SUSTAINABILITY STARTS WITH US. ALL OF US.

This year we’ve made huge progress towards offering sustainable LED wristbands that enhance fan experiences while minimizing our environmental impact. For Coldplay, Music of the Spheres Tour we even launched our 1st compostable plant-based wristband which we reused and refurbished during the tour saving up to 80% of new production!

We are proud of our journey so far, but we know it’s just the beginning. Join us in designing a brighter future.

generators that can produce 5.8W for each step. The company that creates them – Energy Floors – has installed them in airports and shopping malls where the kinetic energy can power large LED screens, although this is the first time they’ve been used in a touring capacity,” explained Crew Chief, Edwin Van Eekhout.

In total, the production owns six of the platforms which are kept in pairs. “We have another pair in North America and Asia; later in the year, we’ll ship these over for those shows,” interjected Kansy.

It was not the only kinetic dance floors that were turning fans’ enthusiasm into power, with Coldplay fans also encouraged to jump on stationary bikes to generate power for the tour. “The power we store on the Wattsun Batteries powers our C stage,” explained Kansy. “It is also used to provide power to the stage underworld for backline as well as the FOH team before they plug into the main system.”

This fan-generated kinetic power can also be stored for later use to help power a show in a neighbouring city. “Since we started working on this show, I’ve had a few calls from bands and productions looking to learn more about what we are doing, who were waiting to see if we would fall at the first hurdle. However, we have always been an open book, and in my mind, the work we’ve done here will aid in the industry as well as sharing the results and lessons learned from this tour,” Traynor explained.

Howell furthered: “In terms of impact reduction, the 2022 leg of the tour data has now been assessed and validated by MIT and we achieved a 47% reduction in our direct CO2 impacts versus the previous tour on a showby-show basis. We still have a way to go, but it’s been very encouraging to see the wider industry want to do more and do better. There are still gaps that need to be plugged and I hope the tour has given smarter people than I the impetus to create new solutions that we can use in the future and on other tours.”

A SKY FULL OF STARS

With TPi now clued-in as to how this production was run, we quickly turned our attention to the creative elements of the show. Like previous live incarnations, the band opted to tour without a roof and – as alluded to by Kansy earlier – with the tour being titled The Music Of The Spheres World Tour, there was a lack of any straight lines in the set pieces.

Lighting Designer, Sooner Routhier picked up the story: “I was brought into the initial design conversation for Music Of The Spheres by [Show Designer] Misty Buckley and [Manager] Phil Harvey in the winter of 2020 and began working on the promo shows,” began Routhier. “We did this one particular show outside Whitby Abbey in 2021, which was one of the highlights of my career.”

Promo completed, the decisions were made as to how the stadium show would take shape while also being conscious of the band’s wish to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

“We had the benefit of having a massive team with a huge knowledge in sustainable practices helping us through the process. Also, as we were performing outside, most of our fixtures were IP65 or 66 rated – lessening the amount of maintenance and need to ship extra parts or fixtures.” The LD also noted how everything fixture wise – bar the follow spots – either contained an LED or laser source, making it a power-efficient rig.

Routhier pointed out CHAUVET Professional Strike M fixtures, used as blinder and floor lighting solutions, as surprisingly powerful additions to the lighting rig. “I remember when we first programmed the show in rehearsals, we were astounded by the amount of power for an LED fixture.”

CH AUVET Professional Strike Ms featured on the B-stage and around the band on the main stage with Claypaky Xtylos fixtures situated in an arch above the main LED screen. Aryton Perseos and Dominos line the front of the main stage. ACME PIXEL LINE IPs lit the edge of the stage with ACME Thunderbolts used to illuminate underneath the central LED screen and on the delay towers, while Robe BMFL LT handled followspot duties.

“A ll of our IP-rated fixtures have held up throughout the run despite some rather challenging weather conditions,” stated Lighting Operator, Shaheem Litchmore, reflecting on a particularly ‘wet’ show, in São Paulo, Brazil. “It’s great that we don’t have to cover anything when challenging weather comes in.”

As well as the numerous fixtures, there was another selection of LED products that

Litchmore was in control of during the show – 60,000 more to be precise. As fans filtered into the stadium, each was given a PixMob LED wristband, which helped turn the crowd into an enormous canvas of light. This was not the first time the band had used LED wristbands, although it was the first tour the production had used PixMob as its go-to solution. “This was the first time I’d worked with PixMob and I wasn’t too familiar with the brand before this tour,” admitted Litchmore. “We worked with the team during promo and they taught me how to program the system, which was quite a learning curve as it’s quite a different process to programming lighting.”

Pi xMob Co-Founder, Vincent Leclerc shared his thoughts on the collaboration. “Around 2019, Phil Harvey came to us with the initial idea of being the most sustainable tour possible. From this conversation, we underwent a huge R&D process to find materials that would be environmentally friendly to prevent the wristbands simply ending up in landfill.” The result was a wristband that is made from sugar cane that has the look and feel of plastic but that is compostable.

As if the R&D process to create this compostable wristband solution wasn’t rigorous enough, the Coldplay production has pulled off something even more impressive –convincing fans to hand these bands back at the end of the night. Before the band played, an opening VT explained that they would have to hand them back at the end of the night. “We get at least 85% of them back each night although some shows it’s close to 95%,” enthused Leclerc. Four PixMob representatives on the tour not only deployed the system but oversaw the upkeep of all the bands and led the charge of the greeting staff who handed them out at each city. “Our team oversees around 50 staff who are brought in to distribute. During the day, they help clean the bands, recycle the batteries, and fix any broken wristbands.”

The system transmits an infrared beam across the audience which the wristbands react to. “The fact we use infrared over a radio signal means you can really target specific areas in the crowd not only to turn them on and off but what colour they should be emitting. You can even create shapes when the beam is fired through a gobo,” stated Leclerc, referring to a heart symbol that was created within the grandstand during the show.

Another notable highlight was during the track, Fix You, a star field on the LED screen is mimicked by PixMob wristbands, while a hit of pyro is triggered prompting the audience’s eyes to lift skyward. This, and all other PixMob looks were controlled by Litchmore’s MA Lighting grandMA3 console and a monitor to the right of him, where he could watch and reference the looks playing out in real time.

“I keep all my lighting cues for the rig and all the PixMob programming on the same show file, which means everything is streamlined. As the tour has gone on, we’ve added more dimensions to the looks we achieve with the wristbands. It’s such a bespoke technology that there are lots of tricks and tips to it and it’s been a fun learning experience. I’m so used to just looking straight on at a stage from FOH, but now I’m looking around all the time. It’s certainly a cool feeling to light up 60,000 wristbands at once and seeing the excitement when they first hit is truly special.”

EVERGLOW

Screens Director, Joshua Koffman and Camera Director, Ant Barrett, discussed the extensive video package provided by PRG.

“We have 14 cameras out in the field for the show,” began Barrett. “This is made up of four Blackcam Rail Systems and a Tower-Cam provided by Vis-à-vis. There are also three long lenses – two at FOH and one on a delay deck at the back of the field – as well as two

RF handheld cameras. We also have three Panasonic PTZ robo cameras and a small Blackmagic Studio camera mounted to the drum kit.” Koffman elaborated: “The goal was to keep the number of people on or around the stage to a minimum. Usually, you might have someone shooting from the pit, but the fact we use rail cameras means there isn’t a barrier between Chris and the audience.”

The rail camera system was from Blackcam System with all the cameramen being overseen by Drew Welker. “We have some really talented operators on this tour who have been getting some incredibly dynamic shots,” stated Barrett. “We used to have the Blackcam operators backstage but then we realised it made more sense, where possible, to have them out in the field at the end of their camera rail in a small shelter so they are obscured from view.”

Barrett directed camera shots from a Grass Valley Korona, which he dubbed a “really solid” system. “I’m calling a lot of shots during the show but now we are so far into this cycle, the team already knows the elements they need to shoot quite well. At the same time, they are all aware that this is a live show and things can change and they need to be ready for that. It’s not the same every night and Joshua is always having to re-program elements of the show as the band and the creative team are constantly giving feedback to keep pushing the show.”

This flowing state of the Coldplay show seemed to appeal to Koffman. “I’ve worked with some bands who were strictly choreographed night after night, but here the set list changes every day. We have similar layouts we go back to, but there’s always a little tweaking and it can be very organic. For example, at the end of Yellow, we never know if Chris will finish the song on the main stage or the B-stage – it’s all just how he feels on the night.”

The set design boasted several surfaces of LED, including an upstage semi-circle as well as two circular LED screens for IMAG with an additional two either side for the 270° view of the show. “We didn’t want to use any masking to turn a square into a circle for the screens and PRG provided us with these custom edges,” enthused Koffman. “When the sun goes down, they appear to be floating circles in the sky.”

The LED was ROE Visual CB8, with all the content being driven by seven disguise gx 2cs. “Our server setup is designed to have a decent level of redundancy and we are using a lot of Notch effects on the IMAG. Each IMAG screen has one dedicated server as we wanted to provide as much performance to each screen as possible to avoid any lag of low frame rates.”

Content houses that worked on the tour included Studio Flint, Fray Studio, Luke Halls Studio, Victor Scorrano, NorthHouse Creative, Impossible Brief, Hello Charlie, Pilar Zeta, Conner Griffith, Mixed Emotions London, and Interrobang. “The band has a large back catalogue of content from previous tours, and we frequently use that as inspiration,” stated

Leo Flint of Studio Flint. “Although some of the content may seem familiar, it has all been reimagined for this show. Much of the content is delivered in components to allow Josh to adapt it as the band evolves their live performance,” he added.

“Due to the circular screens, we did a lot of previsualisation in Unreal Engine to ensure everything we created worked with the shape of the LED,” said NorthHouse Creative’s Tom Bairstow, who echoed Koffmon’s earlier point that built-in flexibility was necessary to the video delivery for this tour.

“T he goal is to give Joshua a video package that can be tweaked when needed, and he is an absolute wizz when it comes to working and reworking the show and continually coming up with fresh looks. He’s got a creative approach to being a tech.”

As well as the ROE LED screens and the LED floor for the B-Stage, four inflatable LED spheres with built-in LED strips were hung just above the main screen. The spheres were a custom creation from PRG Projects. “There were some other LED spheres on the market, but they would have taken up four trucks alone, which was never going to happen – especially as with all departments we were trying to be as sustainable as possible.”

The solution was to have inflatable spheres – two 3m wide and the other two 5m – which could quickly inflate. “All four of the spheres when deflated go into a custom set cart and are not too heavy,” said Koffman. “They take no more than 15 minutes to set up!”

Sparks

Assistant Stage Manager and Inflatables

Crew Chief Michael Viehmeyer oversaw the deployment of 11 inflatables ranging from 2.5m to 3m wide.

“T hese inflatables are walked out by local dancers at the tail end of each show,” explained Viehmeyer. The spheres were all in the shape of planets, building on the wider theme of the cosmos. The spheres also contained LEDs that interacted with the PixMob system. “Each city we go to, we give the dancers a 30-minute lesson on how to move with the spheres, then we have them back for each night we play.”

The spheres were filled with helium. “It’s certainly harder to come by in recent years and therefore we are trying to reuse as much of the gas as possible,” stated Viehmeyer. “We have two machines that are essentially dive compressors. From the 11 balloons, I can reclaim enough gas to refill nine the next night.”

In w hat had become a common talking point among the crew, flexibility was also the name of the game for the Strictly FX team. “The effects are ever evolving on this tour,” stated SFX Crew Chief, Michael Barrett-Bourmier, who gestured to Laser Operator Ashley Neal, who was in the middle of programming a new laser look.

“We’ve worked with the band for a long time and the band and creative team see special effects as malleable and are always looking to alter and change some of the looks mid-tour. However, when it comes to pyro, some ‘gags’ have to be signed off three months ahead.”

Years of relationship-building meant they were

Camera Director, Ant Barrett with Screens Director, Joshua Koffman; Lighting Operator, Shaheem Litchmore; Strictly FX Crew Chief, Michael Barrett-Bourmier and Laser Operator Ashley Neal; Audio Technician and FOH Assistant, Alex Hadj; System Designer and FOH Technician, Tony Smith; Audio System Technician, Dominic Thorne with Audio Crew Chief, Nick Mooney.

PROUD TO BE SUPPORTING COLDPLAY’S MUSIC OF THE SPHERES WORLD TOUR

STATE-OF -THE-ART COMMUNICATIONS able to always achieve what the bands were looking for, according to Barrett-Bourmier. “We shoot all our pyro via a Fire One system, having moved away from black powder, which is more in line with the band’s environmental goals. It is also a much safer effect as the chemicals are less volatile and we can even recycle the cardboard tubes post-shows. We’ve been looking into every decision we make to try and ensure we’re as sustainable as possible.” It’s also worth noting that confetti used for the tour was biodegradable.

Neal programmed the lasers using Pangolin BEYOND software. “We’re mostly using X-Lasers on this one apart from a very large Arctos Laser that sits just above the video screen.” Also, in a custom mirror ball created by TAIT, the Strictly team placed eight custom 10W audience scanning lasers. “With that laser we’ve created some amazing looks that you simply can’t do with other fixtures such as cone patterns that we’re firing on the walls around the stadium,” stated Neal.

The team fluctuated between 10 and 14 for each show. “The pyro team alone is five strong as wherever we can, we fire the shots up in the roof, so it’s nice and far away from the stage,” stated Barrett-Bourmier. “There’s a lot of logistics when it comes to designing, rigging, climbing, and relocating the products each day of a show and its quite time intensive to get everything set for each day. But when you hear the gasps from the crowd, it certainly makes all that time worth it.”

Hymn For The Weekend

Once again holding down FOH duties for the tour was Daniel Green, working alongside System Designer and FOH Technician, Tony Smith. Having not spoken to Green or Smith since TPi last covered the band on their A Head

Full of Dreams tour in 2016, we were keen to know of any changes to the audio delivery.

“We were really happy with A Head Full Of Dreams and when we launched this latest campaign, we began coming up with a plan of what we might be able to do for this tour,” stated Green. “We made some major changes to our playback system, separating all the band’s setups rather than having one central playback control. In line with the band’s goal for the tour, we also reduce weight as much as possible with our rigs to cut down on the carbon footprint.”

For Green, this saw him significantly reduce his outboard gear, putting a greater reliance on a Waves effects workflow. “We also used to tour with a rather large backstage studio, which was significantly reduced for this campaign.”

One of the major changes from the last world tour was the d&b audiotechnik system with the band moving from the J-Series onto the SL Series with a main and side hangs of GSL, with KSL on the 270° and delays, as well as SL-SUBs both flown and on the ground.

“Every time d&b releases something new, it always feels like a major step forward,” Green reflected. “The d&b sound is still in the heart of the system, but I’ve been very impressed with the rear rejection of the boxes and the band have even commented on the change it’s made on stage.”

The production also brought in d&b XSL side-fills for vibe. “It’s also great that the techs in the underworld are not getting blasted as much,” stated Green. “It’s a bigger sounding system that feels more dynamic and the subs have really improved.” Smith had his say on the new system: “It’s been a remarkable change in many ways,” he commented. “The efficiency has been increased by around 50% and the tonality along with ArrayProcessing with the SL

Series is really good, with the increased rear rejection meaning there is less rear energy, giving Dan more control.”

As for control, Green was once again using DiGiCo SD7, although this time with the Quantum engine along with a few changes to his outboard setup. “We’ve moved over to the Rupert Neve Designs RMP8s RMP8s Pre Amps and RND 5254, MBC with a Chandler Curver Bender on the master buss.” stated Smith. “Another major change is the incorporation of the DirectOut Technologies’ PRODIGY audio processor. We’re using the MC as an AD convertor along with an optocore DD2FR, with the PRODIGY.MP for system EQ.”

Also giving his input on the Prodigy was Dominic Thorne, Audio System Tech . “As far as I’m aware, the PRODIGY.MP is the only thing on the market with this scope of inputs and seamless fallback control. The potential for almost any DSP routing and endless level of control is also out of this world.”

The audio team put its faith in Solotech for the UK run. “Solotech, under the former brand of Wigwam, has worked closely with Coldplay for years, and we are especially proud to be working on the Music of the Spheres World Tour,” commented John Probyn, Solotech’s Head of Live Productions Europe.

“We’ve had a relationship with those guys for a very long time and they always provide great crew and impeccable support,” enthused Smith. For the US run, the team was looked after by Firehouse.

Under the main stage, there were several familiar faces, with Chris Wood holding down monitor duties on a DiGiCo SD7 Quantum, ‘Mystic’ Nick Davis looking after the audio patch, ably assisted by Suzy Mucciarone and James Smallwood, and Ali Viles as RF Engineer for the tour. “The RF brief was to enable any