In 1975 we developed the Showco lighting control console to control the lighting systems and replace the Colortran control systems. We hired Larry Cobb, an electronics engineer, to design and develop the consoles. We used the same mechanical design as the Superboard with Ron Fox making a frame using the custom aluminum extrusion with the captive locking 10-32 nuts and using South African walnut for the exterior wood sides. The color scheme and artwork for the panels matched the Superboard.

{{< StoryImage id="showco-larry-cobb-lighting-console-1975" title="Showco Lighting Console" caption="New Showco lighting console designed by Larry Cobb 1975." credit="Showco Recovered Archive" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-ltgconsole-7" title="Modular Control Panel" caption="A removable module of the Showco lighting control console." credit="Showco Recovered Archive" size="responsive" >}}

## Led Zeppelin Lighting Rig for 1975 US Tour {{< MultiGalleryComponent galleries="15b-zeppelin-jul-1975, carl-dunn-led-zeppelin-1975" >}} The lighting design for the 1975 Led Zeppelin US tour was done by Ian Knight, a designer with a background in theater, who had been hired by Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin’s manager. Ian’s design featured a U-shaped lighting truss structure that was ground supported by six Vermette hand crank lifts, side lighting fixtures hanging down from the trusses, five follow spots on Genie three-cylinder air tower man lifts and two mirror balls mounted on the rear truss. The lighting trusses were designed by my friend and mentor, George Cason, and Keny Whitright. Ron Fox and Philip Schad fabricated the trusses by welding pieces of square aluminum tubing together. The design included a white linen scrim hanging down from the back three trusses with a lighted Led Zeppelin sign mounted behind the scrim that was made with Christmas tree lights. To raise and lower the trusses required a man on each lift to crank the handles in unison. We also used a high power krypton laser as a special effect during Jimmy Page’s violin bow solo on Dazed and Confused. This was the first use of a high power laser in the concert touring industry and the krypton laser could produce multiple colors which was quite high tech for the time. Philip Schad came to work at Showco in the early 1970’s and like Ron Fox, was a master craftsman with wood and metal. He left Showco in 1973 to move to Alaska to work on the construction of the Alaskan oil pipeline. With Led Zeppelin 1975 tour looming along with all its requirements for new Showco sound and lighting equipment, Kirby Wyatt sent Philip a RCA Mailgram on November 27, 1974 asking him to return to Dallas for an eight week temporary stay to help us get the Led Zeppelin tour out the door. Kirby offered Philip the compelling salary of $250/week and all he had to do was work seven days a week for 12-14 hours per day! Amazingly, Philip agreed and came to Dallas and saved the day for us. Philip is an excellent metalworker and welder and he fabricated most of the lighting trusses for the 1975 Led Zeppelin lighting rig. We decided to rig and hang the new four-way Showco sound system from the ceiling of the arenas for the 1975 Led Zeppelin tour. Ron and Philip designed and built aluminum multi-level platforms to support the horns and bass bins in the Showco speakers system. This was the first time that we had rigged the Showco sound system for an entire tour and marked the beginning of the Showco rigging department.

{{< StoryImage id="showco-philip-schad-mailgram-1974" title="The Call to Service" caption="Kirby Wyatt’s Mailgram to Philip Schad in 1974 pleading with him for help to build the equipment for the 1975 Led Zeppelin tour." credit="Photo Courtesy of Philip Schad" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-supplemental-image-079-philip-schad" title="Philip Schad" caption="Philip Schad, lead termite and master welder. Kirby called Phil back to work from Alaska to construct the lighting trusses, cases and multi-faceted mirror ball for the 1975 Led Zeppelin tour." credit="Showco Recovered Archive" size="responsive" >}}

{{< StoryImage id="showco-vermette-lift-with-500-pound" caption="Vermette Lift with 500 lb weight capacity and 15 ft extended height capacity." credit="vermettelifts.com" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-2-equipment-023-equipment" title="Krypton Gas Laser" caption="Krypton High Power Gas Laser used on the Led Zeppelin 1975 tour was the first use of a high powered laser in the concert touring industry." credit="Jim Bornhorst Archive" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-carl-dunn-2-photos-image_88_nx_c_" caption="John Paul Jones with Krypton Laser Effect used on 1975 Led Zeppelin tour." credit="Photo Carl Dunn" size="responsive" >}}

{{< StoryImage id="showco-15b-zeppelin-jul-001-zep-75" caption="Lighting rig designed by Ian Knight for 1975 Led Zeppelin US Tour with U shaped structure made of Showco trusses and supported by six Vermette lifts, five follow spots on Genie man lifts, two mirror balls mounted on the back truss, a white scrim hanging down from the back three trusses and a lighted Led Zeppelin sign made with Christmas tree lights mounted behind the scrim." credit="Jim Bornhorst Archive" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-15b-zeppelin-jul-002-zep-75" caption="Led Zeppelin 1975 US Tour Lighting Rig in operation." credit="Jim Bornhorst Archive" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-013-zep-75" caption="Led Zeppelin Sign 1975 US Tour." credit="Jim Bornhorst Archive" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-1975-led-zeppelin-005-zep-75" caption="Krypton Laser Effect 1975 Led Zeppelin US Tour." credit="Showco Recovered Archive" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-15b-zeppelin-jul-003-zep-75" caption="Robert Plant 1975 Led Zeppelin US Tour." credit="Jim Bornhorst Archive" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-15b-zeppelin-jul-004-zep-75" caption="Jimmy Page 1975 Led Zeppelin US Tour." credit="Jim Bornhorst Archive" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-15b-zeppelin-jul-006-zep-75" caption="John Bonham 1975 Led Zeppelin US Tour." credit="Jim Bornhorst Archive" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-15b-zeppelin-jul-007-zep-75" caption="John Paul Jones 1975 Led Zeppelin US Tour." credit="Jim Bornhorst Archive" size="responsive" >}}

## Led Zeppelin Earl’s Court 1975 Led Zeppelin toured in the US almost continuously from January through March 1975. Peter Grant, the band’s manager, booked three shows that soon expanded to five shows due to huge demand for the tickets in Earl’s Court in London for May 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25, 1975. The promoter, Mel Bush, said at the time that the demand was unprecedented in the history of rock music with 85,000 tickets sold. Peter Grant shipped the entire Showco sound and lighting system to London for the shows including the new rigging equipment for hanging the Showco sound system. I remember the Earl’s Court arena being very cold and with surprisingly good acoustics. The shows were a big event in the London music scene and almost every artist and group attended the shows. Led Zeppelin was at the top of their game and played fantastic shows that lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes. I think they were the best sounding Led Zeppelin shows that I mixed during the 10 years that I toured with them. The sound system and the lighting for the shows drew rave reviews from the music critics and from people within the industry. A Word from Robin Magruder: I was mixing FOH for an Osmonds European tour at that time. Immediately after the 5 Zeppelin shows, the Osmonds did 2 sold out shows at Earls Court using the same double arena system that you used. I watched you periodically peg the output meters during some of the Zeppelin shows. I hoped the sound system was intact for the Osmonds after you hammered it for 5 Zeppelin shows. When the Osmonds hit the stage the output meters pegged and stayed pegged for most of the 2 shows due to the extreme volume of 15,000 screaming girls bleeding through the open mic’s onstage! I was rather mortified that I had hammered the system even more than you did, but I don’t recall that there were any reports of significant transducer damage afterwards! ## CM 1-Ton Chain Motor and Creation of Showco Rigging Department 1975 As part of the project in 1974 to design the Showco four-way sound system, we designed a rigging system that would travel with the sound system and be used to rig the sound equipment from the ceiling of the arenas. We used the sound system rigging platforms for the first time on the 1975 Led Zeppelin tour. We had started the Showco lighting department in 1972 and the lighting systems that we deployed in 1972-1975 used some sort of ground support equipment to position the lighting trusses holding the lighting fixtures above the stage. In 1974 we decided that we would purchase CM Lodestar one ton chain motors and for the first project, design rigging equipment for our sound equipment to be rigged from the arena ceilings using the CM chain motors. We hired Al Caine from Providence, R.I. to be our head rigger and to consult with us on the design and construction of the rigging equipment. The CM chain motor was originally designed to be fastened permanently to an overhead rigging point with the chain and hook hanging below the motor. To operate the hoist, the operator would attach the hook to a load to be lifted and actuate the motor which would draw the chain through the motor and lift the load. For rigging a show in an arena where the ceiling beams are typically 80 to 120 feet from the floor, it is not practical to attach a chain motor directly to the ceiling beams because the motor with a 120 ft long chain would be too heavy to lift into place by hand and the desired location of rigging points on a show typically end up falling between the location of two beams. The solution was to attach ½” diameter multistrand steel wire cables with woven eyelets at the ends to the beams and then attach the chain hook on the end of the chain from the motor, usually 50-60 ft long, to an eyelet on the end of the wire cable. The chain motor would be attached to the lighting or sound equipment and when actuated would climb the chain and lift the equipment into the desired position above the floor. We designed power distribution and control systems that enabled multiple chain motors to be operated simultaneously so that all of the motors lifting a large lighting rig or sound system could be operated in unison. The CM chain motors had contactors inside the motor that relied on gravity to operate properly. The contactors had to be modified to enable the motors to be inverted to climb the chain. CM eventually offered chain motors designed for inverted operation. Using the CM chain motors to rig the sound, lighting and staging equipment on a show revolutionized the production business and was a crucially important technological advancement in the industry that enabled the large complex shows that we see today. We established a Showco rigging department with specialized equipment for maintaining and testing the chain motors and equipment. Al Caine gradually put together an outstanding group of riggers that toured with Showco and safely rigged hundreds, if not thousands, of shows.

{{< StoryImage id="showco-supplemental-image-077-al-caine" title="Al Caine" caption="Al Caine, Showco’s head rigger, from Providence, R.I. who established Showco’s rigging department in 1975." credit="Jim Bornhorst Archive" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-021-bgs-pa-79" title="CM Chain Motor" caption="CM One Ton Chain Motor Setup for Inverted Operation to Enable the Motor to Climb Up the Chain." credit="creativestagelighting.com" size="responsive" >}}

## Rigging Platforms for Showco Four Way System-1975 We designed rigging platforms to hold the various cabinets in the new four-way sound system. Each platform was about 16 ft long X 4 ft wide and about 6 inches high and consisted of three layers made from aluminum tubing in a truss-like structure, each layer with casters, that connected together with chains. There were two 3 -layer platforms on each side of the stage and each platform was rigged with two CM one ton chain motors for a total of eight motors.

{{< StoryImage id="showco-backstage-pix-004-roe-ft" title="Showco Sound System Rigging Platforms" caption="Three-layer Showco rigging system for four-way sound system. Two M4 cabinets are hanging on the lower platforms for front fill and one M4 is hanging on the inside lower platform facing the stage as a side fill monitor for the performers on stage. Photo is of lighting rig and sound system for Jackson Browne 1978 Tour." credit="Showco Recovered Archive" size="responsive" >}}

## Eric Clapton and Santana 1975 Tour {{< MultiGalleryComponent galleries="1975-claptonsantana" >}} Eric Clapton attended one of the Led Zeppelin shows at Earl’s Court and was impressed with the Showco production. Eric’s manager hired Showco to provide the sound for Eric’s upcoming US tour with Santana which began on July 1, 1975.

{{< StoryImage id="showco-1975-claptonsantana-010-cs-75" caption="Eric Clapton & Santana 1975 US Tour." credit="Showco Recovered Archive" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-1975-claptonsantana-012-cs-75" caption="Eric Clapton & Santana 1975 US Tour." credit="Showco Recovered Archive" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-1975-claptonsantana-013-cs-75" caption="Eric Clapton & Santana 1975 US Tour." credit="Showco Recovered Archive" size="responsive" >}}

## The Who 1975 US Tour {{< MultiGalleryComponent galleries="1975-the-who,1975-the-who-tour" >}} Showco provided the sound system and lighting rig for the 1975 The Who US tour that started on November 20, 1975 in Houston, Tx. The Who also began using large laser lighting effects on this tour with laser equipment they purchased through Showco and under the direction of John “Wiggie” Wolff, an employee of The Who.

{{< StoryImage id="showco-1975-the-who-003-the-who-75" caption="Roger Daltry The Who 1975 US Tour." credit="Showco Photo Archive" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-1975-the-who-002-the-who-75" caption="Keith Moon The Who 1975 US Tour." credit="Showco Recovered Archive" size="responsive" >}} {{< StoryImage id="showco-1975-the-who-001-the-who-75" caption="Pete Townsend The Who 1975 US Tour." credit="Showco Recovered Archive" size="responsive" >}}

Showco History