The Phish ‘Net freaked out Tuesday evening when short clips of the band’s new rig, complete with never-before-seen LED screens, surfaced online ahead of their highly anticipated tour debut in Minnesota on Wednesday. The new visuals mark the most significant change to the setup since the band stopped using custom tapestry backdrops made by Mike Gordon‘s mother in 1995. The buzz about the new rig has only grown through the tour’s first two shows, as thousands of fans got to see the lights in action. LiveDesign has revealed some details about the new setup and what was involved in bringing it to fruition.
Phish’s creative team, consisting of production manager Jesse Sandler, longtime lighting designer Chris Kuroda, and Kuroda’s co-designer Abigail Rosen Holmes, collectively recruited long time Phish client TAIT to build and engineer the massive new LED structure. The rig is made up of 78 individual LED video screens designed to appear as one large panel that is 5.6 ft. tall x 51.2 ft. wide. During the second set, the one large panel separates into numerous smaller screens hanging at approximately 22 ft. above stage level. During the entire show, the artwork displayed on the screens includes flashing, abstract colors and “pop art” like content, reminiscent of the projections used at Magnaball‘s Drive-In Jam and the giant hourglass stunt at Madison Square Garden on 12/31/15.
For more information on the company behind the new rig, visit their website.
[H/T – Jambase]