Janet Jackson ‘Together Again’ Tour
PRG provided full 360 equipment and services including Lighting, Video, Automation, Rigging, Scenic and Audio.
Having started performing at an early age, Janet Jackson has now been performing for 50 years and hasn’t missed a step. Again, hitting all the right notes, Together Again, Jackson’s 10th concert tour began on April 14, 2023, and wraps on June 21, 2023, in Seattle. The show works in five acts, each representing a different period of her musical journey. Having worked with Jackson for the past two and half years, Eric Wade, Principal of Crossfade Design served as Production Designer as well as Tour Director. Wade’s team included his sons, Aaron as Associate Production Designer, and Brandon, Lighting Director. Keeping with the family vibe, Troy Eckerman was Associate Lighting Designer/Lead Lighting Programmer and he worked with his son Caleb who serves as a Lighting Programmer on the tour. As Jackson’s tour plays sold-out dates across the U.S., Wade and Eckerman took time to speak with PLSN about the design and production solutions supporting this dynamic artist’s tour.
PRG provided full 360 equipment and services—Lighting, Video, Automation & Rigging, Scenic, and Audio—for the Jackson tour. It was a choice that Wade and the creative team were very happy with. “Initially I put this out to bid to just about everybody on the planet, because everybody wanted to bid on it, of course,” recalls Wade. “We ended up going full 360 with PRG, with Jason Winfree as my project manager. I’ve been working with him for probably 25 years, going from being an electrician, to being a programmer, to a LD for me to now being my project manager for PRG. The support has been nothing but spectacular. I’ve got so much history with a lot of the guys, who are old friends and when I need something from PRG, it’s there the next day.”
The many locations of PRG were something that Wade really valued. “One thing I do really love—that is hard to get around with other companies—is the fact that anywhere I’m at I can usually get support from PRG. They are all over. They’re not having to ship things; and shipping the way it is these days is very unreliable. We just wait until we get to a city where they’ve got a shop, and we pick up what we need. They’ve been outstanding. It’s the very first time I’ve ever used their scenic department. The sniffer is theirs; all the automation is theirs, the risers. They did all this stuff, and really knocked it out of the park. It’s been great.”
Read the entire article in PLSN.
Production Team
Creative Director: Gil Duldulao
Tour Director / Tour Manager / Production Designer: Eric L Wade
Production Manager: Daniel O’Neil
Road Manager: Derek Wilson
Stage Manager: Michael Hosp
Assistant Tour Director: Toni Wade
Production Coordinator: Karen Colvin
Associate Production Designer: Aaron Wade
Associate Lighting Designer & Lead Lighting Programmer: Troy Eckerman
Associate Lighting Designer & Lighting Programmer: Keith Hoagland
Lighting Director / zactrack Designer & Programmer: Brandon Wade
Lighting Programmer: Caleb Eckerman
Lighting Crew Chief: Robert Simoneaux
Lighting Crew: Thomas Randy Foote, Ryan Textor, Mike Jackson, Ernest Guzman
Video Director: Garry Odom
Associate Video Director: Paul Ferreira
Associate Media Designer / Graphic Screens Director: Sam Brown
Video Editor: Jacob Bann
Video Engineer: Samuel Foumberg
Video Crew Chief: Johnny Martinez
Camera Utility: Christian Medina
Video Crew: Dana Jespersen, Koty Russell, Ben Hansen
Laser Programmer/Operator: Michael Moore
Head Rigger: Clayton Hutson
Rigging Coordinator: Bill Rengstl
Riggers: Kurt McLaughlin, Hannah Vittitow
Automation Programmer/Operator: Andrew Rebmann
Carpenters: Jacob Ream, Alex Romero, John Fickes