On tour with Beyonce
05 October 2009
Amid a storm of spotlights, smoke and confetti, there she stood ... the unmistakable silhouette of Beyonce Knowles. Less than 48 hours earlier she had graced the screens of almost every news bulletin in the world rescuing Taylor Swift's dignity from the villainous Kanye West at the MTV Video awards in New York.
Tonight kicking off with the familiar funky grooves of Crazy in Love, the Australian leg of Beyonce's 'I Am ...' tour had begun in style. The A list tour is one of the world's highest grossing, and the Rod Laver Arena crowd even featured an A list celebrity to match. Hollywood's Katie Holmes was seen with daughter Suri in the mixing desk enclosure watching in awe as the massive production unfolded featuring ten piece band, Imax-like screen and several highly athletic dancers.
At approximately the same time Beyonce was consoling Swift (and also winning the MTV award for Video of the Year), her all-female band was already in Melbourne preparing for the Australian tour. Calling the shots as musical director is Portland based guitarist Bibi McGill.
Bibi came to the Beyonce band with a reputation built on successful tours with Pink, the 'Mexican Madonna,' Paulina Rubio, and Chilean superstars La Ley. On stage Bibi is a ball of energy, laying down some very slick licks while keeping one eye out for any unexpected mishaps (such as Beyonce's well publicised wardrobe malfunction which required the band to play an inordinate amount of time on the same four bars while the star sorted her clothing problem).
I put it to Bibi that it was unusual for the musical director of such a huge musical production to be a guitar player. "Yes, typically it is a keyboard player that can play all the parts, all the vocals, all the horns," she replied. "I was told by the creative director that I was chosen for my experience. I was the only one who had done an A list tour. They thought I was mature and peaceful and would be able to carry out what was wanted for a pop artist gig. I mean I am, but it is not what I signed up for. I just wanted to play guitar, not be the one to tell everyone what time they have to be there, being responsible to give the cue for the stage to rise, being responsible if Beyonce wants to change something in the middle of the show, figuring it out and talking in my mic to everyone who has in-ears and making it all look seamless. That's what I have to do," explained McGill.
What makes it even more impressive that a guitarist is running the musical part of the show is that Beyonce's music has traditionally featured little if any real guitar playing. "I know ... totally," she says of her appointment. "Her new album has more guitar on it but the B'Day album ... there is no guitar on that album. It's all key-guitar, which was really cool for me because I got to come into the situation, write my own guitar parts and do what I wanted to do. She has never said she didn't like it, so that was really cool."
The "I Am ..." show was put together collaboratively by Beyonce and her creative director Kim Burse, along with designer Thierry Mugler, who created 71 new costumes for the event. Apart from the musicians and dancers, there is a substantial contingent of production crew vital to the show too. As show MD, Bibi needs to be in constant contact with them all.
"We have a programmer backstage who triggers whatever sounds need to be triggered," she explains of one of the support crew's roles." On her albums as you know, there are four, five or six keyboard parts, tons of vocals. There is a great deal played live because it's a ten piece band, but in order for it to sound full, we need to trigger the things that ten people can't play. I can speak to every single musician on stage as well as our programmer, the people who look after the in-ears, and most of the production people. There are at least five or six key people I have to be able to communicate with."
When McGill does what she loves most, which is running her nimble fingers up and down the fretboard of her guitar, she does so on a Gibson Dive Bomber. It's a guitar which allows her to shred to her heart's content in a manner reminiscent of her heroes Randy Rhoads and Nancy Wilson. "It's got a custom sparkle gold finish and a Floyd Rose on it with a locking nut," she says of her main stage guitar. "It's kinda old school, you don't see a lot of Floyd Roses. When I started playing guitar, Floyd Rose and Kahler were really big. So it took me back to when I really enjoyed those old school things. I'm also using a Flying V. The action on my guitars is fairly low but I'm up to elevens (string gauge) now because I can't get the punch and the attack from anything else. Gibson have been a strong supporter of Bibi McGill since 2001."
On the Beyonce stage there are no amps or speakers. No technical crew are allowed to be seen either. As a result, the most appropriate amplification system to use was the Line 6. "Because I need to switch from acoustic to electric, and I can't have my guitar tech on stage, I need to switch quickly," Bibi said. "I can play an electric, 6 string or 12 string guitar all on the Vari Axe Line 6 guitar system just by switching the pedal and it all sounds very real."
And as for what the boss expects from her band, Bibi suggests Beyonce wants the band to have fun, but at the same time do their job well. "To play things like the record," is one of Beyonce's prime requests says McGill. "It's a pop show and for most people that's what they want to hear... what they hear on the record. Of course, we add a little of our own feeling and vibe but she wants us to enjoy the show."
Bibi McGill is unsure of when the tour will wrap up, but when it does, the sometime yoga instructor looks forward to returning to her little patch of heaven in Portland, back to her "corn, tomatoes, eggplant, watermelon and 25 pound squash."
http://www.themusicnetwork.com/music-features/industry/2009/10/05/on-tour-with-beyonce/