Professional Lighting & Production - Spring 2022 | Page 5

FEATURES
18 . SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Lighting TV ’ s most iconic comedy show By Michael Raine “ Live from New York , it ’ s Saturday night !” For over 880 Saturday nights stretching back to Oct . 11 , 1976 , that instantly-recognizable opening phrase has been shouted from TV screens around the world . There is really nothing else like SNL on TV at the moment , and only a rare few have ever really competed . The pace of production on SNL is notoriously hectic and stressful – it takes a different breed of person to thrive there . And so , PL & P caught up with two of SNL ’ s longest-serving lighting directors , Richard McGuinness and Geoff Amoral , to chat about their work and experiences .
24 . MAKING HISTORY Live Nation & Drake Partner on a new stateof-the-art venue By Kevin Young Although Toronto has a wide range of live music venues , History , a partnership between Live Nation and homegrown superstar Drake , definitely fills a void in the scene – not only in terms of its capacity , but owing to the flexibility it offers as an event and live music space .
28 . HALO CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES A look into the cutting-edge arena of esports By Andrew Leyenhorst Sitting squarely at the intersection of intense , competitive live entertainment , sophisticated AVL production value , and sleek , high-quality broadcasting , the world of professional esports is one of the most engaging and allencompassing hybrid production mediums in the events industry today . PL & P takes a look into this fascinating arena by pulling back the curtain on the recent Halo Championship Series in Anaheim , CA , produced by Dreamhack and Waveform Entertainment .
32 . LIGHTING RAYANNAH Keeping it simple & entrancing for her new performance video By Michael Raine As Jonathan Stanners tells it , Rayannah is the kind of person and artist where if you offhandedly suggest something , you ’ d better prepared for her to go through with it . That ’ s exactly how her recently-released live performance video came to be . The Winnipegbased LD explains how he worked with his life-long friend to create a video performance that provides a great example of how a simple design can be beautiful and captivating with the right combination of music and vision .
DEPARTMENTS
SPRING 2022 VOLUME 26 NO . 1

CONTENTS

A LOOK AT HISTORY , TORONTO ’ S NEWEST CONCERT VENUE PG . 24
COVER PHOTO : SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE BY WILL HEATH / NBC
PHOTO : TOM PANDI

FEATURES

18 . SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Lighting TV ’ s most iconic comedy show By Michael Raine “ Live from New York , it ’ s Saturday night !” For over 880 Saturday nights stretching back to Oct . 11 , 1976 , that instantly-recognizable opening phrase has been shouted from TV screens around the world . There is really nothing else like SNL on TV at the moment , and only a rare few have ever really competed . The pace of production on SNL is notoriously hectic and stressful – it takes a different breed of person to thrive there . And so , PL & P caught up with two of SNL ’ s longest-serving lighting directors , Richard McGuinness and Geoff Amoral , to chat about their work and experiences .

24 . MAKING HISTORY Live Nation & Drake Partner on a new stateof-the-art venue By Kevin Young Although Toronto has a wide range of live music venues , History , a partnership between Live Nation and homegrown superstar Drake , definitely fills a void in the scene – not only in terms of its capacity , but owing to the flexibility it offers as an event and live music space .

28 . HALO CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES A look into the cutting-edge arena of esports By Andrew Leyenhorst Sitting squarely at the intersection of intense , competitive live entertainment , sophisticated AVL production value , and sleek , high-quality broadcasting , the world of professional esports is one of the most engaging and allencompassing hybrid production mediums in the events industry today . PL & P takes a look into this fascinating arena by pulling back the curtain on the recent Halo Championship Series in Anaheim , CA , produced by Dreamhack and Waveform Entertainment .

32 . LIGHTING RAYANNAH Keeping it simple & entrancing for her new performance video By Michael Raine As Jonathan Stanners tells it , Rayannah is the kind of person and artist where if you offhandedly suggest something , you ’ d better prepared for her to go through with it . That ’ s exactly how her recently-released live performance video came to be . The Winnipegbased LD explains how he worked with his life-long friend to create a video performance that provides a great example of how a simple design can be beautiful and captivating with the right combination of music and vision .

DEPARTMENTS

09 . News Flashes The latest from Canada ’ s lighting , video & production industries
15 . Agenda Your industry event calendar
16 . Northern Lights The Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show & the Canada Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai
34 . In Focus Tribute to Bob Johnston
36 . Product Spots New products & technologies for the lighting , video & staging markets
41 . Advertisers ’ Index 44 . Classifieds
46 . Project Update The MEMPHO Music Festival , Sweden ’ s O ’ Learys restaurant chain & more