Rob Shawver
Rob Shawver is a seasoned lighting engineer who has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry, including T-Pain. With years of experience crafting stunning visual productions, Rob plays a crucial role in bringing concerts and festivals to life. From high-energy performances at Red Rocks to major festivals like Lollapalooza and Coachella, his expertise ensures seamless, dynamic lighting that enhances every show.
Lindsi (Interviewer): The first question is, how did you get started in stage production, lighting, and all the things you do? What led you to join the crew for T-Pain?
Rob: Let’s see. Back in 2006, I was a firefighter and an EMT for years. Since we worked 24-hour shifts and then had 48 hours off, I had a lot of downtime. During that time, I got connected with a mega church that had a large-scale production setup. I started helping out there and also got involved with some local production houses. They all tried to push me toward audio, but I wasn’t really interested—I was drawn to lighting instead. So, I plugged myself into the lighting world and learned everything I could. It’s funny because I remember when they first tried to explain DMX to me—like, "There are 512 of them"—and I just didn’t get it at first. But they kept pouring into me, giving me opportunities, and eventually, I started to understand everything. I’ve always been a creative person, so the creative side of lighting came naturally to me. The technical side took some time to learn, but once I got the hang of it, I started programming. I remember when it used to take me eight hours to program just one worship song! In 2010, I decided to leave the fire department. I didn’t have anything lined up, but I wanted to go all-in on freelance lighting. Not long after, I got hired as the lighting director at North Point’s Woodstock City Church, where I worked for nearly eight years. That gave me a ton of hands-on experience—I was designing sets, handling all the lighting, and even planning the full tech setup when we moved into a new building. As for T-Pain, that opportunity came through relationships, like most gigs in this business. Since he’s not always touring full-time, his team only has a few full-time crew members. Noah is the main lighting guy, and I fill in for him when he’s unavailable. If I can’t make a show, there’s another guy who fills in for me. Basically, the tour manager and his assistant handle logistics, and then we have a full-time video guy and a production director. One day, they called me up and said, “Hey, we need a lighting guy while Noah is out. Can you do it?” I said sure, and that’s how I got started. Since then, I’ve done multiple tours, sometimes as the primary lighting lead, other times assisting. In this industry, if you’re good at what you do, it’s all about relationships. For example, I do Lollapalooza every year with Four Wall, working on the EDM stage and Perry’s Stage. Running lights for 30,000 people behind you—it’s wild! Sometimes, I stop and think, "Man, how did I get here?" And the answer is always the same: someone recommended me, I got a phone call, I did a good job, and I kept getting called back. It’s crazy to think I went from being a firefighter to this, but that’s just how it happened.
Lindsi (Interviewer): So, I guess that leads into my next question. What does your role entail during a live show? Obviously, lighting contributes to the atmosphere, but what does a typical show look like for you?
Rob: It depends on my role for that particular show. If it’s a T-Pain show and Noah isn’t there, then I’m the L1 (lighting lead), which means I’m running the show. If it’s a festival, we get the patching and setup details ahead of time, and I have to clone our show into theirs. Festivals often have 500-600 lights, while our tour might only have 200, so I have to adapt our programming to their rig. When we arrive on site, we do a soundcheck while I fine-tune positions, test timecode, and ensure everything is patched correctly. Once the show starts, everything is pre-programmed to timecode, but I have to monitor it in real-time. If the timecode fails—whether the DJ accidentally stops it or there’s a glitch—I have to take over manually and trigger the cues myself. When we’re on a full tour with T-Pain, the whole team is there. Noah runs the show at the front of house, and I’m on stage as the lighting lead. I manage the stagehands, make sure all the lighting equipment gets off the truck and set up correctly, and handle power distribution. For example, we just finished a tour with Pitbull, where we were the direct support act. We had an hour-long set before his show, and after our set, we had only 20 minutes to strike the stage and get all our gear off. So, part of my job was making sure everything ran smoothly—basically, project managing the lighting side of the production.
Lindsi (Interviewer): I’ve heard good things about Pitbull and his team.
Rob: Oh, his camp is amazing—probably one of the best I’ve ever worked with. Sometimes, when you join another artist’s tour, there’s tension, like, “Who are these guys?” But with Pitbull’s team, it felt like family. By the end of the tour, his dancers were wearing our “Nappy Boy” merch instead of Pitbull’s, which was hilarious. We were all just hanging out, trading hoodies with the audio guys, and having a blast. We even had Nerf gun wars and airsoft battles on the bus—it was just a great time.
Lindsi (Interviewer): That’s awesome. Whether it’s with T-Pain, Lollapalooza, or another big event, what’s the most challenging part of working on a large-scale show?
Rob: It depends. When we’re doing our own tour, we handle the full production design. We travel with our own gear, load it in, set it up, and run the show. But when we’re doing festivals, we just show up and adapt to whatever they have. Festivals provide a production rider, which outlines what lighting and audio setups we require. The promoter has to meet those requirements. Our production manager handles most of that, so by the time we arrive, everything should be ready for us to integrate our show. For an event like Lollapalooza, I’m involved more in the logistics. My buddy Chris Lisle usually designs the lighting setup, and then we spend a week prepping in Nashville before heading to the festival site. There’s a ton of network setup involved—lighting is all digital now, using streaming ACN over Ethernet, so we have to configure huge lighting networks. Once we get on-site, we have about three days to get everything set up. There’s a lot of coordination between lighting, video, and audio teams. That’s why a good stage manager is crucial—someone who keeps everything moving smoothly and prevents departments from stepping on each other’s toes.
Lindsi (Interviewer): Are there any behind-the-scenes moments or challenges that stand out—good or bad?
Rob: Oh, yeah, things go wrong all the time. One time, on tour, a whole section of truss with our lights fell off the truck because the driver didn’t secure it properly. Some security guy was rushing them, and they drove off before we had everything locked in. The key in situations like that is to not panic. T-Pain didn’t even know it happened—we didn’t want to stress him out before a show for thousands of people. We just made calls, worked with Pitbull’s crew to swap out damaged fixtures, and got everything fixed before showtime. Later, we told T-Pain what had happened, and he was like, “Man, that’s why y’all are the best—I had no idea.” That’s a win in my book.
Lindsi (Interviewer): How do you ensure seamless communication and teamwork with the rest of the crew during high-pressure situations?
Rob: You're all usually wearing comms and we usually have a plan. Take this last tour for instance—I was always on the stage right side because that's where the power breakers were. I could see the rig, making sure everything was firing, nothing had moved, and nothing was going to roll and hit Pain. My job was to make sure everything stayed in place, was safe, and was working properly. If someone said, "Hey, Rob, I need you to cycle fixture 168," I had everything labeled. I could go back, power it off, and cycle it so the problem could be fixed. So, we all communicate through comms. If comms aren’t working, we're always checking our phones to make sure nobody's texted us. We just kind of know what to do. The security guy is usually stage left, but in our security guy's absence, we already have a plan. Like, "Hey, Rob, if someone gets on this stage, you're doubling as security." I'm usually closer to the stage, so if someone jumps up, they're going to see me coming after them, turn around, and run—then the Head of Security is going to clothesline them. We all work together. If there is an issue, we talk about it afterward. Like, "Hey, this was a problem—how can we fix it? Was it a big deal or not?" But for the most part, everything runs pretty smoothly because we have a good crew. Everyone just does their job without needing to be told.
Lindsi (Interviewer): Have you had a lot of people jump on stage that you've had to tackle?
Rob: Yeah, I mean, not as often as you’d think. Usually, house security gets to them first. But there have been a few occasions when someone actually made it on stage—only to immediately realize, "Oh, big mistake." These guys are very large men, and they will take you to the ground. On this past tour, we didn’t have any major problems. There was one guy who jumped over the pit cage, but six house security guys were right there. I don’t understand why people think that’s a good idea. He and his wife got escorted out immediately. It's crazy because people pay so much money to be front row, and then just ruin it. People can be dumb. We see a lot of really drunk, belligerent people, but most of the time, they're fighting others in the crowd, and they get ejected from the concert before it becomes a bigger issue.
Lindsi (Interviewer): What’s your favorite city or venue you’ve worked at so far?
Rob: Oh man, I’ve done a lot of cool places. Lollapalooza is probably one of my favorites. It’s in Chicago, right on the lake. The weather is beautiful in July, the stages are huge, and the lighting rigs are awesome. On my last tour, the venue itself wasn’t that special, but the behind-the-scenes setup in Bangor, Maine, was amazing. Their hospitality was next level. They had a container gym set up really nicely, great food—oysters, lobster tail—and they gave us a bunch of cool swag. Utah was beautiful, with mountains behind the stage. The people were awesome, and they even had someone giving free haircuts to the crew. They also had postcards you could sign and send back home, which was a cool touch. I’ve also done shows in Times Square. It’s a crazy experience setting up a mobile stage and performing in the middle of all the chaos. It's very surreal standing in the middle of it and looking up at everything. Coachella was wild. There’s the main festival, but then there are all these satellite festivals around it. We’d have to do rehearsals at the main venue, drive 30 minutes to another, rehearse again, drive back, do a show, then drive back again. It was non-stop. And of course, Red Rocks—two sold-out nights. It’s such an iconic venue. We did a Halloween show where Akon opened on the 30th, and Lil Jon opened on Halloween night. That was really cool.
Lindsi (Interviewer): What’s the most rewarding part of being part of the stage crew for a big act?
Rob: The most rewarding part? Just making the show happen. Pain isn’t like anybody else I’ve ever worked with. He knows he wouldn’t be where he is without his crew. He keeps the team small, and we’re like family. He used to be under big production companies and labels, but he broke away. Now, he owns his own label and three companies—Nappy Boy Entertainment (music), Nappy Boy Automotive, and his new World Gaming League. He’s a businessman.
People told him he’d never make it if he left the big labels. In 2017, he had to cancel a tour because he couldn’t sell tickets. Now, he’s selling out Red Rocks two nights in a row. He acknowledges his crew. He knows he couldn’t do it without his fans and his team. People ask me what it’s like working with him—it’s like working with a friend. He invites us to his house, takes us out to eat, makes sure we stay in nice places. He genuinely takes care of us.
Lindsi (Interviewer): What advice would you give to someone looking to break into stage production or lighting?
Rob: It depends on what you want to do, but I always tell people to start at a production company. Work in the warehouse. Learn the ins and outs. Roll cables. Don’t be afraid to do it all. I design, program, operate, and handle maintenance. I also do load-in and load-out. You have to start somewhere.
If you can’t get into a production house, volunteer at a big church with a strong production team. A lot of churches use high-end gear—grandMA lighting consoles, top-tier cameras—so it’s a great way to get hands-on experience for free.
That’s usually my advice. Just get your foot in the door and be willing to learn everything.
