Willie Williams

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Willie Williams - Lighting Designer

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www.WillieWorld.com

	Willie Williams - a brief history
	Willie Williams has been well known within the music industry for many years for creating multimedia shows. His ground-breaking approach to hi-tech video and lighting combined with his personal lo-tech eccentricity first received acclaim in 1992 with U2's "Zoo TV" tour. This became the first rock show of sufficient breadth to be featured in magazines as diverse as Scientific American, Vogue and Auto Week. Williams has worked with David Bowie both on a grand scale with his multimedia "Sound + Vision" retrospective tour and also the ultra-minimal "Tin Machine" projects. He surrounded R.E.M. with multi-layered dreamscape environments, lighting the stage with nine movie-house film projectors combining randomly chosen film sequences. Reviewing the R.E.M. show, the New York Times said Williams had "reinvented the concept of a light show". In the world of performance art, Williams has worked on live shows with the legendary Montréal based dance company La La La Human Steps and is currently working with Kronos Quartet on an audio visual collaboration commissioned by NASA. Installation work includes the creation of "SkyChurch", a multimedia performance space at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, plus a permanent exhibit at Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum. Current touring shows include Travis, Bryan Adams, The Corrs and U2's "Elevation" tour. He has been honoured by his peers several times, most recently with a 2001 "EDDY" award for excellence in entertainment design. Wired Magazine ranked him as one of the "Top 25 visionaries behind the entertainment industry beyond the year 2000". 'Lighting Dimensions International' awarded him "Designer of the Year" in 1992, as did Performance Magazine in both 1987 and 1992.

Willie Williams - Curriculum Vitae
Photo Gallery Click on a link to see more show pictures
	U2 'Elevation' Tour 2001
	R.E.M 'Up' Tour 1999
	The Corrs World Tour 2001
	Oasis UK Summer Stadium Shows 1996
	La La La Human Steps - Infante, C'est Destroy' 1991
	David Bowie Sound & Vision Tour 1990
Portfolio
	'Lighting Designer of the Year', 2002 Live! Magazine, UK
	'Most Creative Stage Production', 2002 Pollstar Magazine, USA
	Editor's Award, 2002 (U2 'Elevation' Tour) Total Production Magazine, UK
	"EDDY Award", 2001 Entertainment Design, New York
	'Stage Production Design', Silver Award 1999 (R.E.M. 'Up' Tour) Live! Magazine, UK
	'Wired Top 25' , 1997 "WIRED" Magazine, USA
	'Innovation of the Year', 1997 (PopMart video screen) Live! Magazine, UK
	'Lighting Designer of the Year', 1992 Lighting Dimensions International, New York
	'Lighting Designer of the Year', 1992 Performance Magazine, USA
	'Most Creative Stage Production', 1988 (U2 'Joshua Tree' Tour) Pollstar Magazine, USA
	'Lighting Director of the Year', 1987 Performance Magazine, USA
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Comments	U2’s Lighting Designer since 1982, Willie Williams enjoyed one of his busiest-ever years in 2001. As well as designing U2s stunning Elevation production, Williams also found time to design shows for Bryan Adams, Savage Garden and The Corrs. “I’ve worked with U2 for nearly 20 years and observed their development from a unique vantage point, so obviously I have a great understanding of where they are coming from,” says Sheffield-bred Williams. In turn, they really trust my instincts and have allowed me to take enormous liberties over the years! They’ve loved doing Zoo TV and PopMart with all the technology, that but they weren’t doing it because they needed to. The Elevation show needed to be about the performance.”