The history of concert lighting design goes back, in a serious way, only about fifty-five years, when it began to pick up momentum in the early 1970s. Broadway and theatre lighting was fairly sophisticated, despite having only what we might consider, now, to be primitive resources. Las Vegas showroom productions hired Broadway designers to create colorful and glitzy lighting to match the costumes, choreography, and scale of the shows. But concert lighting for pop, rock, folk, and country music tours was still in its Ice Age. Traveling shows relied on the minimal equipment available in clubs, theaters, and State Fair stages—perhaps a few color washes of Fresnels or the newly-created PAR can, plus a followspot or two at disarmingly low angles. The lighting was handled, largely, by road managers (not yet called “tour managers”). And, with an afternoon load-in, they didn’t have the time, nor the inclination, to be all that “creative.”
As the seventies advanced, so did lighting aesthetics and little by little, standards were raised and the artists began to understand the value that better lighting brought to their shows. If an act didn’t want to hire a professional lighting designer, they created one from within, promoting someone on their staff to learn how to specialize in lighting. Some rose to the challenge, many did not.
This is the point in history where we are introduced to designer Peter Morse in a new book by Vickie Claiborne with abundant input from Peter himself, The Morse Code: Decoding the Career of Iconic Lighting Designer Peter Morse. Iconic, indeed, Morse’s renowned designs and staggering body of work (Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, etc., etc.) have appropriately earned him award after award and accolade after accolade for being one of the true pioneers who broke ground and shaped concert lighting design from wet clay to what is, today, a respected art form and powerhouse industry that stands side-by-side with Broadway, Vegas, and even cinema.
The book is an engaging and thoroughly absorbing read. Claiborne describes Morse’s career history in delicious detail, as he stumbles into lighting design by what can only be defined as “fate” in the truest sense. But once fate occurred, the rest was up to him. A serious singer-songwriter career transformed into what was supposed to be a temporary stint as a road manager to tide him over during a lull. One thing led to another, and Peter, never one to turn away from an opportunity, found himself in charge of simple lighting tasks in those days of two spots and a wash. His artists grew bigger, their needs expanded with success, and Peter—truly not knowing one light from another at the beginning, nor even the concept of “standby…and GO!”—grew little by little, and then by leaps and bounds, forging a reputation, initially, as a capable designer, but quickly becoming one of the most in-demand. In his own words, “The secret to how I was able to design lighting is that I simply didn’t realize I couldn’t!” And so, he did.
Vickie Claiborne, herself a talented programmer, designer, and writer, has woven Peter’s journey into a highly enjoyable chronicle, creating the connecting threads of Morse’s career timeline to Peter’s own accounts of how he came to be a mega-force in the world of lighting design—having begun in the days of the leko, PAR, and carbon-arc spot—and evolving to become one of the architects of today’s level of artistry and technology.
This is an entertaining “can’t put it down” book at the very least as it moves swiftly but comprehensively through Morse’s many career highlights. Far beyond that, it’s an inspirational “how I did it” account that should encourage anyone aspiring to the world of concert lighting. With candid self-revelation, and a large dose of wit, the authors willingly walk you through Peter’s climb up the ladder of success—despite his splintery ladder missing more than a few rungs. Peter has a story, with production photos and plots, about almost every one of his jaw-dropping list of clients, laced with humor and historical references about the state-of-the-art as it was at that time. He relates conversations, artists’ demands—however crazy—and his many design triumphs over seemingly unachievable production limitations.
Morse is also quite happy to disclose more than a few crash-and-burns that, as we know, are life’s best teachers. Often, he, himself, can’t believe what’s happening as he frequently thinks…
“Holy crap! I was in so far over my head, I could barely catch my breath!” Or,
“Holy crap! A lighting designer’s nightmare…!” But also,
“Holy crap! I just lit Purple Rain for Prince!”
Claiborne has made this book extra useful to those who may be looking back at the history of concert lighting only from a current-day perspective, by adding numerous sidebars of explanatory information about fixtures and technology, “Tech Notes”, in which she deciphers, in clear language, the techniques, terms, abbreviations, and lighting gear used by the cave men and women of the 1970s and ‘80s. In this regard, the book is a concise and informative history lesson about design methods, equipment, and the aesthetics of concert lighting. There is also a recurring feature she calls “Interesting Facts”, in which she shares more obscure details about historical figures in the music biz, as well as characters from Peter’s recording career, plus several tasty morsels of info about Peter’s clients or the business in general. Totally fun, sometimes gossip-worthy, and hugely appealing to us geeks who love to learn those “little known nuggets of info” about lighting.
As a bonus, the book wraps up with an extended chapter of stories—in Peter’s own words—of mishaps, pranks, and tributes throughout his celebrated career, with tons of great photos. You can’t make this stuff up, and this is almost a little book on its own. Finally, in a remarkably generous gesture, Peter names just about every technician, crew chief, and programmer he’s worked with over the decades, whom he calls his heroes. I couldn’t agree more!
Morse Code is for anyone who wasn’t there in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s but wants to learn how concert lighting developed, and how an innately talented and resourceful designer invented himself. It’s also for those of us who were there and want to relive those days when concert production, itself, was becoming more and more sophisticated. Hollywood couldn’t write a better story!
- Publisher : Routledge
- Publication date : May 12, 2025
- Edition : 1st
- Language : English
- Print length : 216 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1032736143
- ISBN-13 : 978-1032736143
- Item Weight : 11.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.98 x 0.49 x 9.02 inches
Jeff Ravitz is an Emmy-winning lighting designer, writer, and lecturer. His book, Lighting for Televised Live Events, helps unlock the mysteries of lighting stage shows for the camera.