An exciting addition to LDI 2025: XLIVE: The Concert Touring Sessions, a one-day event on Saturday, December 6, 2025, that examines 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, a leading tour production management company. 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 with seasoned professionals and newcomers alike. 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 (registration for the LDInstitute here).
Preliminary schedule*:
9am – 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: Milo Sa Colorado; Butch Allen; James Oliver; Jörg 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 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. Anders Rahm; Cort Lawrence; Sooner Routhier, Bob Bonniol;
3:15-4:15pm: The Drop That Changed Festivals
EDM’s Festival Takeover: How dance music culture rewired production scale—and budgets. Speakers: Forrest Hunt; 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: Patrick Dierson; Roy Bickel; Mitch Margolin
5:30-9:30pm: Dinosaurs Panel and Dining With Dinosaurs Dinner & Networking
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 $109). Moderated by Marcel Fairbairn and Scott De Vos. Confirmed dinosaurs to date: Michael Abbot, Jake Berry, Roy Bickel, Allen Branton, Carol Dodds, Mark Fetto, Bob Gordon, Bob Harmon, Seth Jackson, Nancy May, Peter Morse, Jeff Ravitz, Howard Ungerleider, and John Wiseman...
Register for LDI 2025 at ldishow.com - choose the LDInteractive Pass or the Young Career Professionals Pass and make XLIVE: The Concert Touring Sessions part of your LDI experience.
* sessions and speakers subject to change
XLIVE sponsors include: ETC
