The whole system was run by the light console using a Catalyst media server synchronised to the show's timecodes. The media server stored all of the various video displayed on the screens, while simultaneously managing the live cameras used for both recording the show and providing live video to the concert-goers.
This final show of the tour opened with a 25m wide Kabuki screen which appeared above the stage as the lights went down. 50m away, facing the screen, on a mini-tower placed behind the light console, a Christie Roadie HD+30K blasted out the first salvo of images. Later, the Kabuki screen disappeared to hand over the spotlight to five polichinelle screens arranged in a semicircle.
"These screens were specially made for this tour," noted Alabama CEO, Didier Véricel. "Managed by the light console, the screens had to run at the speed required by the scenography and the sequences so as to be perfectly synchronised with the light and the images."
These five screens, each 12m across and 6.8m high, were illuminated by a total of seven projectors attached to the light grid of the Palais Omnisport de Bercy. The two screens located downstage right and left and the one at centre stage were each powered by a Christie Roadster HD18K.
Four Christie Roadster HD16Ks were used to project images onto the screens located at centre stage right and left. Using their soft-edge blending feature, each Christie Roadster HD16K provided half of the image. This configuration was used due to the location of the screens in relation to the loud-speakers. "We had to avoid putting projectors in these particular places, directly in line with the speaker stacks," stressed Véricel.
Further into the show, the scenography and configuration revealed all of the possibilities offered by this visual space, blending lighting effects and projection techniques. The five polichinelle screens were used in symmetrical duos or trios.
For larger shows on the Meteor Tour, Alabama counted on adding another two Christie LX1500 projectors. Using Tri-LCD technology, each of them delivers 15,000 AINSI lumens for a 2000:1 contrast ratio. They were used to display live images on screens 6m wide and 3.4m high.
Technical services provider Alabama provided all video resources and modified them as needed to fit all the configurations required for the various venues in which the rock group performed between June 2009 and September 2010.
And to produce this visual environment - which enhanced the experience of every song performed and delivered the live video during the concert - Alabama chose Christie's high-performance video projection solutions. "It was the right choice, given Christie's wide range of equipment and the wide variety of venues we had to accommodate," Véricel concluded.
(Claire Beeson)
