UK - Former One Direction star Niall Horan’s The Show: Live on Tour wrapped up its European leg in front of a capacity crowd at The O2 last week.
On the road since February, the Irish singer/songwriter’s third outing as a solo artist is to a music hall design, made arena size by 11 separate screens, 150sq.m of Universal Pixels’ LED, fed by four 35k projectors.
With Universal Pixels (UP) having run tests on a custom Austrian drape to determine its real-world brightness ahead of rehearsals late last year, the theatre curtain at The O2 is splashed with projected cinematic slogans and graphics, Welcome To The Show, Starring Niall Horan. And when it lifts to reveal Horan and a six-piece band playing Nice to Meet Ya, the thrill, the whoops and the songs sung back by fans carry right through the set.
Universal Pixels also supplied The Show with new kit in the shape of Disguise GX3 servers, PPU with Panasonic cameras, Brompton LED distro carts, and a Theatrixx HDMI2 Fibre System. Coupled with seven UP crew it delivers a display that takes the multi-direction spectacular right across arenas, inside and out.
Phil Mercer, founder/commercial director at Universal Pixels, comments: “It’s a complex show and [tour director] Ant Carr put a great team together. The projection elements and nine separate camera cuts mixed across the different LED screens are very challenging. It works so well thanks to the skill of projectionists Pete Tilling and Kevin Parry and video director Shelby Cude.
“Aside from the projection elements, Shelby has done an incredible job directing the cameras and getting shots out of the cam ops night after night, which are perfectly framed for the different shapes and configurations of the LED screens, venue to venue.”
