Taylor Swift's Eras Tour: A Deep Dive into the Tech Behind the Show
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2023
- Brandon Peltz geeks out about all the tech in the taylor swift eras tour while walking through a 3D render of the entire stage and explaining the different lights, line arrays and sections of video used to bring the show to life.
He is using Mad Mapper to map all the LED walls in the software while sending NDI in real time to Depence 2 the visualizer software he used to create the 3D render. Created, Shot and Edited same day.
Key Words:
Taylor Swift, Eras Tour, tech, audio, video, lighting, efficiency, design, setup, behind-the-scenes, immersive, cutting-edge technology, seamless integration, live performance, tech enthusiasts, mesmerizing, spectacle, technology,
One of my old band mates from Nashville plays in her band and I was fortunate to hang out with him before the show. He showed me all the backline gear and monitor world gear and it was just bonkers how many inputs there are. The whole show is driven from a global clock via a Dante engine on a laptop. Basically a click track is driving everything. Which is crazy when you think of the scope of the show.
all lighting too?
@@GPow292 Not all of it but things like the flash cues, dimmers and the IR for the wristbands are driven by a clock.
What happens to the clock when Taylor does her improvised cues between songs?
And just be clear on what I mean; there are times where she talks between songs, and her intros vary in length.
@@johnabbottphotography It stops. It's more like a stopwatch, except it can be started and stopped anywhere in a 24hr period, and counts in Hours, Minutes, Seconds and Frames. Depending on what time you "play", different songs will be triggered. You can build out the cues to allow some cues to be triggered manually (for when she talks), then allow timecode to take over once the track begins. The "clock" we're talking about is SMPTE timecode, an audio file that production equipment can understand as a specific time when played back. This means lighting, video, special effects, wristbands and anything else can all be synchronised off of one signal.
Lighting very likely runs from the same time code. Its just so much more easy when you plug everything together and one clock auto runs the entire show.
I work at SoFI with the tech dept and Taylor's stage was out of there in 9 hours. I left midnight came back next day at 9 and the whole arena was cleared. crazy!
You are talking 9pm Because there is no way that staging were packed and off the floor clear by 9 am
@@westrig180honestly not surprised if it got cleared that fast
@@westrig180no I was at the last night in Cincinnati and immediately after the show, like right after, they were taking the stage down. The workers had headlamps and saftey gear. Crazy!
@@westrig180it comes down extremely fast especially when you have a few hundred local stagehands doing most of the work.
Dope, How was the travis scott show?
One of the truck drivers said there was an A and a B show set up. Two complete and inclusive set ups for the entire show. As show 2 is being set up, the previous location of show 1 is performed and then torn down and transported to the show 3 arena. They hopped across the country that way, always being a show ahead because it took so long to set up. After show 3 was delivered, the trucks would return to show 2 to pick up everything and deliver it to the show 4 location. It took something like 60 flatbeds to handle all this.
Yeah specifically when tours do this they have two copies of the steel grid everything hangs from, motors, rigging and staging. Lighting, audio, and video they only travel with one rig each because that stuff can go up in a day or so but the rigging takes several.
I’m an old man now (60+) but I worked and remember the old days of just large stacks of speakers and thousands of par lamps with different gels and a half dozen supertroopers for spots was a big show. Then VariLight came out. The first computer controlled movable head system. This was 1986 or so. First tour I worked with those was Hall and Oats. Down side was that because the computer control was so rudimentary, everything had to be exactly timed. So the show was ran off a tape and much of it was timed to the visual effects. But that’s how it all started. It’s amazing how its evolved.
IMHO the engineers behind this show (and many more shows) deserve our cheers as well as the artists on stage do!
Thanks for this video, as a tech-geek I love these!
Fortunately not been able to obtain tickets, my daughter is killing me ;)
The delay towers (trees you call them) also have Pixmob transmitters which are very direct bluetooth transmitters that control the wristbands of the crowd. That's how they make lighting designs directed at an area rather than an individual wrist band. The tents FOH have techs but most of the tent area is VIP tents....mom, dad, celebs, etc. I work this tour...I know lots of details and see this go up in every city... but I had to sign an NDA so you would have to waterboard me to get the info. I'll help where I can. Good job BTW Brandon...You have talent!
Hey thanks Scott! I’ll be in town while you guys are in LA. Let me know if you guys need local techs or want to do a walk through of the tech. Just nerd out in general. I’d be down!
How long have you been in the industry and how did you get to work with swift? Super cool stuff
I believe they are using the pixmob x3 and those are infrared not Bluetooth. But I have taken mine apart yet
I was going to add on to what Rob said; there is both radio and infrared signals from what I understand, controlling the wristbands. The radio signals control the global color, while the IR varilights with GOBOs control the shapes; things like the hearts in the audience during Lover, and a snake that travels through the audience.
@@johnabbottphotography Yeah, it has been confirmed to be IR Moving Lights, that control the PixMob
Well, I have worked in arenas before. It was cleanup, though. I must admit that she has some of the most elaborate sound stages in the business. Very complicated. I would hate to have to build this at every show. Plus, when she does performs, somewhere, she comes with about 10+ eighteen wheeler trucks. Massive. I take my hat off to these people. It is outrageous. She just gave them each a $100,000 bonus. Believe me, they deserve it. Peace.
At least she has 2 separate crews! That has to be a massive help!
@@Sassyglbeauty - Would have 2 B. I couldn’t do it! However, to get a $100,000 bonus, I might would have 2 try. Peace
The follow spots from the delay towers are remote controlled follow spots with operators hidden backstage. They have built in cameras that provide the operators with individual video feed showing the POV from the follow spot. That is a big improvement from the old days when we used to hang a guy in sort of a camping chair high up on the tower with a classic follow spot in front of him (let's not think about what happened when they had to go to the bathroom during the show...).
bucket
She also has wash lights behind the left and right screen panel. It takes up the whole left and right section of the screen. It might just look like a video feed at first but it's actually wash lights passing through the led panels creating different styles and patterns which again ads more wash lighting effect to the stage and whole stadium.
This is so incredible. I was at the show in Pittsburgh and was blown away by the production. I was so curious what all went into it, and I did walk by at least 12 semis dedicated to just the set on our way out. So wild.
Awesome video! Hoping she does a doc/movie or something of that style about this. Would love to hear you talk about the interactivity of the stage (trackers of some sort?) like the lines the bikes draw and the video floor effects during "willow" with the glowing balls, where the stage seems to be following them.
That was very cool. The floor effects were insane seeing them live
The great thing is: she is doing a movie about it
I'm really excited for the Eras tour movie, though, would also love a docu-series with different episodes detailing how they brain stormed the stage, lighting, wristband programming (and the brainstorming of the patterns for diff songs), the live performance changes to songs (versus the studio production), the LED video content (including the dynamics of tracking people on stage and diff colors following dancers), wardrobe (meeting with designers, the intention of costumes, functionability, quick changes), hair and makeup artists, the dancers, the choreo (blocking, how long practiced for, the story behind every dancer), merch design (artists for the posters, logistics of demand), props and the ideas and logistics behind them (ie. the willow tree, tolerate it dinner table, the massive fans for her entrance, the cabin, the champange problems piano, surprise song piano and the artist/ thoughts behind the colors, all the microphone designs, and all the teams behind the show in general to make it happen
PLUS HOW MUCH CONFETTI THEY NEEDED
I was hoping this video would get into the video floor tech and the "interaction" with the dancers. I thought it might be great choreography until they brought out the bikes.
It blew my mind when you said that her lift might scroll down underneath the stage. That is genius
Actually this would make a great video game for Swifty’s organise and produce your own Eras tour from ground up
This is waaayy too complex for a video game
At my job, we use a lighting tracking system called BlackTrax and we were told that Taylor is also using it. So yes, the spotlights are tracking her at all times.
Yeah there’s also Follow Me
I saw "The Effectors Crash and Burn" on Wonder of the Seas and they also used BlackTrax. It is amazing how precise it is - there's a part of the show where one of the actors shoots laser beams from her hands (in reality it's the other way around of course), and the tracking was basically dead on.
After diving through the stage she actually pops up in front of the risers… part of the diamond (on the T side) lowers to form a staircase that she walks up to perform Lavender Haze. She probably has a quick change area somewhere underneath the T or the diamond therefore, and wouldn’t need a cart to transport her there!
Right!
There is a cart though. One of her guests posted a bts video of him travelling on a cart under the stage
@@readonlymemories I think you are mistaking the Reputation tour with the Eras tour
@@maison9970 nope. Marcus Mumford had posted a video of him in a cart under the stage when he sang Cowboy Like Me at the Eras tour
@@readonlymemories where did he post that
Really appreciate you putting this video together man. Great work.
Can you look at the new TTPD era and the tech used?? I am completely obsessed.
I’ve only watched fan’s recordings of the show but the bass sounds amazing! The show producers should win every award out there 👏
i went to the show in LA and I was sitting on the side where her band is… and it was absolutely incredible to hear it live
I would love a video touching up on how the stage screen actually works! Awesome video!
You should do the Renaissance tour as well, the production on that tour is NUTS
I would kill to see a video like this on Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour. Also, interesting about the lasers at the end. She used some amazing effects that I assumed were video and lighting, but when I saw it live was surprised to see it was the “pencil” effect you described. Great video!
YES SAME i went to the renaissance tour in Nashville and am going to the one in new Orleans and it was the best experience ive ever been too Beyoncé and Taylor swift are the biggest and only top tours of 2023 and are bigger than most tours have ever been id love to see this type of video for the renaissance tour aswell.
YES YES YES
Really hope he does a video on it, that tour production needs to be studied
A cool thing also to mention that the upstage video screen is mesh so you can see through it, and they also have lighting behind it too, to do some cool effects.
omg. this rendering is outstanding.
What an incredible breakdown. That program you are using is amazing, it really helps to visualize what is happening. Awesome job! Subbed :)
Aah this is so interesting I've been waiting for something like this about this tour!
Love this video explaining the tech behind what I’m away to see in Edinburgh next year!!!
The addition of the lasers would have been class at certain points. Use them on the line arrays to draw stuff on the main screen is a interesting addition to the show. Use them sparingly through the show, however when it comes to the announcement of the Speak Now and 1989 Taylor’s Version albums would have added some sparkle.
The logistics are insane for this tour, 60 trucks, more like 90. There’s two global sets with one carrying the tech. She has 55 truck drivers. There’s two crews, a set up crew and a tear down crew.
She has 18 main themed microphones, 9 main microphones and 9 backup. Two for each era. She has 2 basic black backup ones as well. Taylor has. Then she has her two pianos, well, they are linked to a software setup. One got haunted after a rain show and malfunctioned show. She has about 10 guitars too. The audio signal chain is insane. I think she has two axe fx units. Her guitar and bass players have 3 or 4 each. Their patch changes are all done via the master clock. They have a controller and their techs do too, again redundancy.
The logistics of the world tour are going to be insane. I heard there’s going to be 7 or 8 747 cargo planes for the tech. The stage from Santa Clara is away to Argentina via sea freight and the SoFi stage is going to Mexico City.
When it all comes do to it as a show it’s amazing, I appreciate every single person that it takes to put this show on the road and recognise their effort in making it the amazing spectacle it is!!!
wow what a freaking cool video! i am a regular human, swiftie since '08 and someone with absolutely zero knowledge on the true scope of what it takes to put on a show like The Eras Tour. Randomly came by this video and it blew me away. Kept my interest the entire time. Her and her team are unvelievable! How much do you think all of this costs?
I used to work in a bank, so I can confidently tell you that this setup would cost at LEAST a hundred bucks.
they said it cost 150m
This is so cool thank you for showing all of the cool lighting and auto and other things 😮
This is absolutely fascinating and very well explained for the newly curious like me 😄!! Great work.
i think the side (each side) at the very end of the riser at the diamond stage also has a screen wall that probably rolled up just like for the front and the back end, as far as i could remember, but for some part of the performance like the opening on Cruel Summer the riser didn't rise all, only two of the platforms rised up and leave a blank/exposed structure of the hydraulics because there was no screen at all (the screen only covers the end part of each side of the riser)
Late in the video he says, "Lasers can shoot very far." I'll say, in 1962, a group from MIT bounced a laser off the moon, and as part of the 1969 moon landing Buzz Aldrin placed what is known as the Lunar Laser Retro-Reflector, which allowed scientists to accurately measure the distance from the earth to the moon by shooting a laser and timing how quickly it was returned to earth. (N.B. NASA was using very powerful lasers.)
Pls do the renaissance tour next. Interested to hear your opinion on her production style. The lights being chrome plated, lasers, the truck rolling down, having lights in stadium seating shining down on her, her flying through the air lol.
I saw some videos from her show in Singapore recently, and was immediately impressed by the stage setup. Such a cool design and engineering effort, and you explain it really well!
Great job with this video!!! I'm blown away! 🎉
Awesome job. I was fortunate enough to see the show twice. Was in awe with the tech throughout. I think there’s a few lights behind the screens which are used only a few times, but I could have confused it with video of the same thing.
I am currently in school for show pro and am also a huge swift. this video was so so cool to watch and I would love if you could cover some old Taylor shows too like reputation tour! (there's a Netflix tour movie about it!) thank you for posting this!!
OH MY GOD THIS IS AMAZING!! thank you!!!
Impressive video! Excellent work. I’m retired now but still enjoy watching the evolution. I look forward to more content.
wow😮this technology is so cool！you make me want to go the eras tour badly🥵
I know nothing about the tech but even so I was blown away by the skills of techs and their equipment
I want to know more about those big fan costume/set pieces at the top of the show, they are SO cool and I desperately want to know what they're made of. Some kind of spring steel, maybe?? I really love the twist on the classic "feather fan girls" entrance.
Wow this is amazing!
Phenomenal video.
This is a great channel, exactly what I was looking for. You guys should do a series similar to Premier Guitar's Rig Rundowns but for A/V and tech for tours of big stadium acts like Taylor Swift. Great work!
Impressive rendering work!
you're insane i love it
Wow, the production.
Great deep-dive on such a niche topic! This is TH-cam at its best!
now im curious about the setup behind her reputation stadium tour stage, because the main screen literally move horizontally and vertically, just madness enginering
i would love to see your perspective on the Renaissance Tour and the born this way ball! they had a kind of hologram that im killing to know how it works!
Thank you so much for this. I’m going into club life and the concert business
Thanks for taking the time to put this together, I've not had much opportunity to use stage render software but seeing the whole thing where it can be zoomed in to and turned on makes this a great assistant to telling how the system was built. With deployments like this I start wondering how many semis are full of camlock power and distros. Each of those lights is likely 500w minimum, at 3 lights per circuit that's A LOT of copper running everywhere and it all has to work and not trip while also being repeatable. I would guess this is an 1800A 480v 3 phase show.
Great explanation of Tayler Swifts staging. 👍🏼
amazing video!!!
Excellent work. You should be proud of yourself ❤❤❤❤❤❤
amazing video! production and staging fascinates me! renaissance wold tour next 🤞😌
algorithm : here is the most geeky taylor stuffs
I heard that the line arrays are D and B from 8 day sound which was bought out by Clair Bros. Another stagehand mentioned that there are 12 Robe Robospots with operators under the stage.
thank you for the insights
Amazing video man
More than one source indicated that this tour did not leapfrog because there were several days between each group of multiple shows. There were some 60 production trucks which arrived a day or two before each set of dates and 20 steel arriving in advance usually around Monday or Tuesday.
Correct I worked for Stageco US over 20 years . Normally when multiple cities are booked per week there will be at least 2 sets typically 3 of staging along with an advance rig that . TS only does gigs on weekends ( most likely so her fans can attend with mom & dad) So there is only need for 1 Stage. Builds start as soon as trucks can get to next city early in week shifts are round the clock. Production waltzes in as soon as stage is near completion, 2 & 1/2 days after starting.
i need more vids like this
Can you take a dive into britney's cirucs tour? It took place many years ago but i believe it to be one of the most interesting stage setups. She opens the show by coming down from the ceiling and i think that says enough hahaha
I watched all of this hoping you would talk about how the stage responds to the dancer's feet and also the bike tires...it's clear that it's not pre-programmed by the fact that it exactly follows their tracks even with differences show-to-show. And often Taylor doesn't trigger the stage to light up while her dancers around her do. I'm do intrigued about this. Please let me know if you know how this is done.
Thanks for this information - this is great - I love the concerts and it was amazing to see her. As an AV guy - It was in both way amazing.
btw nice software.
Fascinating
Ok. I haven’t even watched. But, I subbed already. That ur gonna program a model to show us, that’s awesom
great information, thanks for sharing.
Do the Renaissance World Tour, the screen, visuals, lights and stage design are mind blowing
you should do a deep dive into Beyonce's Renaissance World Tour next! That tour had some crazy production
Really interesting amount of delays and the side trees. For the pink concert, there was only two delay line array hangs. I was sat in between the main PAs and the delays, you could hear them both. Dont think people noticed, but as a technician, we hear the fine details
Awesome deep dive. Have you done a tech breakdown of the Kiss EOTR tour. I would love that technical breakdown to look carefully into the audio mix going on. Very obvious the whole show is on tracks and very tightly scripted.
what do you mean with this? she has a live band
@@Ldlover I figured leokimvideo was talking about Kiss's tour, not Taylor's.
I would describe the segmented lifting structure like an upside down garage door.
20:42 so thankful for this bit. I was thinking how uncomfortable it would be to traverse under the stage quickly having to kneel the whole way!
Wonderful deep dive into the the overall technicals of the show. Agreed on the efficiency on all ground based structures - goodbye hanging points! 😂
Would be nice to know more about the software control they’re using on the Video Content playback… specially the ultra wide LED screens and the LED floor - oh how I wish ATEM Software control can do it by itself matched with our little Streamdeck buttons haha! 😂
Might be Resolume? Can’t be Vmix because of the Imag live video delay. Must be a big media server and all content pre programmed already matched with each song and just cueing pressing play for every start of each song. 🎉
Looking forward to watching more of your deep dive into tech concert videos! 😊🙏
it’s a disguise media server
you should definitely do this same thing but for the renaissance world tour
THIS PLZ
i'm the kind of guy that at the stadium or disco i'm looking more at the system audio, video, lights than the actual content. that said i love this video
New sub! You have amazing talent.
I've never heard of a real existing Follow Spot system using RFID. What I know of, is an active UWB-Transmitter based system, but that's only one. The most common thing would be something like Robes "RoboSpot" - a Station, on which human follow spot operators can remote-control moving lights with attached cameras. They have the advantage that no-one needs to be on top of the actual lighting tower and you can have way more follow spot positions, since controllers can switch the light they control. Additionally, the moving lights can be fully integrated into the regular light show - Color and Intensity can be controlled from the lighting desk, while position is set manually, or when not needed as follow spot, the unit can take over regular show patterns.
On the Lift in the center of the Diamond, there is a short video wall facing stage right & left.
So for these type of shows, visuals would be disguise d3 or similar systems for video. Tracking of lights would be BlackTrax or similar. Lots of $$ for these platforms since they are designed for these type of production
I was wondering who does Taylor go to - to bring her vision to life. So, glad I found this
Tait Towers designed/fabricated her staging, they have a great collection of TH-cam vids on past jobs, but are prevented from talking about the Era's tour tech.
So interesting. Renaissance next pls!!
Great video! I'm pretty sure Nine Inch Nails pioneered a lot of this tech. Ref Fragility, With Teeth, and Lights in the Sky tours.
I know I’m late to this, but I really want to see an explanation of how the flooring is so interactive as well. Like when she stomps and it looks like ice cracking, or when they’re on the bike, you can see them making lines (if that makes sense lol). Also I’d like to see how the wrist bands and images in the audience works. I know ppl have explained it in comments but I’m a visual learner and I’d like to see a deep dive of how that works. If anyone knows where I can find that please
i went to closing night in tampa and towards the middle of the show they were already tearing it down 😂😂 at the end of the show they were already hauling stuff away!
damn the effort!! im an aspiring 3d modeler and animator
As someone who is hosting a big concert in Kenya this Dec, I found this to be really interesting. I learned a lot. From reading the comments I noticed lots of experts in this field are here. I would love to learn from a pro
Imagine the pressure on Taylor. If you so much as get a sore throat, sprain an ankle getting off the plane, get stomach flue from some strange food, this whole thing can come to a grinding halt and lose millions! And it's a three hour show to boot! Not like you could just tough it out for a couple songs. Taylor looks slim and rather delicate, but she must be a tough lady underneath!
Nice vid, very interesting . Any thoughts or vids for the led wall stuff?
I've literally been trying to ask all my film friends to help me figure out how this works!!!!
PLEASE make a video about the video side of the tour!!!
Amazing Job!!! Rammstein show next ? Would be great
My buddy works as the systems engineer on this tour. Sounds like the PA is all d&b, and specifically 3 high V8s on top of 2 high SL-SUBs. All on SL-SUB cart and travel in the truck as they are. The stack is high enough to give decent coverage in depth and control. A 3-way box and enough surface area (with 3 boxes) and cubic volume to have great sonic match with the flown KSLs.
Kind of too much headroom for the usage but the speaker and amount of speakers is based on other parameters than max SPL
Clair Bros as main vendor with 8th Day and D&B gear
I just saw the Eras Tour live for the first time and had to know how it all works, so thanks for this!
Does your planning software there give estimates on power requirements? What’s a typical power draw for a setup like this? It must be immense especially with those displays.
Awesome video! It would be amazing to see you make a video like this for Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour!
Your video is amazing. Might be some thing that can become a video game for like Nintendo or PlayStation where you put the stay together and have Taylor sing just a thought.
At 15:00 the bars on the stage perimeter are Chroma-Q Color Force II 48
They had a lot more covering the back stage when it came to the stage. Btw I did stagehand work for Taylor swift.
For some reason I feel like her reputation stadium tour stage would have been more intricate. This one seems pretty straight forward!
Karyn the snake and the flying baskets must've been crazy as well, this one doesn't have anything of that scale.
Karyn and the flying baskets are basic actually and i see them implemented in shows that don't have a budget as crazy as eras.
@@whitelilies3799 but reputation's screen implementation was way way cooler compared to eras boring rectangle design
@@kitten9134 rep was amazing don't get me wrong but eras looks way more impressive, the stage itself being a touch screen is insane the way it works tracking the bicycles and willow balls. My problem with rep is the stage was too small and aside from endgame most of the show wasn't visually interesting, it was packed with fireworks. Even lymmd's only highlights was karyn that looks far less intimidating when u see it inflate in real time
@@whitelilies3799 omg rep was not visually interesting? okay, eras visuals are really really good better than rep for sure, but what it lacks are moving elements/props, the stage is gigantic and Taylor is usually alone. Unlike rep, so much is going on on the ground not just screen visuals