XLIVE: The Concert Touring Sessions
Session details:
New at LDI 2025: XLIVE: The Concert Touring Sessions - Saturday, December 6, 2025 - an examination of the concert touring industry and the festival scene from all angles. Teaming up with LDI to create this new iteration of XLIVE is the legendary Jake Berry, a multiple award-winning production director, known throughout the industry as the go to guy for any successful tour, and the founder and CEO of Jake Berry Productions. He is joined by Marcel Fairbairn, host of the Geezers of Gear podcast to help moderate a full day of sessions featuring experts from the concert touring industry as they share their expertise. From set and lighting design to management, logistics and more, this conference bridges generations, offering unparalleled insights for anyone in—or aspiring to join—the world of live entertainment production.
XLIVE: The Concert Touring Sessions is included as part of the Young Career Professional Program as well as the new LDInteractive Pass. XLIVE includes lunch, panels and solo presentations, a happy hour reception, and culminates with the second annual Dining With Dinosaurs, now a dinner and networking experience with legends from the concert touring industry. It is also available as an individual LDInstitute course.
Preliminary schedule*:
9:00-9:30am: Introduction / Jake Berry Keynote
9:30-11:00am: The Road to Success: Picking a lane and finding your best path in the Concert Touring industry with insights from industry veterans. Lighting. Audio. Carpentry. Tour Management. Rigging. Logistics. From small starts to big stages —what it really takes to make it. Speakers include: Butch Allen, "Milo" Colorado, James Oliver, Joerg Philipp.
11:15am-12:30pm: Life on the Road: Lessons From Coldplay’s World Tour: Ever wondered what it’s like to pull together the technical strings of a colossal 3.5-year world tour? Hear from screens director Joshua Koffman as he joins Disguise’s project manager for live experiences Ollie Newland, for a fireside chat to discuss his experience working as the screens director and creative associate on Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour. Revealing the highs (and lows) of life on the road, Joshua will be sharing his on-the-ground insights as well as top tips for technical teams ready to embark on multi-stop global tours. We’ll also be discussing the biggest challenges faced along the way and how he resolved them, including adapting and scaling content to different venues, managing failover, and navigating the diverse technical needs of shows of this scale.
12:30-1:30pm: Lunch & Networking
1:30-3:00pm: Creating Moments: The Art and Science Behind Unforgettable Shows: Lighting, sound, visuals, pacing—how the best in the biz leave a lasting impact. Speakers include: Anders Rahm, Cort Lawrence, Sooner Routhier, Bob Bonniol.
3:15-4:00pm: The Drop That Changed Festivals: EDM’s Festival Takeover: How dance music culture rewired production scale—and budgets. Speakers include: Steve Lieberman
4:15-5:15: Show Wreckers : When Things Go Wrong (and How the Pros Fix It) “The Show Must Go On:” Rainstorms, missing or broken gear, no-show artists—how legends stay calm under fire. Speakers include: Roy Bickel, Patrick Dierson, Mitch Margolin.
5:30-9:30pm: Dinosaurs Panel and Dining With Dinosaurs Dinner & Networking: Presented by Geezers of Gear
Moderated by Marcel Fairbairn, Dinosaurs include:
- Allen Branton: A 40-year veteran of the entertainment lighting business with hundreds of successful projects to his credit from concerts to tv specials.
- Scott De Vos: Longtime roadie and business owner in live events production.
- Jeff Ravitz: Emmy award winning LD, tour designer (over 30 years with Bruce Springsteen) and TV and film lighting guru.
- Roy Bickel: Literally the godfather of rock and roll rigging, no one knows more than this man.
- Howard Ungerleider: A top LD who spent 37 years with Rush among others, Howard is also a funny man with an amazing art for storytelling.
- Seth Jackson: Award-winning LD, set designer and great guy who has a resume that includes The Doobies, Barry Manilow, and Toby Keith to name a few.
- Jay Robert Harmon: Celebrating 50 years with Eggshell Lighting in Hawaii, Bob is a book of knowledge combined with an expert teller of tales.
- Jake Berry: Hardly needs an introduction... Jake is one of the OG's of production management with acts including U2, AC/DC, The Stones, and the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
- Peter Morse: Award-winning lighting/production designer for concerts, video, and film, for such stars as Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, and the list goes on…
- Bob Gordon: The now retired business guru who founded ACT Entertainment.
- John Wiseman: A legend of the business, John started his concert career in the 70s and is at the top of the game as VP at PRG.
- Mark Fetto: VP Lighting at OSA International, with a history of working in the entertainment industry.
- Nancy May: A seasoned administrative project manager and production executive
- Dave Shadoan: CEO of Sound Image, one of the largest live sound companies in the world.
-John Procaccini: A seasoned production executive, tour manager, and entrepreneur; tour production manager for Peter Frampton.
- Joe Branam: With more than five decades of contributions to the art and science of rigging, Joe Branam has more than earned the title: The Rigger’s Rigger
Have dinner and chat with veteran legends from the concert touring industry: from lighting designers to production managers (Also available as an a la carte event for $129 / $149 after 10/14).
Register for XLIVE @ LDI 2025 at ldishow.com - It's also included in the LDInteractive Pass or Young Career Professionals Pass. Three ways to make XLIVE: The Concert Touring Sessions part of your LDI experience.
Price: $569 ($669 after 10/14) / lunch included
* sessions and speakers subject to change
