For his first solo headline tour in almost four years, Jay-Z wanted to pull out all the stops, so his production team led by production manager Bobby Schneider enlisted LS-Live to design and build what was to become one of the company's biggest projects of 2013; an enormous set of internally lit cubes both on a rolling house stage and hung overhead, encompassing 17km of aluminium and 400 Pulsar LED ChromaPanels.
Schneider had worked with LS-Live on the successful production of Jay-Z's one-off show for the BBC Radio One Hackney Weekend in the summer of 2012, so he knew it would be an appropriate choice for both a rehearsal venue and the stage set design and build. He booked all the Studio facilities for over a week's rehearsals in late October.
Working under the direction of lighting designer Jesse Blevins and designer Willo Perron, LS-Live created a stage set of cubes that occupied half of its 17,664 sq ft rehearsal arena. The set functions as both a dynamic performance platform for the artist and band, and a visual spectacular encompassing integrated lighting and LED panels.
Cube structures form the basis of two 8' high lit up runways in a 'T' formation for Jay-Z's entrance and performance, with additional risers for him and the band at different levels; a pattern that is directly mirrored in the flown system overhead. The effect is a stripped back monochrome environment of flickering light, not too far removed from the look of New York's industrial warehouse raves.
Said LS-Live director Ben Brooks, "There were two big challenges with this set, one was designing it so that it all packs down into as few trucks as possible, the other was to permanently integrate the LED strips and panels into the cubes for quick builds and de-rigs on site whilst ensuring they could withstand the rigors of touring. We settled on making custom aluminium frames that flat packed and pinned together."
(Jim Evans)
