Marco Borsato returned to Rotterdam’s De Kuip stadium for the first time in 15 years (photo: Jorrit Lousberg)
The Netherlands - Dutch popstar, Marco Borsato, recently returned to Rotterdam’s De Kuip stadium for the first time in 15 years to host a five-date concert series featuring an ambitious lighting and video programme. The 50,000-capacity stadium was fitted with a massive 85 x 15m rear wall screen as the backdrop to Borsato’s band and featured an innovative display of lighting and augmented-reality (AR) video images.
Commissioned by Musica è and Mojo Concerts, Faber Audiovisuals supplied the LED screens, play-out, camera, and video facilities, with Visual Solutions and Malfmedia developing the AR and 3D video design, and disguise programming. Faber selected more than 1,000 square metres of ROE CB5 LED screens, four kilometres of ROE LED strips, and 21 cameras, with the strips managed by just seven Brompton Technology Tessera M2 LED processors.
“4000 strips is arguably the highest number ever deployed in one single show to date. With numbers this large, when you start doing the pre-production and planning the infrastructure, only one thing comes to mind: ‘How do we set up so that if a problem occurs, we can resolve it easily?” explains Joel Schilder, project manager at Faber.
“With Brompton processors, you have the ability to use layers and groups, enabling us to separate large parts of the set into smaller blocks or even string level. This made it very convenient for us to keep a clear overview of what was going on during the show, because you can turn layers on or off and focus on what you’re working on.”
One of the biggest challenges of the show was to develop a content story on such a large canvas. The 15808 x 1872 pixels resolution screen displayed edited live feeds of the concert each night, complemented with overlays of animated Luma mattes and effects.
Some songs comprised more than 100 video layers, controlled separately and synchronised with the show lighting on the DMX desk. The concert was also full of impressive AR visual effects, right from the opening sequence when a virtual Marco Borsato walked on to De Kuip’s eaves and dived onto the stage.
(Jim Evans)

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