Europe - Garbage’s latest European tour was the band's first headline tour for five years. The huge dynamic shifts in their music were matched by intense stage lighting and graphics displayed on large-scale, high-resolution LED screens, delivered by independent video technology company, 80six. 80six deployed a combination of ROE Visual LED screens powered by Brompton LED processing to ensure a suitable display of the band's visuals.
The client's primary requirement was to produce a solution that would keep up with the visual complexity of the show and have the highest accuracy. High-quality LED equipment was crucial, providing a flexible, creative visual backdrop, powerfully enhancing the creativity of the performance and immersing the audience in the emotion of Garbage's music.
80six provided a 12m by 7.2m ROE Carbon 5.7 LED screen for the two arena performances in Manchester and London. The screen was delivered in Air Frame construction and was large enough to provide every audience member with a full visual experience, regardless of their seat position.
The screen provided an integral part of the show's visual storytelling and creative energy. Given its scale and the need for real-time visual effects, the team needed a robust and highly customisable system. The system's colour balancing and brightness controls were also key, allowing the team to adapt the visuals to fit the mood of each song, creating a more immersive experience for the audience. This process ensured a flawless visual presentation that complemented Garbage's music and their light show without technical glitches or delays.
"Originally, they had planned for a smaller, lower resolution screen in Europe," says Robin Wain, head of concert touring at 80six. "But to do justice to the content and the importance of these shows to the band – headlining in the UK for the first time in five years – the decision to go for a larger screen size and higher resolution, the same as the US tour in 2023, proved the right choice."
The screens did not just display predetermined content; real-time visual effects were added live, responding to the music and heightening the performance. Brompton 4K Tessera SX40 processors delivered reliability and, coupled with Tessera XD 10G data distribution units, provided a clean, seamless solution that worked perfectly for the band.
Luke Tucker, project manager at 80six, notes the ease of programming the Tessera SX40 processors, thanks to their intuitive user interface.
"When programming the screen, you can visually monitor the data runs directly on the user interface, making it incredibly intuitive to understand what's happening," he says. "The SX40 not only alerts you when the correct number of panels aren't detected, but also provides a visual reference on the screen itself, making it much easier to pinpoint and resolve any issues."
The focus for this production was reliability, with the technology designed to minimise possible errors and maximise the flexibility and creativity of the system.
"Everyone was extremely happy and complementary about the equipment, crew and service," says Wain. "The feedback from both the organisers and the audience was very positive."
“80six has always relied on ROE Visual LED solutions for its various projects. It's great to see the dynamic, creative design for the Garbage tour come to life on our LED screens," comments Jonathan Sheard, managing director for ROE Visual UK.
"It's exciting to see 80six continue to grow and to deliver such stunning visuals for an iconic band like Garbage," concludes Brompton's technical sales manager (UK and Ireland), Patrick Goodden. "We're delighted that our technology continues to play a key role in its LED workflow."
