From SHOOT:

Vol. 38, Issue 25

LIVE ON LIVE: LED VIDEOWALL GOES ON THE ROAD WITH U2’S ’POPMART’

Concert Footage And Graphics Enhance Concert.

U2’s "POPMART" world concert tour, which kicked off in April and willrun through March 1998, is giving new meaning to the word entertainment. While the band is performing onstage, a 56-foot high, 170-foot wide LED display videowall (cost: $7 million) presents a mix of live concert footage, graphics and animation behind them, creating, in effect, a live show within a live show.

One advantage to the wall is obvious: Because the band is mostly playing in large venues, a video display allows even distant audience members to clearly see what’s happening Gristage. But while videowalls in and of themselves are not unusual, this wall also has music video-like graphicsand images that are being mixed each performance with the live concert footage.

Each show is produced by U2’s traveling video unit, which mixes the showout of a tented area. (Including preproduction, the unit occasionally racksup 20-hour days.) The images are manipulated live with technology commonly used in post production, but which has also proved effective for livevenues. This includes DVEous, a digital-effects unit from Scitex Digital Video;a Grass Valley 200 switcher; four Sony Beta SP decks; and two Profiledisc recorders from Tektronix. The animation and graphics—prerecordedelements created by a variety of mostly European artists—are manipulated livewith DVEous.

The wall itself is made up of clumps of LEDs set three-and-a-half inchesapart, and offers 598×180 pixel resolution (less than 300 lines of resolution).Analog video is used because the videowall is low-resolution; digital video,explained U2 video director Monica Caston, would be more costly whilemaking little noticeable difference in picture quality.

Still Evolving

The show, still in its early stages, is a work in progress. The intent, accordingto Caston, is that the DVEous will play an increasingly sophisticated role.(DVEous has been used during numerous recent live events, including theAcademy Awards. It is also scheduled to be used in Nagano, Japan, as part ofthe 1998 Olympics coverage there.)

"Typically a show evolves both musically and effects-wise," said PeterChallinger, director of strategic marketing for Redwood City, Calif.-based Scitex."[At first] there’s a limit to how much you can do. [As it progresses], theelements come together."

Added Caston: "I had great success with [Scitex’s] Abekas DVEs on the RollingStones "Voodoo Lounge’ tour. DVEous gives us the flexibility and programmabilityto continually add to and update the visual presentation. Most importantly,DVEous means we’ll be able to give fresh performances without ever hitting acreative block."

The concert, which is being shot each time in its entirety, and all video projectionsare being recorded on Beta SP for the band’s archives.

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