42 PL & P
In Focus
By Andrew King
Kyle Jadon
Kyle Jadon fondly recalls his high-school band ’ s CD release show at Winnipeg ’ s iconic Park Theatre . Wanting to make it a special experience , he befriended the venue ’ s owner and asked if he could come into the space ahead of time and check out the lighting system .
“ I knew nothing about lighting at all ,” Jadon tells PL & P . “ I just wasn ’ t satisfied with a general stage wash and I wanted to see what I could do to make our mediocre band ’ s show seem more appealing to the people attending .”
He started playing around with the venue ’ s lighting equipment , swapping out gels between different fixtures and getting acquainted with its small complement of moving heads . After a few days of trialand-error , he had programmed a show .
“ Looking back , it was very , very basic and I paid a buddy in beer to hit the different cues and faders while we played ,” he chuckles . After that , other local bands asked if he would do the same for their shows , and Jadon soon realized he ’ d found a means to start paying for his university studies .
He convinced his parents to lend him $ 5,000 to get some lighting equipment and start a business . He bought a dozen ColorBlasts and a few other fixtures , a haze machine , and a Jands Vista M1 console and was off to the races , lighting shows , weddings , and other events on weekends , sharpening his lighting and business acumens . As his inventory grew , he eventually had to move out of his parents ’ garage and then teamed up with a friend to start a new venture . “ We would load in multiple shows on the weekend and work 30-plus hours straight without sleep while running the business side and the technical side ,” he shares .
Around that time , Christie Lites opened its Winnipeg location and Jadon started renting their gear and doing some work for them . “ A-Lynn Thompson was running it at that time and gave me endless opportunities to help work around the shop , which exposed me to the company ’ s precision and standards while also getting to play around with higher-end gear .”
His network grew in tandem with the size and scale of the shows he was working on across North America , all while Jadon focused his attention on design and programming . With his career taking off , he dropped out of university and , in 2015 , moved to Vancouver to start building his profile in a bigger market .
“ I got a really good push career-wise in Vancouver from Mike Johnston at Christie Lites and Graham Hicks and Jeremy Pummell from Synapse Design , who gave me endless opportunities ,” he says gratefully . “ It was from those opportunities that I met Chris Ball , one of the owners at Promosa Management . Promosa was looking to create a lighting department within their already-successful video wall business . I did a few freelance gigs with them for various arena shows as LD and crew chief and then signed on to be their full-time lighting director .”
At the time , Promosa was growing substantially and Jadon recognized the future potential . When he joined , the Vancouver location had six fulltime employees ; now , they ’ re at over 50 , with new locations in Seattle and Calgary and Jadon serving in the role of director of lighting and touring for both Canada and the U . S .
“ I feel really fortunate during these times to still be employed in this industry ,” he replies when asked how he ’ s keeping busy . “ While festivals and tours aren ’ t happening , we were able to pivot into the film world as we had a very large inventory of 2-mm video tiles . We have a few productions currently filming using our 2-mm products as well as a full-time team dedicated to the Unreal system and its integration with camera tracking and video walls .”
In addition to film , they ’ ve been assisting Live Nation and other organizations with drive-in and livestreamed concerts as they arise while also getting their new Calgary warehouse properly established .
Looking back on his career thus far , Jadon says : “ I think being able to start a company from a garage with a small loan and turn it into a full career that I didn ’ t know existed is the biggest highlight overall .” Another standout memory he mentions was lighting a speaking engagement with Barack Obama – someone he holds in high esteem .
“ I love the energy of live music – the crowds , the stages , the loud PA , the bright lights … I ’ m a live music junkie ,” he tacks on . “ Whether it ’ s a small local band with 100 people or a stadium with 30,000 , I still get the same chill before a show , and it ’ s never gone away for me . I get to work a job that doesn ’ t feel like a job . People often talk about what they ’ ll do when they retire and I can honestly say I ’ ll be working in the same industry in some capacity because I love live music so much .”
Of course , he ’ s excited to reconnect with his many friends and contacts throughout the industry as more shows and events return , and also looks forward to continuing the expansion of Promosa ’ s touring department .
“ After months of waiting and planning , we ’ re ready to hit the ground running with the touring team ,” he says eagerly . “ We have a really solid leadership team and I ’ m excited to see where Promosa will go in the future .”
Andrew King is the former Editor-in-Chief of Professional Lighting & Production .