www.avinteractive.com: The Adele residency at the Munich Messe in Germany did not just witness the installation of the world’s largest, continuous, temporary outdoor LED wall.
It also required “the largest hanging bracket ever built”, and immense feats of accelerated planning by supplier Solotech, working in collaboration with its partners.
10 comments:
Video walls and the increased use is bringing a whole new world of development in the entertainment industry. To ensure that everything is safe and in working order is no small feat. To the level of detail required with pre-made parts coming in pieces going into a space already existing, that equation always allows for things not lining up. So as we start to see more use of MASSIVE video walls in more and more productions how do you build adjustability into the system, when you can't adjust the components actual size? What is the tolerance? How are we going to start to see theatre architecture change to accommodate this new technology? This is super exciting to see how we are adjusting as an industry.
Concerts are a form of live art, and like theater, they require thoughtful set design. However, unlike theater performances, concert venues are typically larger and often outdoors, which demands that the design creates an impactful experience in a vast space. In addition to dynamic lighting, stage design plays a crucial role in shaping the concert’s atmosphere. Many concerts utilize LED screens as a central part of the stage design due to their portability, the lack of need for scene changes, and their ability to integrate well with lighting and visual effects. Adele’s residency at Messe Munich exemplified this approach on an unprecedented scale. With the installation of the world’s largest continuous outdoor LED wall and the largest hanging bracket ever built, Solotech demonstrated exceptional technical and logistical expertise under immense time constraints. Despite challenges like extreme weather, their commitment to precision and problem-solving resulted in a flawless production. This achievement sets a new standard for concert design and serves as a valuable example for future large-scale productions.
LED walls are so interesting! One thing more interesting than an LED wall; Adele. Adele is my queen. She raised me. I would do ANYTHING to see her perform live. Just the images alone speak a thousand words. The photo with her standing in the center with fire pyrotechnic effects behind her and the rain on the LED wall is filled with so much life and movement- I imagine it is an incredible experience to see live. It is so interesting that it is the largest hanging bracket ever built, supporting two hundred fifty tonnes of LED panels, lights and rigging. Not to mention- her dress and hair and makeup and everything is STUNNING. “This show was groundbreaking because there was no template—only possibilities. What makes it so remarkable isn’t just the scale of the LED screen but the innovative thinking and teamwork that made it possible”
I feel like if anyone deserved the worlds largest LED wall for a performance it would be Adele, I've always enjoyed her music and am even more interested in seeing her live if her performances are consistently technologically innovative as this one. this is the first time I've heard of solotech, after a bit of research i found out they are a leading entertainment technology company, which explains how they were able to pull this off.
the electricity needed to power these LEDs must be immense and i can only imagine the cost of the supplying the power but the maintenance of the LED wall as well. I applaud the work everyone one the team needed to do to build this wall and keep it working for the entirety of the residency. I'm also impressed that wall withstood the extreme weather, I wonder how they adjusted the wall for it to be resistant to water and strong wind
I really was not ready for the amount of video wall that stretches as a canvas behind Adele. I was hoping to get a glimpse of the supposed “largest hanging bracket” which led me to shots of the full stage instead of close ups on Adele. The full-stage shots are breathtaking in their scale and crispness. I would still like to see the hanging and rigging for this large scale led wall as the article was not very behind the scenes as it claimed. The LED’s wall ability to withstand the storms and needing to be rated against weather and water is another incredible challenge. I also wonder how Solotech was able to rush together a multi-year event needing 4500 sq ft of LED Panels. I can also appreciate the curved wall for greater ability to stand on its own like 1-layer thick brick walls in Europe which uses the wave shape to need less bricks to support itself which I’m sure helped in the storms.
First of all, I cannot believe that Adele is going on a 15-year break. That is really insane, but good for her. Second, the LED wall at her concerts is actually insane. It is super cool and really interesting. Through all the designs completed with the LED wall, they all look like different seasons. Some look like winter, some look like rainy days, some look like fall, and one looks like a fiery summer. With all of these LEDs, there is an endless amount of opportunity to create a million different kinds of looks and designs with this LED wall. I wish I had an LED wall. One day I will have one. This one looks super cool and of course, Adele is only working with the best designs for her music sets and insanely massive audiences. The water on the stage also looks insane, so amazing and cool. This was fantastic.
This article really highlights the crazy yet fun side of production. 250 tons is crazy! The timing in which this needed to be done is crazy! They even earned a Guinness World Record for the largest continuous outdoor LED video wall, at 4,159.7 sq meters, which is 44774.6 feet. This story really emphasizes the importance of being exact. Without this, many bad things could've/would’ve gone wrong. This also touches on the importance of collaboration. This would not have been successful without all of the businesses who went above and beyond and communicated with each other. These stories of the craziness of live entertainment make me really excited for the seemingly open possibilities of the world.
This is a super impressive feat, and it’s interesting to read about how they got it done. The video wall looks amazing in the pictures I found online. I wish there were more pictures of the hardware and installation itself, though, not just the performance. 5000 square meters and 275 US tons really puts into perspective how huge the wall is. Obviously, video walls and media as a whole are becoming more and more integral to live events, and it’s so cool to see groundbreaking projects like this be completed successfully. Just to think of the challenges involved in designing, engineering, building, shipping, constructing, and so on, is mind boggling. It apparently stood up to extreme weather, so I guess it was engineered well. I don’t know too much about video, so I don’t even have a full appreciation for this wall; I’m sure the design and the intricacies of the video systems used to power it are just as insane as the wall itself.
To have the timeline shortened so drastically from multiple years to just three months is miraculous - and honestly, it made me think about the four primitives of this project: time, money, space, and people; and how they must’ve had to reallocate resources so quickly and efficiently. The article mentions Solotech built everything from 3D models, I wonder what program(s) were used and why? At such a large scale, said program and computers must be able to process a lot at a fast speed, and be able to be communicated across platforms and computers easily, considering the amount of people needed to approve or edit. I really like the end quote by Woodall, Solotech’s director of global touring and special projects, regarding there being ‘no template, only possibilities’. I love that idea of pure innovation. While there may be restrictions imposed by the four primitives, there is no one ‘right way’ to balance them and go about creation.
I don't have a lot of experience with video walls, but when I was working at the Goodman there were a few shows that needed a video wall. The largest one was for The Who's Tommy, and it was a big pain to get it all working. All of the carps joined in with electrics to get everything wired up and even still it was at least 4 hours to get it up and running. I think video walls are very cool and bring an interesting dimension to normal theatre, but are almost essential now in larger concert settings. The video wall is almost equivalent to LED tape in theatre, a TD's nightmare but is now integrated into everything. Having over 5000 sq ft of LED panels is a wild concept to me, and I can imagine the headache that would follow something going wrong. I have all the respect for the people who have to code and manage the video walls once they're up, and I think I could be able to learn after a long time but right now it seems so far outside of my wheelhouse.
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