FURURETECH Featuring Live Events - Unifying The Future Of Live Events

0:19 All right, hello again, and welcome back to Geezers of Gear Future Tech. I'm Chris, and as always, I'm joined by the brilliant Lacey. Lacey, you ready for this? I mean, as ready as I'll ever be, Chris. I'm sort of still in awe at how fast this industry keeps changing, Right? So what exactly are we diving into today? Well, today is a big one. We're digging into Drum roll, please. Live events. That's the American powerhouse in entertainment production, batting for the title of Ultimate One Stop Shop led by Steven Vitale. He's kind of a legend, at least around firework and SFX circles. Oh, absolutely. Now with live events, you've got this umbrella where everything's sorted, technical, creative, logistics, just bam, one phone call.

1:07 It's such a massive step up from what we were doing before. And not just about less paperwork, right? It's about making the show smoother in every department. So let's break down who's actually in this House of brands. All right, first up, pyrotechnico. I mean, that's the crown jewel, isn't it? Founded in 1889. Wait, is that right? Seriously. Over 100 years old, still going strong. All the big fireworks, confetti storms, rain machines, you name it, they're the ones pushing those buttons. Family business the whole way through too. Steven Vitale still in charge with Rocco Vitale running the creative side of things these days. It's mad, isn't it? A fifth generation fireworks company? Talk about staying power.

1:50 And then there's Gemini out of Dallas. They're the video and lighting specialists, right? Funnily enough, when we did our show on lighting tech a while back, think episode 10, remember? Well, Gemini's The group will rig those massive LED walls and just light up a stadium like nobody's business. Yep. And then of course, Delicate Productions, LA and San Francisco, they've been doing top tier touring, audio and video for, I want to say, every famous band on the planet. Festivals too. It's the kind of name you see backstage and just OK, these folks know what they're doing. Let's not forget Zenith Lighting, based in Orlando. They're the lighting design brains, pulling together shows for corporate gigs, theme parks, you name it. I've worked with their designers a couple of times actually. Always get the gig looking tight and then you've got active production and design down.

2:43 In Atlanta, they're all about AV staging, big audio setups. Those huge projection screens for conferences won't leave you in the dark unless you want to be HA. But hey, the one I really want to shout about because literally nothing happens without them is Gear Co. They're the logistics people, right? Keeping all the gear moving, warehouses stocked, repairs sorted across the board. Like I've seen so many tours hinge on a single piece of lost equipment. These folks, they just fix things before you even know there's a problem. And with everyone sharing their resources now, you're not scrambling to find like an extra lighting rig in the middle of the tour.

3:24 It's all there in house. Absolutely. Gear Co's the little engine that keeps this giant train running. I reckon half the people in the crowd never even think about how all that kit gets where it needs to go on time. But if you've ever seen a show grind to a halt, well, you start appreciating the behind the scenes magic a little more. Exactly. So OK, we've got fireworks, lighting, audio, video, creative and logistics all under one roof, but what does that actually mean for the way shows get pulled off these days? It's the creative side that really gets me excited. Like you just said, Chris, you get lighting designers from Zenith collaborating with pyrotechnicos, SFX crew working out stuff way ahead of time.

4:04 Not just let's set off fireworks here, but how do we time the fire burst to hit the exact beat of the music and work with the light cues? That's a whole new ball game. Oh, 100%. That's the bit I love seeing all these tech teams blending together, sharing resources. Because now with the scale live events has, you're not sending three different trucks from three different states just to get your gear to Atlanta or wherever. Logistics are massively streamlined so the show can move from LA to Dallas to Orlando almost without missing a beat. It's actually a really clever model if you think about it. Cut costs on the boring bits, put more into the show itself.

4:45 It's like you see the benefits with tours, but also those giant festivals that are popping up all over. I mean, sure, artists and audiences love the fire and the light shows, but it's the crew that gets to breathe a little easier now. Yeah, and it opens the door for some real creative risks, stuff we couldn't even imagine before. If you wanted to try something wild like a lighting queue that triggers a custom SFX plume across the stage, you just call up the Zenith and pyrotechnico folks have a proper planning sesh. I think as technology gets better and these teams keep integrating, we're going to see even more mind blowing stuff out on the road. Maybe AI driven queuing or something, who knows, but it's the cross pollination that does it.

5:30 In our last episode about lighting innovation, we saw how a single fixture could change a whole show. Now scale that up to every department talking to each other. That's the future of live events right there. I love that, and honestly, if anyone out there is thinking about getting into production or just wants to see what it looks like when all the right pieces come together, definitely keep an eye on what Live Events is doing next. Chris. We could probably talk all day about the possibilities. We definitely could, but we'll save it for a future episode. Yeah. Thanks for listening everyone. Laci, as always, brilliant chatting with you. Back at you Chris, catch y'all next time and keep those questions and stories coming. Bye.

6:11 Cheers everyone, take care.