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ADELE: THE FINALE BUILDING A LIVE PRODUCTION FIRST

AUGUST 2017#216

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ADELE: THE FINALE

18 months on from the full production TPi exclusive in arenas, Kel Murray revisits Adele’s touring and

creative crew, who went on to design and build a truly in the round stadium tour. Beginning in Australia in

March, the tour ended in the UK this July and Wembley Stadium played host to the final show in all its

technical, breathtaking glory.

PRODUCTION PROFILE

Four months after seeing the final Australian show of the Adele Live 2017 tour at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium, TPi was met by Production Manager Richard Young at Wembley Stadium, on what would be - albeit unknown at the time - the last of the singer’s stadium performances due to fears over her voice becoming irreversibly strained. This is a tour unlike any other currently on the road, perhaps unlike anything seen since the 80s / 90s even. The reasoning behind it? To give something back to the 1.5 million fans who bought tickets to the show. “Adele is such an amazing performer that we wanted to produce something very special for her. As an artist, you definitely need confidence to sell all those tickets - and she did it!” said Young. The concept for the in-the-round performances began in Australia, specifically designed as a way to satisfy as many of her Australian fans as possible; the seldom touring star had yet to perform live in the region before this run began. The opening in Perth broke records with 65,000 tickets sold for a single night. Young explained the background to this unique production: “Adele is very social media savvy. She could see there was a real demand for her to go to Australia so we had a lot of discussions about how we could best meet that demand. We decided that stadiums, rather than arenas, would be the best way to move forward. On average, arenas hold around 16,000 people but we were dealing with much higher numbers than that. We had to create a show that enabled as many of her fans to experience her in concert as we possibly could. “The most important aspects of the show were that she would be able to interact with her fans, and that the sound quality would be the same for every seat in the house. I began by asking our Systems Engineer, Ulf [Oeckel] and FOH Engineer Dave [Bracey] what the ideal placement of

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speakers would be if we were to play in stadiums. I said forget everything else, what’s the ideal scenario? Ulf came back with some very precise drawings and told me “right in the middle of the stadium, 25m high, in a configuration of 8 line arrays.” Then I took that idea to Roger Barrett at Star Events and asked if he could build a structure that could house that type of sound design. Of course, Roger being as enthusiastic as he is, he said yes straight away! He came up with a structure design that meant we could get the speakers in Ulf’s preferred configuration. I took this to management and said to guarantee the best audio quality throughout the stadium, we would have to play in the round. Truly in the round; no delays, not an end-on show, but a pure in the round stadium tour. The sound would come from her, and every fan would experience that equally.”

PRODUCTION DEISGN With the initial basis of the design agreed, Young contracted Star Events to build the unique high rise structure. He continued: “Once we’d set the parameter of needing the speakers to be flown 25m in the air, we set to work around it. Roger came up with the idea that he’d base the new design on Star’s VerTech stage system but with new, updated, component parts. As we were only going to be doing 15 stadium shows worldwide - taking in Australia, New Zealand and the UK - we didn’t have an endless budget but knowing Star could then put the other pieces back into its rental stock for future use worked well. Once we’d agreed that approach, we had to work out the weight the structure could take on the top, get rid of the storm bracing, and find a way to avoid the legs at the bottom being tied together. So unlike a lot of other staging systems, we could get the audience right up close and maintain the intimacy she wanted. This was quite interesting because traditionally you’d have a big separation between the stage, the barricade and the audience but our VIP ticket holders would essentially be right next to her. “The other tricky thing to work out with regards to the weight in the

roof was that we didn’t yet have a lighting design or a video solution, so we were in an unusual situation. When I spoke to our Show Designer Es Devlin and Lighting Designer Patrick Woodroffe about what they wanted to do design-wise, we didn’t have any answers as to what they could do, as we didn’t physically have the structure made yet! We had complete freedom to set the parameters ourselves, but at times that was frustrating as we’d never done what we were doing before. It’s definitely the most complicated design I’ve been involved with.” He continued: “When you play in the round there’s no backstage area, so where do you put the amplifiers and the lighting dimmers? Flying dimmer dollies have been done before, but we took it that step further here by pre-wiring everything and placing it into 2 shipping containers that would be rigged above the performance area. So when we turned up ready, we’d simply open the doors and connect any pre-wired cables we needed. I believe this design will give people new ideas of what is achievable when you have a clear goal you have to meet for the look and sound of a show. There was no compromise here but we had to think outside of the box,” he added. “It was also decided that to be economically sound, we needed to leap frog the stages too, so we needed two building. We played 6 venues in Australia & New Zealand, and each stage would do 3 venues each but we only had one set of production crew to do all of the shows. It was a test in a lot of ways! “When I was hired in June 2015 - before a single seat was put on sale - I was also able to have an input into how we priced seating. Things that normally would involve a promoter, didn’t here. I stuck my neck out, and assumed full responsibility if anything was to go wrong. On many levels, this tour has pushed me to the next level of production management.” The complete team comprised production crew from Mojo Barriers (pitch) & eps (inside the stadium), Star Events, TAIT, McGuinness Trucking, Neg Earth Lights - supported by PRG Australia - CT, Black Box Audio, Stage

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Miracles, Knight Rigging Services, Quantum Special Effects, Titanium Fireworks, Sound Moves for freighting & Power Logistics for generators.

STAR STAGING Star Events designed and built the two completely new stages to enable a a genuine 360 degree layout. Required to suspend over 40 tonnes of audio and containers at 25m before starting on the rest of the extensive production install, Young approached Star Events for a solution from the planned upgrade to its VerTech system. Star had four months to develop and ship the stages to Australia. Badged VerTech Ultra, the new components are dimensionally compatible with existing VerTech parts, but the configuration for the Adele stadium tour is totally unique. An 8-spoked grid, with PA cantilevers on each, is free-standing on just four 100-tonne capacity Ultra towers, with no ties between them at ground level and no storm bracing anywhere within audience sight lines. Every conceivable element of the stage build and production rigging is monitored by systems supplied by Load Cell Rental. “Star Events rose to the challenge with enthusiasm and some great solutions,” said Young. “The fact that this is on just four legs, that are not tied together, has enabled us to get people as close to Adele as possible, maxing out the capacity on the floor and creating and breaking attendance records all over Australia. The ultimate ground support!” Star Events’ special projects director, Roger Barrett, said: “It has been a huge privilege to be trusted with enabling this record-breaking tour to happen. We looked hard at the few previous in-the-round stadium shows and tried to learn from them, we are delighted with the end result. “Once this tour is over we will be using the new Ultra components to upgrade our existing VerTech festival stages so that we can always say yes to whatever weights our clients want to fly.” As unusual as the tall, in the round structure request was, it also afforded Star Events the opportunity to create something brand new, as Barrett explained: “We’d been wondering how to take our original VerTech

stage concept - which had been in use since The Stone Roses in 1990 - into an updated model. It’s an inspired show design!” The other big task was being able to build the stages in time for the rehearsals that took place in Phoenix, Arizona, in January. “We shipped it to New York and drove it across the country during the Christmas period, which was interesting! We split the manufacturing between our facilities in the UK and China, which meant that some of our equipment had been on four continents before anybody got to see Adele perform under it! I think most of what Richard set out to do was to be expected from a big concert production such as this, but one thing that came out of left field was the decision to put the VIP section that surrounded the stage right under the main structure. That’s the first time we’ve ever dealt with an audience who’d have over 60 tonnes of stage production hanging directly above them. “This production is a perfect example of what you get when you have a production manager who completely understands every aspect of a show. He had a bunch of contractors who are all experts in what they do, but above and beyond any show I’ve ever worked on, here each department helped each other in any and every way they could. This really was a huge team effort, out in force. “Every single bit of equipment - lighting, video, audio - was all load-celled. Everything had to go up in a particular sequence, and it was all monitored meticulously. The first system was test built ahead of production rehearsals in Phoenix but we had no chance to do that with the second system – half the containers arrived in Australia from the UK and half from China and we built it for the very first time under tour conditions - I’ve never been as relieved in my whole life as I was when I saw our second system standing!” he laughed. “We’ve demonstrated that this system can tour safety, and it’s become something of real interest for these huge, in-the-round shows, all around the world.” Load Cell Rental provided a wired 5-tonne, 16-cell system to monitor

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the weight on the towers during construction of the stage. The system was monitored throughout the installation process to ensure loadings stayed within limits. A total of 4 5-tonne cells were located in each of the four stage towers and used to monitor the weights on the motors during construction period of the stage, the raising of the roof to trim height, and during the load-in of the technical production equipment. Load Cell Rental’s Colin Luke commented: “This task was carried out to ensure that each motor in the tower stayed within its limits, and the weights were accurately distributed across the four motors in each tower.” Load Cell Rental also provided a 40-cell wireless Broadweigh system to monitor the loadings on each lighting and audio point during the load-in and load-out. Chris Tinsley, who project managed the Load Cell Rental install, monitored the weights of every structure as they were taken to trim, ensuring that all limits were maintained for each point. This was vital, as the weight distribution across the structure had to remain perfectly balanced at all times. Additionally, Tinsley remained on site to provide load monitoring in the event of any adverse weather conditions.

SAFETY BARRIERSThe show comprised a 360 degree build of GIGS barriers and numerous elements fabricated specially for the tour. Project Manager for the tour, Nigel Gilbert said: “We built special gates, corner pieces and back steps [an elevated security walkway behind the stage barricade] for the tour, which were introduced on the Australian leg. The back steps gave Adele the chance to get closer to her fans. The special gates allowed the crowd to get in and out of the 360 degree stage circle. We also used 250m of cable protection with special, very flat ramps - to guarantee the best possible access for trucks, cranes, fork lifts, cases, dollies, carts and the audience.”  Sebastian Tobie, eps’ Director of Global Operations, added: “We were very delighted and proud to be given the task to design a barricade

layout that promises the safety and security of both the artist and the audience, and therefore contributing to an unforgettable experience for the hometown fans at Adele’s stadium shows. “The whole production included state of the art technology, and the circular layout chosen for these venues required a new concept of having the audience move in and out of the inner circle during the show. “Since the artist was moving around the circular runway during the performance and therefore the focal point for the audience was not static, sections of the barricade circles needed to be shut and re-opened constantly. This ensured the best protection for the artist while also suppling sufficient escape paths for the audience of the inner circle, should any type of emergency situation arise. Our thanks go out to Richard Young and Liam Wheatley for the great cooperation in this world class production.”

REDUCING RISKA huge task with a show of this size, is health & safety procedures. Health & Safety Coordinator, Andrew Lennie, returned to the stadium shows on behalf of promoter, ITB. “It was a natural progression to use my services at the Wembley shows as I already had an in-depth knowledge of how this production worked,” he noted. The new design however, meant Lennie wasn’t just working closely with Young and the sound, lighting, video, rigging and power crews, his biggest task was the new staging element. “There was a lot to consider here, including that the stage would fit within the CDM 2015 guidelines, and of course, all the usual method statements and risk assessments. Having the H&S documentation ready and then having meetings with the staff at Wembley stadium to show it met all of the lawful criteria needed, was critical.” Lennie joined the stadium show rehearsals in January, prior to the Australian debut, to ensure the H&S standards would be globally assured. The physical staging factors aside, a key thing he had to consider was the

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sheer volume of people attending the event, as he explained: “What we always need to assess on shows like this is egress calculations. We have to somehow assume and reassure the venue that the figures that we’ve come up with, are in fact correct. We have to look at factors such as the audience demographic. As you can imagine, for 94,000 people in an crowd as varied as Adele’s, that can be tricky! “We also have a huge amount of personnel working under the CDM 2015 regulations, and even for a venue like Wembley, these concerts are a notable event in their calendar. There are lot of considerations to factor in for the crew as well, such as people working at height, given the amount of technology we have in the roof area - this show is slightly different to anything else that’s ever been here. We’ve reached and exceeded the capacity of any concert shows on consecutive nights, anywhere in the UK.” Lennie also attended a lot of emergency planning meetings, primarily for counter terrorism purposes given recent events. “I’m pleased to say it’s all gone very smoothly and this production has been a well-crafted success, on every level,” he concluded.

COMPRESSED BUILD SCHEDULE ISSUESTPi Award-winning Keith Wood of Production Solutions was also working on behalf of ITB in the role of Event Site Co-ordinator. He told TPi: “There were a few challenges with this show. The timing of Adele’s shows at Wembley meant we had to follow ELO’s production load out, so we had just 2 ‘steel’ days to build our stage, hang rigging and load in the entire production. We were faced with 24hr and overnight shifts in order to get the show in on time. After talking with ELO’s Promoter, Andrew Craig at Live Nation, he understood our position. Later on he consulted with ELO’s Production Manager, Chris Vaughan, who very kindly agreed to allow the Star Events team and the cranes to come on site and start the steel build in centre of pitch the morning after ELO’s show. They were loading out at the West end of the venue, and at the same time, Adele’s rig was loading in at the East! After the steel team did a 12hr shift, the rigging team started hanging points overnight. Day 2 was the second steel day build to get roof up, followed by a full overnight load-in with the full production, ready for Adele to rehearse that afternoon. “The limited build days also resulted in a number of various departments having dedicated rigging teams who worked simultaneously in the roof. We retained the services of Andy Smith of ITB’s safety team, solely to control who had access to the roof gantry and to manage inductions and procedures for the rope rescue teams.” UK Tour Promoter,

Annette Robinson ITB Promotor Rep, Clive Ambler, and ITB Site Crew Chief Simon ‘Chopper’ Wallis also worked closely with Wood who cited their expertise as invaluable.

SET DESIGNTAIT was contacted after the initial show and staging design had been completed and was tasked with building the centre stage platform with lightbox top, LED sides, and an entrance lift. “There needed to be an outer revolve for the band to spin around the centre riser, ensuring that at all times, the stage looked clean and the band were kept discreet,” said TAIT Project Manager Aaron Siebert. A total of 4 spoke runways and an outer ring of decking was also specified. Further along in the design process, automated motors for the video wall and lighting trusses for show opening were factored in, complete with mirror cladding panels for the roof’s legs. “The roof structure and spacing dictated what was needed from us with the space available. Initially it was the centre riser with the revolve and 4 lifts in the outer circle but as the process progressed, the mirror panels were added and the lifts were replaced with the spoke runways and outer ring which allowed better access to the audience outside of the pits. The stage was plywood, and finished with an anti-slip treatment; as with any outdoor show, the performer’s safety is of the utmost concern. We also added some LED edging to help define the edges of the outer ring.” The 285m of Firefly FloppyFlex LED neon lining surrounded the walkways of the performance platform. Siebert continued: “The design process took about 2 months as details were finalised. There was a lot of coordination between all vendors and Richard Young to fit everything together. Then the build itself took another 2 months to complete. A project of this size included a multitude of people working on it from TAIT including Brock Mearig, Project Designer; Andrew Wallace, Technical Lead; Menno van Wetten, controls Integrator, Marc Salemi, Mechanical Integrator. We also owe a lot of the success to the automation and carpentry teams that took the gear out and really made the show happen every day.” AUDIO EXCELLENCESystems Tech Ulf Oeckel was, as mentioned previously, the first port of call when designing this show. He told TPi: “I wanted to create a large point source system in the round for both acoustic and optical reasons. I designed the rig myself - at this point Dave trusted me! Richard gave us all the tools we needed to make the design happen, and we had a great chance to design the audio at a very early stage in this production. There’s

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System Designer Ulf Oeckel with FOH Engineer Dave Bracey; Star Events’ Roger Barrett; Monitor Engineer, Joe Campbell.

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not a single speaker or any other audio infrastructure placed on floor for this design. This was a big part of the overall clean appearance on the stage.” That may not sound out of this world, but when you consider that Oeckel’s L-Acoustics design comprised 144 boxes of K1, 48 K2’s, 32 KSB subs and 16 KARAs, it’s kind of a big deal… “The system is arranged in 8 hangs, each comprising 18 boxes of K1 and 6 boxes of K2 around the stage, flown in equal distances on the squared ground support. A sub cluster, arranged from 4 columns of 8 KSBs on a custom-made fly frame was flown in the centre. A VIP area system was also arranged with 4 hangs, each consisting of 4 KARAs covering the inner ring VIP area. The system was driven by 124 LA8’s / LA12Xs which were placed in one of the bespoke sea containers in the roof.” The container included the entire infrastructure of amplifiers, distribution, power and motor control. The outdoor shows for Oeckel’s design didn’t require any new tools, he simply relied on his trusted favourites. “I don’t use anything extraordinary except the world’s best speakers, which had to prove their capabilities. We achieved throwing distances of 120m on high elevations of up to 60m in the larger stadiums. The way they performed was surprising even to myself! “It’s worth mentioning that the performance of the LA12X which drives both the subwoofers and the K1’s in a rather extraordinary way… the impulse and power of it is very impressive to me. And the KSB sub performs with such a natural but powerful sound, it’s great to work with.” Another key highlight for Oeckel was working with Moovecat’s wireless motor control system, which allowed “great freedom to operate the PA in such large-scale installations”. “I hadn’t seen a stadium filled with nearly 100,000 people before, hearing just one source system. Thanks to the large walkway around the stage we could consider this as two separate audiences and so we treated them as such when it came to regarding their audio coverage. A problem we faced was that we had VIP seats just 3m away from the band, and on the other hand we had a large-scale system flown 25m above them in the air. Thank God for the accuracy of L-Acoustics! We were able to split the coverage areas and I was able to find a delay offset for the subwoofers and the ‘big guns’ to match with the zero delayed VIP KARA systems.

“My fly guys Bob Bolaender, Björn Boernecke and Detlef Maler worked brilliantly in handling over 30 tonnes of flown audio rig. I had the perfect support team from them and from Black Box Music to put this system together,” he concluded. Topping the big 3 audio hitters - L-Acoustics, DiGiCo and Sennheiser - little else has changed for the teams at FOH and monitors. FOH Engineer Dave Bracey continued his reign on a DiGiCo SD7. He gave his thoughts on the stadium design: “The arena tour was an end-on design with an ‘in-the-round’ element. This led to a genuine in-the-round show. It was quite tricky to scale up; shows in the round and stadium shows each have their own challenges, so when you put the two together it becomes somewhat interesting! “One of the things that happens in these large scale shows in the round is that everywhere you’re firing to, there is a potential reflective surface you’re hitting square on. Imposing the sound design first meant that we had no excuses. Ulf did a really great job with this design; I’ve been really impressed by how the whole thing has panned out. It’s fine for us to say we want 8 hangs of PA flown 25m high in a circle, but it’s the staging company and the riggers’ job to figure out how to make it all happen. I actually think the end result sounds better than the arena tour did.” Sitting behind his SD7, Bracey continued: “The desk set up was pretty perfect, so I haven’t changed anything. The only thing that’s new is my Bricasti reverb - it’s my new favourite reverb - but apart from that, my SD7 is performing just as you’d expect for a show like this - I’ve had zero problems and it’s a pleasure to work on.” Bracey does have a lower channel count than on the arena production as there’s no acoustics or brass section. “My channel count has actually halved. For my mix on the outdoors shows, it’s become more streamlined so pairing it all back was the real adjustment I had to make.” Straight back into the in-ear hot seat is Joe Campbell, a fine figue of a bearded Mancunian who’s been with the singer since her very early touring days. When TPi met Campbell at the start of this campaign, he was new to the DiGiCo family, having only recently started touring with the manufacturer. 15 months later and his thoughts remained the same: “Choosing the DiGiCo SD7 for Adele’s monitor console was a real game

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Production Manager, Richard Young.

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changer for me; it opened up a whole range of possibilities for us. The console itself is surprisingly easy to use for such a devilishly complex piece of equipment. It’s flexibility meant I could change the input and output configuration at very short notice to accommodate extra musicians and their requirements easily. “I use a lot of onboard effects, perhaps 14 reverbs and 2 mono delays and the only outboard effect is a TC Electronic M6000 for vocal reverb. It’s a lovely sounding product… I actually don’t leave home without it!” he smiled. Campbell also uses an Optocore Optical Fibre Network, which meant the positioning of the monitor department gained further flexibility. He continued: “A far from being in my ‘usual’ monitor position - on or under the stage - I mixed the monitors for the stadium shows from a room inside the stadium. In New Zealand the monitor mix position was actually outside the stadium in a portacabin! This did raise a few eyebrows; sometimes I had trouble convincing the local crew that the monitor desk really was being set up that far from the stage and that, yes, I really was going to mix the gig from out there! “The main advantage in being so far away was that I couldn’t hear the PA, so I had no delay to deal with, but I did have a nice, quiet environment in which to work. Comms, in this situation, were king. We have quite a complex shout system, which meant I could speak to any of the crew or musicians individually through in-ears or shout speakers - and I could see them all too!” The vocal microphone remained as the Sennheiser Digital 9000 Series and the RF team utilised the Sennheiser 2050 IEM units.

BEAUTIFULLY LITLighting Designer Patrick Woodroffe & Associate Lighting Designer & Director, Roland Greil of Woodroffe Bassett Design had the task of ensuring the show came to life visually, primarily during the opening daylight hours. With world class Show Designer Es Devlin having exquisitely executed a classic sense of glamour to the arena tour, the creative maestro brought

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a similar look into the stadium show, this time with a curved, 360 degree video screen showing a mix of Hollywood worthy visual content and live audience feeds. Woodroffe told TPi: “We had a real sense of what the show was about; the colour, or lack thereof, and how Adele wanted to be presented. “During the last production, we had a very beautiful background to work with, and we were simply changing the lighting cues from number to number, which worked very well. But the technicalities of doing a show in the round was, actually, incredibly complicated; we had to completely re-think it and build a different set of pictures. In the end, the big bonus for us was that her audience became a huge part of the show. In Australia especially, they were great - they were so excited and animated that the screens looked quite beautiful!” Essentially, the dynamic of the lighting was done around the dynamic of the screen content. Directing the tour lighting was Greil, who reprogrammed all the cue lists from the last show. Greil said: “By the time we got to Australia, the lighting show was 80% of what we’d finalised back in Phoenix. The challenge there was that we’d been rehearsing with a roof but when we got to Australia, we were battling with daylight.” Woodroffe continued: “Adele’s show is very perfect in terms of the sound quality, she’s an incredibly accurate performer, and so the way it looks also had to be as perfect as possible. Our biggest obstacle certainly was the daylight. When needed, we went back through the cues and removed the colour to whitelight it. Then when it gets darker, you start to introduce the colour and it adds to the show the way you had intended. Her show is very much white light show anyway… It’s a very satisfying show to watch.” Operating from his trusted MA Lighting grandMA2 console, Greil was working with similar workhorse fixtures as seen on the arena tour. He furthered: “We tried to keep the same fixtures so that we could continue the looks. When you’re dealing with audience trusses 25m in the air, you need fixtures that will pack a punch. The only big change is that we added a lot of old school molefays to light the audience. A singer always wants to interact with their audience, so this aspect was important.” Woodroffe added: “The old molefays have a truly fantastic colour temperature which give a lovely warm glow. It’s classic tungsten and it works wonders in concerts like this,” Woodroffe added. “It fits perfectly with the beautiful content from Es.”

Greil noted: “When you’re playing for over 90,000 people, as well as the show needing to remain elegant, you also need the uptempo parts too. The big effects are still needed to compliment such a big show, and so the big fireworks on the structure of the stage really set it all off for the finale.” The lighting fixtures consisted of 104 Robe BMFLs, 88 Claypaky Mythos, 100 Philips Vari-Lite VL3500 Washes, 80 Philips Vari-Lite VL3500 Wash FX and 40 Martin by Harman MAC Aura XBs. Generic fixtures comprised 2-Lite (120), 4-lite (111) and 8-lite (48) molefays. 4 Robert Juliat Lancelot 4k Spots were also utilised. The entire lighting setup runs on a fully redundant network system with robust Luminex network equipment. Luke Radin, Head Network Lighting Technician, has relied on two MA Lighting grandMA2 consoles that are linked to 5 NPU processors by 11 Ethernet-DMX8 nodes, 11 GigaCore 16Xt pre-configured Ethernet switches and 5 unmanaged truss mounted switches by Luminex Network Intelligence to set-up the gantry system. Everything is connected over a trunked quad core fibre ring to cover any distance. “Redundancy and reliability is very important for us and Luminex equipment gives us exactly that certainty we need,” said Radin. “Their switches and nodes are rock solid, extremely powerful and have never let us down in the middle of a show. On top of that, the Gigacore switches are very easy to install. Everything is pre-configured in the warehouse and we just have to plug all the cables, set some groups (VLANs) and we’re up and running. This also give us a lot of flexibility to do quick changes to the set-up or change something during rehearsals.” In September, Luminex will release its very first managed AV switch designed to be mounted in the truss: the GigaCore 10. Additional to the core lighting set up, Neg Earth was supplement by PRG Australia, which leapfrogged the second audience lighting system.

AN ARTISTIC VIDEO SOLUTIONJust as the 25 arena tour benefitted from the beautiful artistic direction of Production Designer Es Devlin, the stadium tour didn’t disappoint. From the storytelling visuals to the classic glamour that’s now synonymous with an Adele concert, the visual aspects for the eager fans had to deliver. In video world, Creative Technology (CT) once again took up the reigns to translate the singer’s emotive songs to her mammoth live audiences. The LED consisted of CT’s own lightweight Glux Carbon 10mm screen

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and comprises an eyewatering 744 tiles. CT Project Manager, Jim Liddiard, told TPi: “Weighing just 11kg per square metre, it’s ideal for such a large display. The structure itself was custom made by Acass Systems, whom we worked very closely with to create the bespoke metal work and tile locks that allowed us to hold the radius of the screen without compromising the pixel spacing. “Signal transport to and from stage was taken care of via a MediorNet system. This allowed us to handle multiple video signals, comms and networks over 3 Quadcon fibres. The inner drum was clad with flexible Roe Linx 9mm to hold the right radius.” Again, like the arena tour, the screens were fed via CT’s VYV Photon media servers. Continued Liddiard: “They delivered seamless 360 degree timecoded content and all effects were driven from the Photon’s powerful internal effects engine, providing versatile looks with minimal latency between the cameras and the screen.” VYV’s General Manager, Eric Palnte added: “This show’s imagery is quite refined and delicate; it’s one of those contexts where uncompressed media really makes a difference. It is also a nice showcase of our effects system at work on live video. CT really did a great job with our technology and we’re rather proud of the result!” In total, there were 9 cameras including a wireless RF camera provided and operated by John Clarke. Liddiard continued: “Again, control and signal for the RF camera were dealt with via the MediorNet system. Around each leg of the main structure were four outdoor plasma screens allowing the VIPs to see the artist on screen when she was out of physical view. These were all individually controlled by a custom piece of software, written by CT’s software development manager Stuart Turbefield, allowing them to be switched on the fly dependant on Adele’s stage position. As the Adele’s Monitor Engineer, Joe Campbell, was 300m away from the stage, we also provided some QBall PTZ cameras allowing him line of sight to backline at all times. Due to the complexities of playing in the round we also provided eight Antrica CCTV cameras, sending quad splits of the stage to underworld, monitors, video director, automation and the LD - giving everyone a clear view of the inner and outer stage.” Liddiard concluded: “This project was a pleasure to work on, allowing us to use technology not always associated with music touring. The process and planning from production has been meticulous, allowing us to come in and do our bit on this large scale project with ease.”

SPECIAL EFFECTS & EXTRA SPARKLEHaving supplied the tour with two bespoke effects in 2016, Quantum was asked to supply 3 special effect moments for the 2017 stadium tour. The effects needed to take full advantage of the round stage and be able to

extend the intimate energy of the show to record breaking audiences across the world. There were 3 key moments during which Quantum supplied special effects. Sweetest Devotion saw the first effect of the show; a vibrant halo of coloured powder confetti. Using 80 stadium shots positioned around the perimeter of the orbit stage a total of 160kg of yellow, green, purple and red confetti was released into the air in 4 rounds of 20. The effect was a total departure from the monochrome visuals of the previous arena show and provided a fresh experience for the audience that complimented the jubilant mood of the performance. Set Fire to the Rain did away with the indoor rain system used on the arena tour, instead opting for 80 CO2 jets, which lined the edge of the stage. Fired in a combination of short and long duration hits, the jets either circled the stage in a tidal wave or shot up all at once to emphasise the emotive highs of the track. Rolling in the Deep was the finale for Quantum, when the specilaist returned with the much-loved confetti, personalised with printed hand-written notes and lyrics from Adele herself. For the stadium tour, the crew doubled the amount of Q: Stormblasters. The units were engineered specifically for the Adele arena tour in 2016 to provide a whole minute of consistent confetti coverage with the ability to be stationed both on the ground and above the audiences so that confetti could reach further across each venue. For the stadium tour, 12 were stationed on top of the main stage and 12 positioned on trusses within the audience, with 240kg of confetti being released each show for the penultimate track. Meanwhile in London, Titanium Fireworks was contracted to supply the pyrotechnics at the finale concert. As this was the finale, the Wembley shows required a little extra sparkle. As well as the 70 second pyro sequence fired from the top of the stage truss, the proposal was to fire a 35 second sequence each night from the famous Wembley arch to be synchronised with the stage pyrotechnics. This is the first time a firework installation of this size and duration has been rigged and fired from the arch of Wembley Stadium. Titanium had to deliver 4 identical 35 second sequences, given there was not the time to reload between shows all four sequences were rigged in advance. A bespoke rigging solution was required to attach 2,000 single shot effects to 38 positions on the arch, rigging to the structure also required a specialist team of our working at height pyrotechnicians together with level 3 IRATA rope access climbers from Hollandia, the company that built the Wembley stadium roof and arch. A crew of 6 worked over 5 days to install the pyro and 2km of cable to network the 38 field modules. The technical delivery of synchronising 38 positions from the arch and 24 stage positions was achieved using two FireOne XL4 control panels, timecode was delivered to the main pyrotechnics control located on the

field of play where the stage pyro was fired from, a transmitter broadcast the timecode from this location to the panel located on the roof of the stadium, which controlled the arch. The entire 70-second sequence was fired using FireOne’s Ultrafire software to achieve split second synchronisation with the soundtrack. Darryl Fleming who project manged the pyrotechnic element of the show on behalf of Titanium Fireworks said: “It was a privilege to be involved in such a unique event, the challenges of rigging from the arch and stage co-ordinating so many effects across multiple locations was technically very challenging, the two days of heavy rain for the load-in also hampered our install, but the hard work and anxiety was paid off with two amazing shows, the end result was well worth the wait!”

PERFECT PRODUCTION POWERThe power requirements for the Adele tour were as you would expect for a large-scale production, both extensive and challenging. Power Logistics installed six 500kVA generators, which worked in tandem with an 800A house supply to power the stage via eight 400A powerlock feeds. These were running from a generator compound, located outside the stadium. All eight powerlock feeds ran across the pitch via cable ramp to the stage located in the centre. In addition, three 500kVA generators supplied the power required for the audience lighting, rigged in the roof, delivered by four 400A powerlock feeds. The feeds had to finish at the stage catwalks which was where the challenging element of the job presented itself. The generators for the audience lighting feeds were located in a building site, which had recently been sold to developers, underneath the base of Wembley’s famous arch. It was also 15m below the arch, therefore cabling had to be rigged along a hand rail and the powerlock dropped down into the compound. These powerlocks then met cable runs that were fed down through the arch. To carry out the install, Power Logistics had to work closely with riggers from Hollandia. Several Riggers from Hollandia abseiled down the arch with each individual powerlock cable, with two members of Power Logistics coordinating the install from the roof level, and two members of Power Logistics’ crew waited on the ground to catch the cable and rig at high level to a scaffolding structure above the public concourse using scissor lifts. At the top of the arch the cabling then ran across the roof. For this area, all of Power Logistics distribution and cabling equipment had to be craned onto the roof as the only the only access is via a small hatch in a plant

room. The weight load rating of the roof is only 90kg per square metre, so essentially a well-built man is pushing limit! To get around this, Power Logistics constructed a landing pad for the stillages, to evenly distribute the weight, once they were craned into position. Each stillage had a maximum weight loading of 280kg due to the delicate nature of the roof. This was all carried out of the first day of the build. As the powerlock had to also run from an area behind the north and south catwalks, further scaffolding structures were erected to allow the Power Logistics team to install cabling from the roof level to the catwalks. Once all the cabling was installed on the roof and rigged onto the scaffolding towers that met up with the catwalks in the internal roof of the stadium then Power Logistics installed two 400A powerlock feeds on each of these catwalks. In this case, the cabling was brought up from ground level via a winch, in flight cases. Commenting on the install, Power Logistics’ Project Manager Ami Cowee said: “This was certainly not your average show power install. To give you some idea of its scale, in total, from end to end, the powerlock run for the audience lighting alone was 6,500m. Everything was time critical and the help of the venue’s structural engineers, event technical management team, in-house scaffolders and Hollandia’s riggers, who were all an absolute dream to work with, was invaluable.” With the finale 2 shows of the Wembley finale being cancelled due to health reasons, one last question was put to Production Manger Richard Young: will she be back? The answer? Well, you may have guessed… “This is in debate at the moment. At the time of going to print, it has to be a ‘no comment’ from me!”TPiShow & build photos courtesy of In The Baghttp://adele.comwww.black-box-music.de/enwww.powerlog.co.ukwww.stareventsltd.comwww.taittowers.com www.itb.co.ukwww.negearth.com www.eps.net/en/www.mojobarriers.com www.knightrigging.co.ukwww.stagemiracles.com www.loadcellrental.com www.ct-group.com www.mcguinness.euwww.q-sfx.com www.titaniumfireworks.com www.soundmoves.com www.esdevlin.com www.patrickwoodroffe.com www.inthebag.pro

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The Creative Technology Video Team; The video system they built for montior world; Health & Safety Expert, Andrew Lennie; Lighting Designer Patrick Woodroffee with Associate Lighting Designer & Director, Roland Greil; Event Site Co-Ordinator, Keith Wood with Simon ‘Chopper’ Wallis’, ITB Site Crew Chief.