I explained to him that if I went off and
worked with other people, I could develop things, I learned things,
and I'd bring it back and it would make our
(33:56):
world better. You know. I just had to keep growing
better for us if I did. You know, he kind
of got over it and it was fine. But what
would happen during this period when this all these people
are constantly changing. I'd have to come back and there'd
be a whole bunch of new people there all the time,
and I have to explain myself to him. As I
was saying, but there was also a whole new regime
(34:17):
of bodyguards. You know. It's just we were doing a
simulcast in it was clam Slam, it was first birthday.
It was the three clubs, one in Miami, the Los
Angeles Club, and the one in Minneapolis. And we were
in Miami performing. After the whole thing happened, I was
sitting in the hallway after and the bodyguards came up
to me started pushing me around, saying I couldn't sit there,
(34:39):
It couldn't be in the hallway. And it was, like
I thought, I said to him, look, I said. I
started to explain who I am, what I did, and
they didn't care. They you know, they just thought I
was full of ship. And I thought, you know what,
if it's come to this, I'm done. So I went
(35:00):
it outside because they threw me out of the building
and he came out and he you know, he's just
said his c l A. And I said, no, you won't.
I said, I'm done. I said, I kind of went
off about the body guards, and I said, you know what,
these guys, if you want to know why I'm not
(35:20):
going to show up again, talk to them. I said,
they completely screwed up here. So I can't take this anymore.
I'm done. You know, I don't want to have to
explain myself while So that was it. Yeah, wow, Well
what a what a long, great time with him. When
when you when you learned that he had passed away,
(35:40):
did you do you remember where you were and how
that hit you. It must have been a shock, as
it was for everybody. I couldn't be further away. I
was in Taipei at the time, right. Were there signs
leading up to it? Did you feel like, if this
guy keeps going, you know, there's no way this is
going to end? Well, well, it's kind of an involved story.
(36:01):
I mean, he when we were younger, in our twenties,
I mean he told me he wasn't going to live
beyond thirty eight, and he had also told the same
thing to the you know, Bobby's and the other guys
and girls in the band. I mean, he had to
have that conversation. He had this kind of fixation of
(36:23):
dying young and beautiful. You know, he was fixated on
Hendrix and Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison and all that stuff.
He it was something about that whole the romantic young
death side of things that he was fascinated by. Obviously,
he he lived by his cell di cell by date
(36:46):
by twenty years according to what he was looking to do.
Fortunately for us um but it, I mean it didn't
surprise me. I felt helpless being so far away. I
couldn't do anything. Did you see signs? Was he, you know,
(37:08):
receding into opiates and stuff like that or was that
a surprise to you? Oh? You know, he as clean
as everybody. You know, he portrayed himself to be. He
dabbled in drugs. He had this hip operation and then
of course got hooked on what they gave him for
pain killers, and of course when they cut him off,
(37:30):
he wanted to keep going. That's as it is with
everybody else, the same story, same inner city man. You know,
it's it's a big problem, and that's what happened, you know,
his last few months. It was definitely the beginning of
the end. And you know, we can all have our
theories and stuff, but knowing him the way he was
(37:52):
that you know, he was very sexual, um, very driven
musically from what I heard that, you know, the last
few days he gonnat know where he told, but he
said his hands hurt. He says, my hands hurt. You know,
he lost a lot of weight, you know, doing the
(38:13):
drugs that he was doing was making him constipated, and
of course then he had to take all the laxatives.
Obviously had this affected his sexual side. So he was
just like no everything, that was it now. You know,
I can't say it was intentional. I don't know. It
could have been that he just, um, I'm finished here,
(38:36):
I've done everything. Yeah. I mean Prince was a meteor,
you know, And it's almost like some of these artists
are meant to burn hot and they're not meant to
last forever. And he was a guy who if he
couldn't be Prince the Magnificent, you know, the hot burning star,
if he was compromised due to his opioids, in his
(38:59):
pain and his hip and his knees, and stuff like that.
You know, maybe he just felt like, I don't want
to be here if I can't be the prince that
everyone expects me to be. Yeah, well it was I
mean I was. I was really lucky that I did
get to see him. The last time I saw him
was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction
ceremonies when he was inducted. And also he played that
(39:21):
the infamous guitar solo. Oh yeah, and while my guitar
gently weeps, Yeah it was. I was the production designer
for the show. So we sat. I was lucky because
we sat for about an hour an hour and a
half in the ballroom just by ourselves and when afre
rehearsals and everything, just hanging out and talking and reminiscing,
(39:42):
and because we hadn't seen each other and spoken to
each other, spoken to each other for numerous years, and
you know, it was great because we finally got to
express how, you know, the love for each other. And
I mean we had said that year's you know, in
decades before were but it was just we you know,
finally just had this really emotional moment of just saying
(40:08):
talking about all the things we had done and Yeah,
reliving a lot of stuff and just how much we
cared for each other. We wanted to do something again,
but unfortunate that timing and finances and all sorts of
stuff that didn't work out. But at least at least
I had that moment with him. Well, that's so beautiful,
that's so wow. It's like a storybook ending for you, guys,
(40:31):
that you were able to come full circle. Was that
the last time you saw him? Then I'm really happy
that you for you had that moment reminiscent and expressing,
you know, your appreciation love for each other. That's just
an amazing moment, man, it was. It was a gift.
(41:03):
So let's talk about Romstein. Be more different than Beyonce,
Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars or Paul. They're the complete opposite
end of the spectrum. You incorporate real fire on stage
and you you build these shows to go from nothingness
to overwhelming insanity. Tell us a little bit about what
(41:25):
the process is working with Ramstein and the planning for
the visual aspects of their show. Well, I mean, Remstigin
is a very interesting group of guys. I mean, it's
it's it's a democracy. One guy doesn't like it, then
doesn't happen. You know, there there's no band out there
like them at all. You know, any banding thinks they've
(41:46):
got pyre of they don't know. They make everybody else
like a bunch of pussies. And they have no fear,
absolutely no fear at all. Um, there are a lot
of fun they're the sweetest guys ever. Um, But they
you know, it's it's it's theater, it's opera, it's industrial music,
(42:09):
it's this grand spectacle and it's just it's one of
the most fun shows I've ever done. It's all the
shows that I've done with them. It's just because it
is so over the top, but done a lot of thought.
I mean, there's a lot of thought that goes into
every single thing that they do. I mean, the the
(42:29):
the safety manual that they bring with them for all
thesserts and certificates and stuff. It's a huge thick book.
I mean, that's how they get away with it. They
have somebody they want the whole time in rehearsals, there's somebody,
a safety officer there making notes and everything, so everything
is there's no way anything can screw up. So it's
it's fun. I mean it's their music is rock, but
(42:50):
then it's electronic, it's it's it's really an interesting array
of music. And if you if you're not a fan
of the band, per se you go see the show.
I guarantee you'll become a fan of the band. Amazing. Well,
how do you top yourselves? I mean those are the
most dynamic, insane visuals ever done on stage for Ramstein?
(43:11):
So how do you top yourself on the next tour?
Do you just start from nothingness? Again? That? What do
you do? Well? I mean a lot of what I've
done with them, my participation is purely the stage set
and lighting. All the pyro is done because until the
singer is a licensed pyrotechnician, so he comes up. He
(43:32):
and uh Nikolai Savodka, who is the tour manager, who
also put production manager, who also owns f FP, the
pyro company, So it's it's Nikolai until coming up with
all the pyro effects. So a lot of what I
build has to take in consideration what we're going to
do with the piro. It's all integrated into the whole thing,
(43:54):
so it's a it's a massive teamwork. Amazing. Tell us
about the creative process. When you first met with Lady Gaga, Ah, Gaga,
she's such a sweetheart. It's one of my favorite people
that just as a human being, let alone an artist,
she means she's an incredible artist. She's definitely the ship
when it comes to doing what she does. She's very visual,
(44:16):
as we know, very involved in the whole vibe. It's
a collaboration. She's a really good She's a fantastic collaborator.
She's one of those people. You give her something, she
owns it, you know, And that's what I love about.
She can improvise. She doesn't need to be um. You
can throw a log on stage and she'll work around
(44:38):
it doesn't matter. Just she's an incredible, incredible artist that way.
So when it comes to creating things, it's Gaga shows
her journeys. They're always a journey. I mean, everything that
she does is a journey, and it's a journey of
her life and healing. And it's not only just for her,
(44:58):
it's for everybody else that takes you know, because everybody
a lot of us have gone through some of the
stuff that she's gone through, and there's a lot of
positivity that it's involved within her show, and it's it's
building a show where she actually physically can go on
a journey trip. It's just building where she's traveling from
one place to another. It's an abstract world or whatever,
(45:19):
but it's just building an environment that she can live
this journey in mm HM as an artist ever said no,
there's no way, I'm not going to do that. Um No,
I've been very lucky. I mean, when I'm in the
design process, it takes a while because I have I
think about it on every level, because I have to
think about the budget, I have to think about the
(45:41):
logistical side and the artistic side, and I always like
to try to push the boundaries as much as possible.
As I'm designing something, I think about what that is
and what it is, how it's going to be, how
it's gonna work within the show, how it's going to
interact with the artist, how are they going to feel
about interacting with it. When you're playing with mechanics and things,
(46:04):
it takes a lot to you know, for the artists
to have the confidence of things that are moving. Particularly
you know it's dangerous, it can be super dangerous, can
you But you know it's just it depends on how
brave they are and how focus they are and doing stuff.
And you know, like I said, like Gaga shows, she
(46:24):
will she's up for trying anything. I mean, as you saw,
but the halftime show where she dropped out of the
ceiling but she didn't drop all the way out, but
I mean she was dying feet up in the air
when the camera came out in that hartist. That's a
long way up. She's a brave artist. Yeah, totally, all
these artists are. Yeah, You've worked with some of the
most brave artists ever. Have you ever had a last
(46:45):
minute production like mcg iver where something very important coming
up was not working and you had to do some
kind of last minute fix um, Well, like McCartney one
of the first shows the first tour that we did
when the screen didn't go up. Oh yes, I remember it. Well,
well wait wait, but these things, those are things you
(47:06):
work around. I've never had to throw an idea out
the window ever. One of my favorite memories is when
we had the curtains on two different tours, and one
of the funniest things I ever remember is the hem
of the curtain caught the end of Paul's lead vocal
microphone and it started pulling it up into the sky
(47:30):
in the middle of the stage on our first song,
and there's no way of getting around that. That is
a very funny situation. And there was Paul laughing his
head off. No, what can you do. We just kept vamping.
We just kept playing until Scott Chase ran on stage
and you know, they reversed the curtain a little bit
(47:51):
tell he could grab the mic, which was like twenty
ft in the air. It was pretty hilarious, but I mean,
it's just stuff you gotta do, you know, you band
together and get it done. And then we launched into
the first song. Absolutely, and you've got a lot of
moving parts, so you know, Unfortunately sometimes things happened. Fortunately,
nothing fatal has ever happened. We're gonna move on now
(48:11):
to what we call the encore, The non glamorous side
of what we do is is the travel. What's the
craziest travel story that's happened to you? And was there
a moment when you said to yourself, this is not
really as fun as I thought it would be. The
first tour, I was on the bus, major accident. The
schedule was crazy and the bus driver fell asleep, you know,
(48:32):
because it was just there. Nobody was ever sleeping. It
was just NonStop. So the bus went off the road
and I remember I was waking up my bunk, and
of course I hit the ceiling in my bunk. We
were flying across this field and the bus got buried
in an overpass embankment. I mean, unfortunately, nobody got hurt,
but the bus was like at a forty five degree angle,
and when we got out of the bunk, everybody fell
(48:54):
into the back of the bus. Important bus driver, I
mean Terry. He was a sweet guy, and all I
remembers waking up going well I heard it was holy
sh it, we're going to crash. Oh man. But you know,
I mean traveling the bus. I mean, you know, there's
(49:16):
drinking and drugs and all sorts of stuff. Obviously, back
back in the in the seventies and eighties, there's lots
of parties and all sorts of stuff. So over your
long career, is there one memory that you would say
was your most outstanding, most special, most beautiful memory. Wow,
(49:40):
that's tough. I mean there's a lot of them. The
opening night in Detroit on Purple Rain with prints where
and we dropped thousands of fresh flowers and silk flowers
all over the audience. It just seemed like it rained
for flowers forever. But the smell, we only didn't Detroit
with the live flowers, but it was carnations. You smelled
my carnations. And the it was so the whole arena
(50:01):
smell of flowers, which is beautiful. The opening that with
the first show we did with Paul in San Francisco
or Oakland, that was amazing. Just the vibe in the room. Boy,
wasn't it something else? Unreal? You know it's it's Paul
in front of the college, inside the Colosseum, but outside
(50:21):
the collos in the next day for five thousand people
was insane amazing. Hey Roy, thank you so much, man,
this has been a really beautiful time, and thanks so
much for all the wonderful moments that you've given us
with your beautiful productions over the years. Are you welcome,
Thanks for coming, Thanks man, beautiful house. By the way,
(50:43):
I'm gonna stay here from now on. Thanks Roy, Thank
thank you for listening, and thank you to Lee Roy
for having us over to his badass home. Next time
(51:06):
you're at a show, be sure to fully appreciate the set,
the lights, the entire scene and for fun. Check out
Lee Roy's resume on his website lee Roy Bennett dot com.
You'll be Amazed On Tour as a production of I
Heart Radio and Black Barrel Media. This show is produced
by Mandy Wimmer with executive producer Noel Brown and I'm
your host Brian Ray. For more information about on Tour,
(51:29):
visit our website black Barrel Media dot com. Behind the
scenes photos from these interviews, and interact with us. This
is our social media at on Tour pod on Facebook, Instagram,
and Twitter. For more shows from My Heart Radio and
Black Barrel Media, is it the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your favorite podcasts,
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.