Production Profile

Santa Fe and the Fat City Horns Help Keep the South Point Showroom Rocking

They may be named after New Mexico’s capital, but since 1975, Santa Fe and the Fat City Horns have been based in Las Vegas (Nevada, not New Mexico).

Going strong for nearly a quarter century (the group marks its 25th anniversary in 2016) the ever-inventive Dave Matthews Band has long been innovative — in terms of onstage performance, studio work and with the close relationship it maintains with its fans. Not only has the group encouraged non-commercial taping of its shows by audience members to share, but also offers a growing series of Live Trax recordings of performances, which is currently at #36, this most recent release featuring a 2015 summer U.S. tour stop recorded at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in Elkhorn, WI.

The AC/DC Rock or Bust tour, now through most of its slated 55 dates, has already played to millions across 21 countries. Following a four-week break after their last Los Angeles show, the boys boarded a plane and headed for where it all started for them: Australia. The band’s makeup is different this outing: Drummer Phil Rudd is currently battling legal problems in New Zealand, so Chris Slade is on the drummer throne; and original guitarist Malcolm Young has been forced into retirement and is currently fighting dementia. But keeping it in the family, his nephew Stevie Young is slinging his guitar parts.

Brian Ruggles’ Scenes from a Lifetime with Billy Joel

Billy Joel is a Long Islander, from the tips of his ivory-tickling fingers down to his sustain-pedaling right foot, and likes to surround himself with similars. So our story begins with a young Brian Ruggles kicking around those same stomping grounds in the late 1960s. The two grew up in neighboring towns, though “I was more middle class compared to Billy, who, as he puts it, was lower middle class,” Ruggles says. As Joel was cycling through several bands, so was Ruggles who, although a drummer and guitarist, was principally a lead vocalist.

The Van Halen 2015 Tour kicked off on July 5 at the White River Amphitheatre (Auburn, WA), with an additional 40 stops throughout North America — playing mostly sheds and arena venues — and wraps up in early October. The staging and lighting is uncharacteristically bare for a major rock tour, but it all serves to focus on the guitar pyrotechnics of Eddie at center stage, joined by his brother Alex on drums, son Wolfgang on bass and on-again/off-again singer David Lee Roth returning to the lead vocal slot. The outing is in support of a new live album, Tokyo Dome Live in Concert, which was recorded during VH’s previous tour.

One of the largest hip-hop festivals in Canada, the fourth annual OVO (October’s Very Own) Fest drew more than 35,000 fans to Toronto from August 1 to 3. Kevin Hart headlined day one of the three-day event; J. Cole, Big Sean, YG + Jeremih took the spotlight day two; and Drake hosted day three, along with guest performances from Future, Pharrell Williams, U.K.’s MC Skepta, Kanye West and Krept & Konan.

Moz Sweeps the States on His ‘World Peace is None of Your Business’ Tour with Thunder Audio

Stephen Patrick Morrissey, best known simply as Morrissey or “Moz,” has never been one to shy away from controversy. Whether publicly voicing his disgust for England’s monarchy system or lambasting the global meat production industry for “murder,” the former Smiths’ frontman always has plenty to say — both in speech and song.

There aren’t more than a handful or so of bands that can pull off a stadium tour, and when you take 1960’s supergroups such as The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and The Grateful Dead from the roster, the list gets even smaller. Yet with his current tour, The Big Revival, Kenny Chesney takes on a grueling 57-stop outing with 18 of those being stadium dates, including such vaulted venues as Soldier Field, the Rose Bowl, Lambeau Field and the San Francisco Bay Area’s new Levi’s Stadium (among others). The tour kicked off March 25 and 26 with two sold-out nights at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena and concludes on August 28 and 29 with two shows at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA.

“Neil has a way of getting the audience with him one way or another! He’s amazing at that.”

So declares sound designer/FOH engineer Stanley Miller, who would certainly know of such things. In what has to be some kind of record, Miller has embarked on yet another world tour for an astounding 47th year. Honored with a Parnelli Audio Innovator Award in 2009, and recently brought onto the Parnelli Board of Advisors, this is a guy with stamina. He’s the same age as Diamond (74), but as he has throughout his entire career, he continues to embrace and even push the cutting edge of new technology.

It all began, in 1985, in of all places Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and over time has developed into one of the longest running (and highly successful) festival franchises in history. Following the first event, the Rock in Rio concept has spread to Lisbon, Portugal, Madrid, Spain and in 2015, to Las Vegas.