The 17.5mm pixel pitch media displays were provided by rental company Laser Grafix, whose project manager Arran Hopkins confirmed that the displays had been specifically chosen by the band's video director, Alan Yates, following their performance at the Brit Awards. The screens took their feeds from a camera/hothead PPU, with further live video and visual effects generated later during the show from a pair of RADlites.
But while the Unitek display had to operate 80% of the show in high brightness conditions (reinforcing the images of two support bands during daylight hours), its other attribute, suggests Hopkins, is its lightweight but rugged design, giving the units rigging speed and durability.
"From a performance point of view we only had it operating at 38%, but for touring purposes the screens have also been great. Weighing just one and a half tons each, with their aluminium frames and metal louvres on the front, they are comparatively lightweight, quick to set up and highly practical."
The unusual feature of these build-ups, he says, has been that the Vari-Lite truss, the video and line array PA have all been erected on site the same day - inside four hours. He also remarked on how durable the system was. "In Glasgow, for example, the screens got drenched, and dried out three times; it must be the most tour-friendly screen on the market."
The video element of the production also used a 'letterbox' projection screen, upstage centre, for spot projections during Coldplay's set, with Alan Yates himself positioned behind the Christie 25K 3-chip DLP Roadie and Andy Bramley handling the vision mixing.
(Cheryl Constable)
