Avicii 'lifts up' the audience at the show of his European tour with AV solutions from XL Video

Tim Bergling, Known professionally as Avicii and one of the world's most renowned DJs and record producers., has entrusted the innovative show of its 'Wake me up' tour in the United Kingdom and other European countries to video production solutions, projection and control supplied by XL Video.

The current tour that the international Swedish DJ and record producer Avicii is doing through Europe has high visual impact systems, with a music show, luz, sound and pyrotechnics that are combined with surprising videos with cinematographic elements and animations in real time to the delight of the thousands of fans who attend their concerts.

A varied and complex AV production, made up of large format LED screens, projection, cameras and control systems, that Avicii has entrusted to the specialist XL Video y a su project manager Paul Macca; under the direction of Curly Jobson on tour, with AV effects made by Harry Bird, of the company This Is Comix, specialized in live visuals and motion graphics.

Innovative scenario

The Avicii tour show has two visual areas made up of separate screens. The back of the stage has two Pixled F-12 displays from XL Video, of 18 meters wide and more than five meters high, hung on the sides to replicate the diagonal wall design.

The front of Avicii's booth has been covered with an OLite model LED screen 510 from the Belgian firm Barco, which is used creatively to generate versatile shapes that are then precisely mapped and enhance the work of this DJ, without the event being affected by the lighting of the environment. In this case, XL Video has created custom modular LED systems, following the diagonal lines of the design.

Both types of screen are robust and ideal for transport while on tour. In this sense, the F model- 12 is built into XL Video's lightweight touring frames, that facilitate installation and disassembly time.

Live audiovisual production

Harry Bird's video content playback runs completely live, without using timecode in this program, using the software Resolume Arena, as well as another Resolume system for footage, images and graphics that serve as support in the Avicii show.

Added to this are two FT side projection screens in portrait mode (20×11) that are powered by two Barco FLM 26K rear projection systems, with a power of 26.000 lumens. Most of the time, These displays replicate the playback content shown on the main screens with some occasional IMAG snapshots, for which XL Video has supplied a package consisting of three cameras.

This proposal consists of an HD/SD camera Sony HXC-100, which allows systems to be configured in conventional triaxial mode, operated with a FOH mixer, and a remote camera Bradley Ball Cam 2, located right behind Avicii to capture images of the attendees, and a combined one operated by Ray Gwilliams using a switch Panasonic MX100, as an effective solution to involve the audience in the energy and dynamism of the show.

The video is made in the center, at the core of the visual spectacle, which also includes lighting, lasers and special effects. All these elements are done live, even when there is no set list and Avicii performs a totally unique system in each performance, although certain well-known tracks are included previously.

For video creation, technicians worked closely with Tim Bergling (Avicii) in order to produce footage to match different sounds. In this sense, This DJ's most recent work incorporates "more organic 'live' sounds.", that are accompanied with more cinematic elements for the video material, while for the more traditional dance floors, “The video is oriented with neon colors and moving shapes.”.

The result is a dynamic mix of these different styles., so the contrast in the images is complemented simultaneously and in harmony with the music and, As the show's technicians point out, "that is what provides a distinctive visual elegance to Avicii's show.".