Roger Waters: Us + Them 2017

In the decades since the late 1960s, Pink Floyd and Roger Waters have been innovators in creating spectacular concert experiences. VYV is proud to share their technology and work with the Waters team and to be part of this amazing technical video setup designed and delivered by Richard Turner, video director on the Us+Them Tour, Desert Trip 2016, and acclaimed video director of The Wall Tour 2010-2013.

In May 2017, Roger Waters kicked off his “Us+Them” tour. This show features over 20 projection surfaces including four inflatable smoke stacks, rolling screens, and a drone-propelled flying pig. The video projections and 6K LED screens seamlessly blended pre-rendered, high-definition, uncompressed video content with real-time effects applied to live camera feeds.

To meet this challenge, VYV used 17 30k projectors for the majority of the projection surfaces. For the smoke stacks, we used five 7k projectors, while a single 6K wide LED screen was fed by 6x HD feeds. Resolution was set at 32Mpixels and features real-time blending to ensure seamless projections on surfaces that were in motion.

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Thanks to the 50 Copernics in play, we were able to calibrate, in each new venue, all the projectors in under an hour, as well as calibrate all 48 cameras in under a minute. The Copernics also allowed us to track the inflatable smoke stacks as they appeared, as well as accurately track the flying pig.

That’s right: a staple in any Roger Waters concert is the appearance of Algie, the airborne pig. We used 48 cameras and a dozen Copernics to track and illuminate the drone-propelled Algie. At one point during the show, a second pig appears illuminated between the smoke stacks, recreating the cover of the iconic 1975 Pink Floyd album “Animals”.

Roger Waters himself was tracked using Copernics directly integrated into his in-ear monitors. Having Copernics attached to his clothing would have been difficult to manage during costume changes. Instead, we worked with IEM manufacturer JH Audio to provide highly reliable yet minimally intrusive motion tracking – an approach also taken for Ariana Grande’s tour.

The PSN protocol (developed by VYV and MA Lighting) is a core component that interconnects show departments, video, lighting, and automation. Using the PSN protocol, VYV’S versatile Albion system maintained bi-directional communication with StageTech Navigator to control the rolling screens, allowing for video layers to control screen positions and adjusting projection to screen positions. Albion also transmitted PSN to the GrandMA 2 console to provide the coordinates needed keep Algie illuminated.