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FEATURE PROJECTION LIGHTS & STAGING NEWS “It was a bit like Spinal Tap. If someone else had 60 channels, I needed 100.” —Michael Tait Michael Tait has been restlessly pursuing new design concepts for staging and lighting gear for four decades. This photo was taken in 1970. Jake Berry was working as keyboard technician for Yes’ Rick Wakeman at the time, and today, he is a production manager who has worked with the best talent in the business, from the Rolling Stones to U2. “When we did the Yes stage, Michael was full of ideas,” Berry says. “Because the stage was in the middle of the arena, everybody was stressed about how the building would be able to clear the chairs in time to get the show out. So Michael came up with this fantastic idea of a barricade, which, in actual fact, was a barricade with drawers, and slots that stored all the drums, the keyboards and guitars that you could pack from the inside. So you could actually work and pack away your instruments while the crowd was still in the building.” The Phone Gets Busy PLSN The stage also made his phone ring. Once Yes premiered the stage in the round, Tait got a call from Imero Fiorentino and Associates. They asked him to design a rotating stage for Barry Manilow when Manilow was at the top of his popularity, packing arenas. “They asked if I could make a round stage for them that would incorporate a small orchestra and backup vocalists in addition to the band,” Tait says. Although Tait had success with the rotating stage in the round, Tait Towers was really a lighting company. “The company really consisted of all of the lights I built over the years for Yes, and, at the time, apart from FM Productions, there were very few set building companies outside of Broadway.” It was also during this time that Tait developed the swing-wing truss — a truss system in which the instruments remained inside the truss while the sides hinged to create a safe walkway for focusing. Tait added to it a distributed dimmer-per-circuit system, which was revolutionary at the time. “There were test buttons on the full length dimmer raceway, so you could turn the lights on to focus without having someone at the control board.” Control boards were also of interest to Tait, who designed one of the first pin matrix boards in Europe. “I realized that I needed more than just the standard A and B preset scenes; I needed to be able to switch large quantities of lights to be able to keep up with Yes,” Tait explains. The pin matrix board, created in 1973, had twenty channels, A and B scenes, ten pin matrix presets and 12 high speed preset bump buttons. Bennett likes to point out that while it was years before he actually “met” Tait, he had an encounter of sorts with him when he was just another Rhode Island kid with a ticket to a Yes concert. Bennett happened to be seated in close proximity to the gentleman behind the light board. “I was 14 or 15, at a Yes concert at the Providence Center,” Bennett recalls. “I happened to have had a seat sitting across the aisle from Michael [who was running the lighting board] in a suit jacket and bow tie. He had this home made lighting console that was most impressive, especially the two cigarette lighters, one on either side. That way he could light his cigarette with either hand if the other was busy running the lights!” he laughs. Tait remembers that console well, and says it was a 100-channel monster that no one else had, if even if he didn’t need all those channels. “It was a bit like Spinal Tap,” he jokes. “If someone else had 60 channels, I needed 100.” Bennett adds that it would be years later, on a Luther Vandross tour, when they actually met. “That was the first time I got to spend time with Michael and see how they do their stuff.” If I Had a Million Dollars The 1980s kept Tait busy building his client base, which included the Grateful Dead, U2, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen. The concert industry had outgrown its infancy and was headlong into its proverbial teenage years, acne and growth spurts included. When automated lighting came into play, “I saw the writing on the wall, and I knew to be in that business, it would take millions of dollars.” That was when Tait seriously looked at his finances and had a PLSN startling realization. “All those years, the set building had been subsidizing the lighting rental, and that’s why I had no money in my pocket,” he admits. He sold all his lights and then took his 15 years of road experience and focused all his energy exclusively on set design and production. The firm began to expand, and Tait used his experience to create sets that could be assembled quickly and easily by anyone, no matter what their level of technical expertise. Through the 1990s and beyond, he continued innovating, and a new facility, more employees, and more designers knocking on his door would create further growth. Over the years, Tait Towers clients have included Reba McEntire, AC/DC, Roger Waters, Ozzfest, Pokémon Live and Britney Spears, just to name a few. Tait also worked with noted set designer Mark Fisher on numerous projects, including U2, Metallica, AC/DC, the Rolling Stones and Janet Jackson. “Michael Tait is a clever engineer/inventor/rock-show designer who has done everything A young Michael Tait plays the drums in 1962. Born in Melbourne, Tait studied engineering, got bored, then ran a nightclub. After his Surfers Paradise club was shut down for lack of a liquor license, Tait traveled to England, worked at a club there, then met and worked for Yes. Here Tait stands before a set he designed for Yes in 1973. 36 PLSN SEPTEMBER 2008
“I always feel safe walking into his shop with any kind of idea knowing that they will figure out how to make it work.” —Roy Bennett, lighting designer Tait got the idea for a revolving set for Yes from the round shape of a film canister. there is to do in this business except play and sing,” Fisher says. “Consequently, Michael is very wise about what works and what doesn’t. He’s been on the road, building and tearing down late every night, so he knows it’s the little things that count.” As the years passed, Tait Towers constructed some of the most notable and innovative sets in the entertainment industry. Bennett tells a story about Faith Hill’s tour, where the original idea was to hide a support structure behind a black curtain. But before the cloth could be hung, Hill saw it. “Oh my God, that’s so beautiful we have to leave it,” Hill exclaimed to Bennett. “Michael makes even the parts that people aren’t supposed to see look great,” Bennett says. As of late, Tait has taken a bit of a step back, allowing his partners “Winky” Fairorth and Adam Davis, who “have the benefit of youth,” to run the show. His hands aren’t totally clean though, as he’s still involved with tweaking designs and allowing his formidable imagination to run wild; he’s just free from the day-to-day grind that running a business that Tait Towers demands. He’s getting to spend more time with his family, too. Tait has been married to his wife Anne for 27 years and has a daughter, Lucia 26; and two stepchildren, Brooke, 32, and Ben, 30. “Unlike other industries that go through complete design phases to generate their final products, our industry builds from the concept phases” Rodgers sums up. “Therefore it takes a special engineering mind to create a finished product that can tour around the world from this phase. That's the reason our industry is the most exciting design industry and that’s the reason Michael is one of a kind in the world.” Ad info:http:// www.plsn.com/instant-info 2008 SEPTEMBER PLSN 37
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