Professional Lighting & Production - Summer 2017 | Page 18

a sense, Panic! At the Disco’s
fifth and most recent studio
album, Death of a Bachelor,
finds the band coming full
circle.
Whereas its predecessor,
Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!, saw the quasi-theatrical
rock outfit shift towards a darker, synth-heavy sound,
their latest builds on that while simultaneously return-
ing to the upbeat, more rock-centric stylings of their
earlier material. It’s simultaneously grandiose and easy
to digest – sonically rich yet undeniably accessible. Basi-
cally, it’s the pinnacle of their artistic evolution, tapping
into each era of their expansive 13-plus-year career.
It’s fitting, then, that the band’s recently wrapped
Death of a Bachelor tour would be their most elaborate
and dynamic to date. Playing off of Panic!’s twisted caba-
ret image, the set design – which favoured LED video
walls instead of physical set pieces – included five LED
video “chandeliers,” appointments like gold-painted lad-
ders spanning the rear wall, and the addition of a horn
section for a classy, sophisticated aesthetic that could
sway from a Great Gatsby-inspired ‘30s motif to ‘50s Rat
Pack swagger to lavish modernity with ease.
The production design was the product of a
collaboration between Montreal-based creative firm Lüz
Studio and the band’s camp, including lighting designer
Alex Specht, and the striking visuals did the band justice
for their largest-scale headlining run to date.
The Design
Lüz Studio had previously worked with Panic! At The
Disco on their 42-date co-headlining run with Weezer in
summer 2016. That tour was something of a precursor
to this one, with the band performing a set list favouring
songs from the new album while also revisiting hits
from their back catalogue.
“The Weezer co-headliner was kind of a warm-
up phase for us,” comments Specht, Panic!’s lighting
designer for the past four years. “[Lüz Studio] got to
know the show and the differences between the songs
on the album and how they come off live, because it’s a
completely different dynamic.”
For the proper Death of a Bachelor headlining run,
Panic!’s management again invited Lüz Studio to submit
a bid for the design.
“It was pretty much carte blanche; there wasn’t
anything specific they wanted to see,” begins Matthieu
Larivée, the founder and head designer with Lüz Studio.
“Basically, we knew the band and we knew their energy.
18 • PROFESSIONAL LIGHTING & PRODUCTION
By Andrew King
Photos by Todd Kaplan
We knew it was an arena tour and
that it was selling well, so it was easy
to pitch ideas because, instead of a
general production design, we did our
proposal song by song.”
Lüz was awarded the contract in
mid-December 2016, with the 36-date
American tour kicking off on Feb. 24 th ,
2017 – “so it was pretty tight,” Larivée
puts in.
When Lüz was starting work on
their design for the Weezer run, one
of the first things they received to
inform their direction was a photo of
Panic! frontman Brendon Urie in a “very
classy-looking tuxedo,” and Larivée adds
they were also instructed to play off of
the album title and theme.
“We wanted a very dynamic
production value for each song,” shares
Larivée – “very slick, but also very
dynamic, so we could play with lighting
and 3D content and be versatile with
the architecture.”
This time out, the desired overall
aesthetic was similar but with some
evolution. Instead of a photo, this
time, Lüz received an advanced look
at the band’s new logo – a mysterious
cult-inspired mark that belongs in a
Dan Brown novel.
“We played with that and tried to
mix everything, so the back catalogue
fits with the new era,” Larivée explains.
“So every time we played with that
cult-like logo, there’s architecture and
visuals behind it, so we can do a mix of
the band’s different eras.”
Once the contract was awarded,
Lüz and the Panic! camp wasted little
time diving into design refinements,
going back-and-forth with ideas and